Theater

Last Ward: Duke Health Matinee

Last Ward: Duke Health Matinee

Friday, November 15 at 1:00pm

A Duke Health exclusive 60-minute matinee performance of Last Ward that intertwines an abbreviated presentation with a conversation about the artists' creative process and the role of the arts in healthcare. A New York Times Critics’ Pick, Last Ward is a work of dance theatre that follows one man’s journey towards death in a hospital room.

Bill’s 44th

Bill’s 44th

February 28 - March 2

Bill’s 44th is an original comedic puppet show for grown-ups created by puppeteers Dorothy James & Andy Manjuck around one very worried leading man – Bill.

Last Ward: Yaa Samar! Dance Theatre

Last Ward: Yaa Samar! Dance Theatre

November 15 - November 16

A New York Times Critics’ Pick, Last Ward is a work of dance theatre that follows one man’s journey towards death in a hospital room. This highly visual evening length performance is performed in Arabic with English supertitles.

An Oak Tree: Tim Crouch

An Oak Tree: Tim Crouch

February 7 - February 8

See the play that shaped a theatre landscape in this rare revival. When it opened in 2005, Tim Crouch’s An Oak Tree changed the rules of the game: bringing in an actor who has neither seen nor read the play.

Fight Night: Ontroerend Goed

Fight Night: Ontroerend Goed

October 4, 2024 - October 5, 2024

Five actor-candidates vie for your real-time vote using charm, byzantine rules, audience polls – anything but the issues themselves. The play takes one of over 100 possible outcomes as the audience eliminates candidates one-by-one in this unforgettable theatrical experience.

11th Organ II

11th Organ II

April 11, 2024 - April 12, 2024

Presented by “There is always a dark precursor that no one sees, and then the lightning bolt that illuminates, and there is the world.” Performed in the round, the second ...

Duras Song

October 24, 2023

“I write books in a difficult place, that is to say between music and silence. I think it’s something like that. We always miss something, this is forced, it is ...

Lost Dog: Juliet & Romeo

Lost Dog: Juliet & Romeo

January 25, 2024 - January 26, 2024

Presented by “A brilliant piece of dance theatre that’s honest and insightful about long-term relationships – and very funny” Lost Dog’s show reveals the real story of Romeo and Juliet. It ...

Ocean Filibuster

September 22, 2023 - September 24, 2023

Ocean Filibuster: a genre-crashing music theater experience set in a future Global Senate. When “Mr. Majority” proposes a bill to end the ocean as we know it, The Ocean arrives ...

Songs in Flight

Songs in Flight

April 3, 2024

Presented by In 2019, Cornell University started “Freedom on the Move,” a database of “runaway ads” from the United States’ early newspapers—names, dates, descriptions, rewards. The database notes that it ...

On Beckett

On Beckett

March 27, 2024 - March 28, 2024

Presented by “A delicious piece of theater… a playful, intimate experiment conducted by a master practitioner… utterly delightful” Bill Irwin can’t escape Samuel Beckett. He has spent a lifetime captivated by ...

Welcoming Audiences to the Newly Renovated Reynolds Industries Theater

Reynolds Industries Theater went dark in the beginning of fall semester 2022 for replacement of its HVAC system. Thanks to support from Duke Arts, Duke Facilities Management, Duke Student Affairs, and the efforts of the venue and production management team, it has come roaring back to life. The refreshed theater boasts many improvements, and a new Duke blue main curtain is ready to be drawn for the upcoming musical Rent, a production by Duke's Theater Studies Department in collaboration with Hoof ‘n’ Horn.

U.S. Tour of Works by Felwine Sarr Comes to Duke Performances

Felwine Sarr, Anne-Marie Bryan Distinguished Professor of Romance Studies at Duke, has been described in various biographies as a public intellectual, humanist, philosopher, economist, musician, playwright and poet. His face and his distinguished work will soon become more familiar to the community with the production of two of his plays by Duke Performances.

