Arts at ASU Present “What I Did Last Summer”

University Theatre at Angelo State University will open its 2013-14 season with the dinner theatre production of “What I Did Last Summer,” a humorous, coming-of-age drama that begins Thursday, June 27, in the ASU Modular Theatre.
Show times will be at 8 p.m. June 27-29 and July 4-6, with dinner to be served at 6:45 p.m.  A special matinee performance is scheduled for 2 p.m. Sunday, June 30, with lunch served at 12:45 p.m.

Tickets are $12.50 for ASU students and ASU activity card holders, $15 for non-ASU students and Arts at ASU subscribers, and $20 general admission.  The Modular Theatre is located in the Carr Education-Fine Arts Building, 2602 Dena Drive.

The first of two Arts at ASU summer dinner theatre productions, “What I Did Last Summer” features 14-year-old Charlie, who is spending the summer of 1945 at a well-to-do vacation colony on the shores of Lake Erie with his mother, Grace, and sister, Elsie, while his father is stationed in the Pacific during the last stages of World War II.  Although he intends to spend the summer loafing with friends Ted and Bonny, Charlie decides instead to defy his mother and confound his friends by getting a handyman job with iconoclastic, bohemian art teacher Anna Trumbull.

A former member of the “upper crust” who has lost both her fortune and her regard for the ideals of her upbringing, Trumball senses a kindred spirit in Charlie and tries to stretch his mind by teaching him painting and sculpture and exposing him to her “radical” ideas about life and love.

The result is a showdown between the artist and Charlie’s conservative mother, a clash of philosophies that raises as many questions as it answers and, in the end, stimulates the self-awareness that will shape the man Charlie is destined to become.

Written by A.R. Gurney, “What I Did Last Summer” debuted in New York City in 1983.  The ASU production is directed by Dr. Bill Doll, professor of theatre and director of University Theatre.

The student cast includes Sawyer Hirt as Charlie, Tyler Hastings as Ted, Katie Graham as Grace, Karis Elliott as Bonny, Cassandra Trautman as Elsie and Lura Cummins as Anna Trumbull.

The production crew includes Eldra Sanford, costumer and costume designer; Matt Smith, technical director; Jacob Scott, stage manager; Elizabeth Holland, assistant stage manager; Ryder Cornelison and Holland, carpenters and electricians; Magdalena Hogan, master electrician/sound board operator; Misty Siler, master sound technician; Cameron O’Briant, wardrobe manager; and Caden Glass, properties manager.

Tickets go on sale in the ASU box office. The box office is open 2-6 p.m. weekdays.  For reservations and/or ticket information, call 325-942-2000.

Subscriptions for the 2013-14 Arts at ASU season are still available for $30.  Subscribers gain free admission to plays and concerts, and pay just $15 for dinner theatres.  For more information on “What I Did Last Summer” and/or season subscriptions, call 325-942-2146 or go online to www.angelo.edu/dept/arts/theatre/theatre_schedule.php.