In recent holiday seasons, the idea of giving the gift of “experience” rather than “stuff” has gained popularity. Season tickets for The New Harmony Theatre, the University’s professional Equity theatre, make thoughtful gifts for anyone on your shopping list. University employees are eligible for discounted tickets at the group rate: $46 for the season; $18 for plays; and $20 for musicals.

The New Harmony Theatre begins its 20th anniversary season with a new artistic director, Lenny Leibowitz, and a Tony Award-winning play. The 2007 season includes:

Amadeus
June 8-24, 2007
Peter Shaffer’s Amadeus brings the brilliance of one of the world’s greatest composers to life. We see Mozart through the eyes of his musical rival, Antonio Salieri, who believes that Mozart is a composer of such genius that his music can only be the voice of God on earth. But Salieri cannot believe God would allow such a “graceless, foul-mouthed libertine” as Mozart to reveal such “absolute beauty.” Vincent Canby of The New York Times calls Amadeus a “confrontation between mediocrity and genius” that is “terrifically entertaining.”

The Importance of Being Earnest
July 6-22
Take a walk on the Wilde side with this riotously funny comic masterpiece that is “full of rib-tickling text, sparkling language…[and] audacious comic predicaments,” according to The New York Times. Oscar Wilde’s hilarious romp features two blushing brides-to-be, Gwendolyn and Cecily, who are in love with Jack and Algernon. But the men have bent the truth – neither is quite who he claims to be. Enter Algernon’s aunt, Lady Bracknell, to sort things out. Will love find a way? Only after Wilde’s sharp wit has wrung every possible laugh from this delicious romantic romp.

I do, I do!
July 27-August 12
In celebration of its 20th anniversary season, The New Harmony Theatre is taking a fresh look at a Tony Award-winning musical first produced at the theatre in 1994. With book and lyrics by Tom Jones and lyrics by Harvey Schmidt, this delightful and realistic look at marriage starred Mary Martin and Robert Preston in the original Broadway production, and produced the standard, "My Cup Runneth Over." “Charming and endearing, feisty and tender,” I Do, I Do! introduces us to Michael and Agnes on their wedding day and traces their lives together over a period of 50 years, from wedding night jitters to raising a family, from mid-life crises and quarrels to reconciliations and growing old together, until they ultimately leave their house to another pair of newlyweds. This loving story is told to the tune of a charming score.

For more information, go to www.usi.edu/nht.