Duke Alumni and Faculty Lead the Return of Live Theater

After nearly two years of virtual performances, live theater has made its long-awaited return to both Broadway and Duke’s campus. Samantha Streit ‘22, who was part of the cast of Duke Theater Studies’ Fall Mainstage Show Golem, interviews Duke alumni and faculty about their thoughts on producing theater during the pandemic and what the future holds for live performances.

Maria Zurita Ontiveros ’21: Dreaming

In a world where comic book characters live side by side with real people, Malachi Washington works to free comics cast in prejudice bodies while Bob McCay seeks to revive his father's comic strip Little Nemo in Slumberland. What follows is a compelling story of reckoning, healing, and examining the racist legacy of comics and animation, told through various forms of puppetry.

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Valerie Muensterman ‘20: Writing the One-Actor Play

I wrote a full-length play titled God's Last Name, a piece written for one actor and a series of recorded voices. The play tells the story of Huck and Amy, two sisters who find themselves driving a mysterious (and possibly dangerous?) hitchhiker to St. Louis.

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Rude Mechs
Now Now Oh Now

Rude Mechs Now Now Oh Now DUKE PERFORMANCES PREMIERE: WED, SEP 24 – SUN, SEP 27, 2014 Internationally celebrated Austin, Texas theater collective Rude Mechs have been delighting audiences with ...

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Hoi Polloi
Republic

Hoi Polloi Republic DUKE PERFORMANCES PREMIERE: THU, FEB 20-SAT, MAR 1, 2014 Brooklyn theater company Hoi Polloi creates full-throttle theatrical experiences that look at how Americans come together and how ...

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The Civilians + Ethan Lipton
School Project

The Civilians & Ethan Lipton School Project DUKE PERFORMANCES PREMIERE: WED, OCT 4, 2017FIRST WORK-IN-PROGRESS SHOWING: SAT, JAN 28, 2017 The Civilians, Duke Performances Artists-in-Residence and practitioners of investigative theater, ...

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How Do You Teach Art & Collaborate Remotely?

Duke faculty teaching visual arts, music, and theater share how they navigated the move to online teaching. It wasn’t easy. Supplies were mailed, collaborative projects were reinvented. Transformations and solutions discovered this spring have expanded the teaching repertoire—even as we look forward to safely returning to studio and stage.

Samantha Steger ‘20: Acting for Film

I spent the summer studying with the New York Film Academy in Paris, France. There, I got the chance to spend five days a week learning on-camera acting technique. After class and on weekends I acted in students' films, all in the place where cinema was born.

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Me Too Monologues Celebrates 10 Years of Storytelling at Duke

We look back at 10 years of the Me Too Monologues at Duke. "It is a communal experience and I think that’s the core of what it means,” says Anne Delmedico, this year's producer. "No matter what challenges you’re facing—whether you relate to the challenges on the stage or not—you are not alone."

In The Heights: A Musical Celebration of Community and Latinx Diversity

“This show is such a beautiful showcase of a culture that is often misrepresented,” says Maria Zurita-Ontiveros, a Duke Sophomore and Director of Hoof ‘n’ Horn’s Spring 2019 production of In The Heights. Duke Arts sits down with Maria and lead cast member, Gustavo Andrade, to learn more about how this special show celebrates Latinx diversity and empowers individuals to proudly represent the communities they call home.

1600 Vine: The Musical

1600 Vine: The Musical is an original multimedia theatrical project loosely based on a Los Angeles apartment complex that is home to social media’s trendiest celebrities.

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People of Duke Arts: Chuck Catotti

Chuck Catotti retires from Duke University this week after a year as director of the Rubenstein Arts Center and after 33 years in theater and box office management for venues across campus.

Faculty Profile: Jeff Storer

Some days he’s an artist who teaches and some days he’s a teacher who makes art, but either way, Professor Jeff Storer thinks it is a happy advantage that he can be both—for him and his students.