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Theatre at Harding
The Boys Next Door
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Theatre at Harding
It's A Wonderful Life: A Live Radio Play
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Theatre at Harding
Campus Players
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Theatre at Harding
Student-directed one-acts
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Theatre at Harding
Constant opportunities for design, construction and management
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Theatre Productions
The Department of Theatre at Harding University is a year-round production environment. Students, faculty and staff are learning and teaching in an exciting and interactive manner. Theatre activities include musicals and musical revues, children's theatre, comedies, tragedies, classical theatre and contemporary works. Theatre is alive and well at Harding University! Come join us!
Searcy Summer Dinner Theatre: Escape from Reality
Both shows will be performed in the Ulrey Performing Arts Center on the Harding University campus. We plan to provide you with great food, state-of-the-art facilities and high-quality productions with talent from all around our community. Buy Tickets to our shows!
Harvey
June 10-13, 17-19, 24-26 — Ulrey Performing Arts Center
Harvey is the heartwarming and comedic story of Elwood P. Dowd and his unusual best friend. Elwood insists on including this friend, Harvey, in all of his sister Veta’s social gatherings. Trouble is, Harvey is an imaginary six-and-a-half-foot-tall rabbit. To avoid future embarrassment for her family, Veta decides to have Elwood committed to a sanitarium. At the sanitarium, however, a frantic Veta is mistakenly committed instead of her brother. Through lots of humorous misunderstandings and mistakes, Veta might just come to realize that maybe Harvey isn’t so bad after all.
Farce of Habit
July 15-18, 22-24, 29-31 — Ulrey Performing Arts Center
Farce of Habit is an absurdly funny Southern-fried romp that takes us to the Reel ’Em Inn, the finest little fishing lodge in the Ozarks. The proprietor is looking forward to a peaceful weekend on the lake. But there are only two chances of that happening: slim and none. This gloriously preposterous comedy will have you laughing your way through the entire show. The take-no prisoners lunacy of a Jones Hope Wooten comedy is one habit you’ll never want to break!
2021-22 Season
Homecoming Musical: “Elf the Musical”
Oct. 22-23 — Benson Auditorium
“Elf the Musical” is the Broadway-style musical adapted by Bob Martin and Thomas Meehan, which tells the story of Buddy, a young orphan, who mistakenly crawls into Santa’s bag of gifts and is transported to the North Pole. The would-be elf is raised, unaware that he is actually a human until his enormous size and poor toy-making abilities cause him to face the truth. With Santa’s permission, Buddy embarks on a journey to New York City to find his birth father and discover his true identity. Faced with the harsh realities that his father is on the naughty list and his half brother doesn’t even believe in Santa, Buddy is determined to win over his new family and help New York remember the true meaning of Christmas. Come join us for some well-deserved early Christmas cheer Homecoming weekend, Oct. 22-23, 2021, with “Elf the Musical” at Harding University.
“Little Women”
Dec. 9-11 — Ulrey Performing Arts Center
“Little Women” is based on a coming-of-age novel written by American novelist Louisa May Alcott and was adapted by Thomas Hischak. The story follows the lives of the four March sisters — Meg, Jo, Beth, and Amy — and details their passage from childhood to womanhood. The four March daughters continue to live in the hearts of readers, causing smiles and tears, triumph and tragedy as they grow up, fall in love and face life. Join us Dec. 9-11, 2021, in the Ulrey Performing Arts Center to enjoy this beloved classic directed by Dottie Frye.
“Antigone”
Feb. 11-12, 17-19 — Ulrey Performing Arts Center
“Antigone” is a tragic tale of too much pride and the dark consequences it can have. Antigone, a strong and passionate girl, wanted to give her brother a proper burial after he was killed in a fight for the throne. Creon, the new king of Thebes who rules with an iron fist, will not let Antigone bury her brother, as he had committed treason. However, after Antigone proceeds with the burial of he brother, Creon proceeds with a series of events that proves having too much pride can be one’s tragic downfall. This classic Greek tragedy will be presented in a non-classical manner, directed by Robin Miller, in the Ulrey Performing Arts Center Feb. 11-12 and 17-19, 2022.
Pied Pipers
The Pied Pipers of Harding, an improvisational children’s theatre troupe, will perform on campus Oct. 23, 2021, and April 16, 2022. The Pipers tour extensively nationally and internationally, performing for over 16,000 children every year.
Campus Players
Campus Players, a student organization for those interested in theatre, will present “Wendy and Peter” March 22-24, 2022. Campus Players will also host a 24-hour writing project in the fall, along with numerous other activities. Many theatre courses culminate in performance projects each year and many are open to the public. In particular, Play Directing II students present an annual one act festival each spring. There is always something happening on stage at Harding.
Spring Sing 2022
April 14-16, Benson Auditorium
“Moments,” our Spring Sing 2022 production, will celebrate the thousands of pivotal moments that make up our lives. Performance dates for the extravaganza are April 14-16 and tickets will be available on hardingtickets.com in late February or early March 2022. The annual musical revue program features over 1,000 students, comic parodies, amazing music, and incredible spectacle, bringing over 11,000 people to Searcy each year to see the production. Spring Sing is also noted for the thousands of dollars raised each year for local charities. The production is directed by Dr. Steven Frye.
Learn more about our annual productions and performance groups such as Spring Sing, Searcy Summer Dinner Theatre, Pied Pipers, Homecoming Musical and Campus Players.
Department of Theatre
We are a Christ-centered theatre program that challenges students to develop superior artistic skills in order to serve others in the areas of ministry, education and professional theatre.
