The Nineteen Nineties
1996-97 “theatre you can sink your teeth into!”
A raucous production of Twelfth Night was the November offering directed by Nancy Houfek. The Last Meeting of the Knights of the
White Magnolia followed, directed by the recently retired Lee Adey and designed by MFA Pearl Rea. Professor Robert Sonkowsky joined the cast as a guest artist for the third time – the first being in 1963. Billed as Lee’s farewell production, Knights was running in conjunction with “Theatre of the Fraternity: Staging the Ritual Space of the Scottish Rite of Free Masonry, 1896-1929” – an exhibit at the Weisman Art Museum, curated by Lance Brockman. The Memorandum was presented in the Charles M. Nolte Xperimental Theatre.
Three Sisters opened winter quarter directed by guest Risa Brainin, and featuring MFA actors Laura Bonazzoli, Ruth Childs, and Laura Esping as the sisters. Melanie Martin’s production of a new 
adaptation by Tony Kushner of Brecht’s The Good Person of Setzuan played the Thrust with a marvelous and wacky design by MFA Faith Farrell.
Professor Gadberry suggested producing a Heiner Müller play called The Task and bringing in a colleague from Germany Ziegfried Wilzopolski to create the production. It was a fascinating departure for the actors and designers to work in a more European tradition and expressionistic style of production. UDT’s 10th anniversary celebration brought us “Toward a Bright Light of Day” –reprised from 1996 (Doug Varone), “Strange Hero” (Daniel Nagrin), “Envelope” (David Parsons), “To Have and To Hold” –reprised from 1993 (Shapiro and Smith), “Marimba” (Lar Lubovitch), and “Red Walls” (Joe Chvala). Spring in the X brought 
us Bonnie Schock’s production of Phaedra; an actor/director interaction of Wasp by Steve Martin, directed by Annie Carlson; Antigone directed by Jared Kirby and performed in the amphitheater outside Ferguson; and Orestes directed by Barbe Marshall.
The campaign to raise funds for the Showboat renovation continued in summer 1997 but for the first time in 39 years there was no Showboat production in any venue. We began a long association with the Penumbra Summer Theatre Institute by housing its summer workshop program for high school students.
Matt LeFebvre joined the faculty as the Resident Costume Designer. Mike Horejsi began a two-year stint as Scene Shop Supervisor. Nels Hennum, Steve Thompson and Maryanne Beneke departed. Long-time affiliate faculty member Linda Shapiro was formally hired as the Cowles Artist Coordinator, a position she would hold for the next nine years.
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