2024-2025 Production Season
Join UB Theatre and Dance for a season of dance, musicals, and drama. Nationally recognized directors, choreographers, and faculty work with emerging student talent to produce innovative original productions that entertain audiences and explore the human condition. The season consists of live performances at the UB Center for the Arts and at the Katharine Cornell Theatre, both on UB North campus.
Tickets for all public performances are available on Ticketmaster via the individual show links below.
Please note that our box offices are now cashless. We accept VISA, Mastercard, Discover and American Express credit and debit cards for in-person purchases.
Group Sales: Groups of 10 or more are eligible for discounted tickets. Contact: ubcfatickets@buffalo.edu to make a reservation. Please allow 24 hours for a reply.
The UB Theatre and Dance 2024-2025 season is sponsored in part by Fox Run at Orchard Park, celebrating its sixth season in support of our student productions!
A Five Lesbian Brothers play written by Maureen Angelos, Babs Davy, Dominique Dibbell, Peg Healey, and Lisa Kron
Directed by Janet WertherApr. 11 - 12, 2025
7:30 p.m.
UB Center for the Arts Rehearsal Workshop$22 Adults
$17 Seniors/Veterans/UB Employees
$12 Students
$7 UB Students
(Ticketmaster fees apply when purchasing online.)*Playbill will be available 48 hours before performance.
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Something's rotten in Big Bone! Pretty Patty Johnson is thrilled to join the secretarial pool at the Cooney Lumber Mill under the iron-fisted leadership of sultry office manager Susan Curtis. But she soon begins to feel that all is not right—the enforced diet of Slim-Fast shakes, the strange clicking language between the girls, the monthly disappearance of a lumberjack. By the time Patty discovers murder is part of these office killers' skill set, it's too late to turn back! In the guise of satiric exploitation-horror, The Secretaries takes an unflinching look at the warping cultural expectations of femininity. The Secretaries premiered at the WOW Cafe in New York City in December 1993 under the direction of Kate Stafford.
"The Secretaries is a sustained, amusing look at the fine line between aggression and assertiveness. – The New Yorker
"95 minutes of gritty, bawdy, bloody humor pregnant with incisive social commentary." – San Francisco Examiner
Due to strong language, depictions of alcohol use, and other sensitive content, The Secretaries is recommended for a mature audience.
THE SECRETARIES is presented by arrangement with Concord Theatricals on behalf of Samuel French, Inc.
www.concordtheatricals.comThe production embraces a stripped-down aesthetic. No lighting or set design, and minimal props and costumes --- effectively, conditions which mirror those which Shakespeare’s players worked in. Elizabethan actors often had only four days of rehearsal. According, our actors will take the stage with script in hand – holding scrolls upon which are their parts so they might reference as they act.
Henry VI ii has 52 named parts. Our actors will play between four and six roles each. In addition, each will be cast in two “tracks.” Before every performance, a coin flip will determine which track they play for that performance, ensuring that every performance will be unique.
As the production develops, director Dr. Danielle Rosvally is documenting the behind-the-scenes process on TikTok at: http://www.tiktok.com/@yassifiedshax (look for “Directing Henry” in the video banner).
Book by George Abbott and Richard Bissell
Music and Lyrics by Richard Adler and Jerry Ross
Directed and Choreographed by James Beaudry
Music Direction by Matt MarcoApr. 25 - 26, 2025 and May 2 – 3, 2025
7:30 p.m.
Apr. 27, 2025 and May 3 - 4, 2025
2 p.m.
Morning Program:
Apr. 25, 2025
10 a.m.
UB Center for the Arts Drama Theatre$22 Adults
$17 Seniors/Veterans/UB Employees
$12 Students
$7 UB Students
(Ticketmaster fees apply when purchasing online.)*Playbill will be available 48 hours before performance.
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A union strike at a pajama factory generates plenty of steam heat in this toe-tapping, comedic love story.
The Pajama Game was awarded the 1955 Tony for Best Musical and, over half of a century later, claimed the award for Best Revival of a Musical, proving that the story is truly timeless. With an energetic score by Richard Adler and Jerry Ross (Damn Yankees), The Pajama Game is brimming with songs and dances that have become musical theatre standards, including "Steam Heat" and "Hernando's Hideaway."
