Theatre
The academic area of theatre has been providing theatrical entertainment to the community for over 20 years. Auditions are always open to everyone, making this a community theater.
The Nerd by Larry Shue
Nov. 10–12 and 17-20, 2023
Auditions: Sept. 5 and 6, 2023, at 7 p.m.
The Groundling by Mark Palmieri
April 5–7 and 12-14, 2024
Auditions: Jan. 16 and 17, 2024, at 7 p.m.
Visitor Information
Black Box Theater
All performances are held in the Black Box Theater located inside LeFevre Hall.
1189 University Drive
Newark, Ohio 43055
Tickets
Tickets are available at the door.
$10 general admission
$5 students
Contact
Edie L. Norlin, theater director
Meet the director
Edie L. Norlin, MEd, is an education and theater lecturer at Ohio State Newark. Her first acting performance was at five years of age and her first professional role was at age 12. Active in theater and musical theater at The University of Oklahoma, she graduated with a teaching license in English, speech and drama and taught secondary school for many years.
Watch Now
Auditions Can be Murder, Dude
Black Box Theatre performance of Macbeth
Black Box Theatre performance of Julius Caesar
Past productions
Joe is a young actor trying to get a job. So he shows up to an audition. As he gets deeper into the audition, the director asks him to do weirder and weirder stuff. What's going on? Then the director asks him to do one more kind of questionable thing. Suddenly, Joe has accidentally done something terrible! Is this for real? Is this a joke? Did anyone see him do it? Is this the director's fault or Joe's? Where's the emergency exit? As he meets others at the theater — a stage manager, a costumer, an intern and a security guy — they all try to help him solve the mystery. (Cue shocking music.) Did Joe commit MURDER at his audition?
Performance Dates
April 13–16, 2023
April 20–23, 2023
By Augustus Goetz and Ruth Goetz
Director: Edie L. Norlin
On Washington Square in 1850s New York, The Heiress is the story of shy, plain Catherine Sloper, who falls desperately in love with a dashing young fortune hunter. Catherine’s lack of worldliness prevents her from realizing that the young man proposing to her is not entirely drawn to her by her charm. Catherine’s father, a successful doctor, sees through the fortune hunter and forbids the marriage. For the first time, Catherine begins to question both her father’s wisdom and his love for her, as she struggles to understand why he’d stand in the way of her happiness. Dr. Sloper begins to see a new side to his formerly meek only-child. As Catherine begins to truly understand for the first time how her father really feels about her, father and daughter are pitted against each other in a contest of wills that may forever change their relationship. Based on Henry James’ famous 1880 novel, Washington Square, the play explores the complicated love and hate between a father and his daughter.
The play is performed through special arrangement with Dramatist Play Service.
Performance Dates
Nov. 10–13, 2022
Nov. 17–20, 2022
Author: Sophocles
Translator: Robert Fagles
Director: Edie L. Norlin
Music Director: Paul D. Sanders
Sophocles’ ANTIGONE is the 3rd play in his Oedipus cycle. Taking place long after Oedipus has died, the play finds his oldest daughter, Antigone, in the midst of a moral dilemma. Her traitorous brother has fallen in battle and Creon, King of Thebes, demands that he receive no burial. According to the gods there is no rest in the afterlife without a proper burial. Antigone must standup to her angry, irrational uncle and beg on her brother’s behalf. Even with support from others, Creon remains stubbornly unmoved. In trying to honor both the gods and her brother, Antigone’s actions have tragic consequences.
The play is performed through arrangement with Georges Borchardt, Inc., on behalf of the Estate of Robert Fagles. All rights reserved.
Performance dates
March 31–April 3, 2022
April 7–10, 2022
Author: Sophocles
Translator: Robert Fagles
Director: Edie L. Norlin
Musical Director: Paul D. Sanders
Incidental Music: Paul D. Sanders
Starring:
Tim Smith (Oedipus)
Marilyn Sundin (Tiresia)
Performance dates
Nov. 11-14, 2021
Nov. 18-21, 2021
Presented through arrangement with Georges Borchardt, Inc., on behalf of the Estate of Robert Fagles. All rights reserved.
By William Shakespeare
Directed and edited by Edie L. Norlin
Starring:
Alexander Thomas (Brutus)
PJ Gassman (Cassius)
Zac Robison (Mark Antony)
And Brad Lepper (Julius Caesar)
A tragedy by William Shakespeare first performed in 1599, it is one of four plays written by Shakespeare based on true events from Roman history. Set in Rome in 44 BC, the play depicts the moral dilemma of Brutus as he joins a conspiracy led by Cassius to murder Caesar to prevent him from becoming dictator of Rome. Following Caesar's death, Rome is thrust into a period of civil war, and the republic the conspirators sought to preserve is lost forever.
By William Shakespeare
Edited and directed by Edie L. Norlin
The five-act tragedy was written in 1606–07 and first published in the First Folio of 1623. The play chronicles the rise of 11th century Macbeth from military leader to King of Scotland, whose seizing of power and subsequent destruction are the result of his blind ambition. One of the darkest of Shakespeare’s plays, the show features some of the most iconic roles in Western Theater. Macbeth is also the shortest and most accessible of his works.
Based on the 1912 novel by Jean Webster; Book by John Caird, Music and Lyrics by Paul Gordon
Directed by Edie L. Norlin; Music directed by Paul D. Sanders
A family-friendly musical charts a young female orphan's coming of age and education with help from a mysterious benefactor.
Performance dates
Nov. 14 - 17, 2019; Nov. 21 - 24, 2019
Presented through special arrangement with Music Theatre International
(performances cancelled due to pandemic)*
By Rachel Bonds
Directed by Edie L. Norlin
A drama about the complicated relationship between two brothers, one who left home, the other who stayed.
Presented through special arrangement with Samuel French, Inc.
A drama by Lee Blessing
Directed by Edie L. Norlin
Performance dates
April 4 - 7, 2019; April 11 - 14, 2019
Directed, written and starring local favorites Edie L. Norlin & Dennis Kohler
Performance dates:
Thurs., Feb. 14 through Sat., Feb. 17
A romantic comedy by Susan Sandler
Directed by Edie L. Norlin
Performance dates
November 8 - 11, 2018; November 15 - 18, 2018
Presented through special arrangement with Samuel French, Inc.
By George Axelrod
Directed by Edie L. Norlin
Performance dates
April 5 - 8, 2018; April 12 - 15, 2018
Presented through special arrangement with Samuel French, Inc.
By John Patrick Shanley
Directed by Edie L. Norlin
With a special appearance by Equity actor, Susan Pingleton* as Sr. Aloysius Beauvier
*Member of Actors’ Equity Association, the Union of Professional Actors and Stage Managers in the United States, appearing under a Special Appearance Contract
Performance dates
Nov. 9 - 12, 2017; Nov. 16 - 19, 2017
Presented through special arrangement with Dramatists Play Service, Inc.
By A. R. Gurney
Starring local favorites, Dennis Kohler & Edie L. Norlin
Spend Valentine's Day with your sweetheart at the theater!
Performance dates
Wednesday, February 14 - 16, 2018
Presented through special arrangement with Dramatists Play Service, Inc.