Conditions at the Sleep-Tite Pajama Factory are anything but peaceful as sparks fly between new superintendent, Sid Sorokin, and Babe Williams, leader of the union grievance committee. Their stormy relationship comes to a head when the workers strike for a 7 ½ cent pay increase, setting off not only a conflict between management and labor, but a battle of the sexes as well.
Featuring plenty of fun and splashy production numbers, The Pajama Game is filled with standout featured roles and a large ensemble, making it a perfect choice for high schools and community theatres. This perennial favorite is a surefire crowd-pleaser and a glowing example of solid, classic musical comedy.
The Pajama Game is rated PG by Music Theatre International.
Content note: This production has mild stage violence and depicts alcohol use.American Sign Language (ASL) interpreters will also be provided for the May 3, 2 p.m. public performance.
*Students, senior citizens and the general public are welcome to attend the morning program. Tickets may be purchased online or in person at the Box Office. Backstage tours for groups available upon request. Contact: td-theatredance@buffalo.edu
THE PAJAMA GAME is presented through special arrangement with Music Theatre International (MTI). All authorized performance materials are also supplied by MTI.
www.mtishows.comThe Pajama Game
Curricular Connections & Ideas for DiscussionsThe Romeo and Juliet-like story of two people from opposing groups who fall in love. But in comedies, like The Pajama Game, these stories have happy endings. What other books or stories use the device of two characters with a conflict who fall in love?
Pin and Needles. In The Pajama Game, the song “Steam Heat” is part of a show put on by the union. Way back in 1937--before anyone heard of Wicked, Hamilton, The Lion King and The Phantom of The Opera--The International Ladies Garment Workers Union staged its own Broadway musical called Pins and Needles. The hit show was a comedy “revue” featuring short skits and songs make fun of (or “satirize”) everything from the Depression-era world of workers to the rise of fascism in Germany, Italy and the Soviet Union.
- The “revue” format is also called a “variety show” or a “vaudeville,” which means “voice of the city.” Saturday Night Live is one example of a tv show that still uses this format. In 2025, how do television shows, comedians and social media creators use comedy today to poke fun at those with more power?
Teamwork. In the company picnic scene, the workers all come together to win various picnic and party games in the song “Once A Year Day.” How does this sequence “foreshadow” the end of the story? Can you think of examples in other books, films or stories where a scene or event “foreshadows” what is going to happen?
The changing roles and opportunities for women in the workforce in the 20th Century. How does gender diversity in leadership promote better conditions for workers?
The rise of unions after World War II, and the subsequent decline of unions in the 1970s and 1980s. What happened in U.S. and World History that caused manufacturing jobs to be sent to other countries?
The International Ladies Garment Workers Union and the rise of “social unionism” in the 20th Century. Beyond collective bargaining, Social Unionism takes a broad approach to the role of a union in the lives of its members, offering educational, recreational and community building opportunities.
The history of minimum wage and the ethics of profits going to shareholders and CEOs rather than workers. How do the labor issues in The Pajama Game relate to today’s economic issues?
Directed by Shannon Brien
as part of our Student Directed SeriesMay 8 - 10, 2025
7:30 p.m
May 10, 2025
2 p.m.
UB Katharine Cornell Theatre$22 Adults
$17 Seniors/Veterans/UB Employees
$12 Students
$7 UB Students
(Ticketmaster fees apply when purchasing online.)*Playbill will be available 48 hours before performance.
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Founded in 1977, Dancers Workshop is an annual student-run showcase led by UB Dance majors, extending to all undergraduates, for a unique dance show experience. The 47th installment includes work from a substantial cohort of choreographers working with a sizable cast of dancers in a variety of styles. Dancers Workshop is a fun way to celebrate diverse talent at UB beyond the Department of Theatre and Dance, and to commemorate the end of a successful year for all students.
Directed by Kelly Quinn and NJ Wingo as part of our Student Directed Series
as part of our Student Directed SeriesMay 11, 2025
4 p.m
UB Katharine Cornell Theatre$22 Adults
$17 Seniors/Veterans/UB Employees
$12 Students
$7 UB Students
(Ticketmaster fees apply when purchasing online.)*Playbill will be available 48 hours before performance.
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The annual Senior Dance Showcase provides graduating dance majors with a final opportunity to perform their own choreography for the community before their future professional endeavors in the arts. The program features more than a dozen graduating seniors who appear primarily in solo works, as well as in collaborative group pieces, as they take the UB stage a final time. Senior Dance Showcase is student-directed and produced.
