A NOTE FROM THE CHAIR

Welcome to the Babcock Theatre and our fourth mainstage production of the 2022/2023 season!

We opened our season in September with a rollicking musical adventure on the high seas: The Old Man and The Old Moon. The journey continued in Studio 115 with Somewhere: A Primer for the End of Days, a timely fable about our impact on the environment and its impact on us. In November, the song cycle In Pieces explored the trials and triumphs of people seeking connection in modern-day New York.

Tonight we’re thrilled to present The Sweet Science of Bruising by Joy Wilkinson, a tale of pugilism, politics, and personal identity in Victorian England. Inspired by photographs, records, and recollections of nineteenth-century women's boxing, this play presents an imagined account of an obscure, fascinating moment in time.

In 1869, an eccentric promoter recruits four very different women to fight for the invented title of “Lady Boxing Champion of the World.” As they train and compete in underground bouts, all four find unexpected freedom and solidarity in the “sweet science” of boxing. The championship soon becomes a prize with life-changing potential, but in nineteenth-century London the most fearsome opponents lie outside the ring—and they play by a different set of rules.

Our next production, Shakespeare’s As You Like It, comes to Studio 115 in March, offering an alternate vision of this beloved comedy about the roles we play in life and love. We close our season in the Babcock with the 1998 revival edition of Cabaret. Based on the critically acclaimed West End production by Sam Mendes, this adaptation is a lean, ferocious reimagining of the Kander and Ebb classic.

Thank you once again for joining us. We are truly proud to present this remarkable season of plays and musicals, and we hope you share our enthusiasm. Next season promises even more excitement when we begin performing in the new Meldrum Theatre at the Einar Nielsen Fieldhouse!

Meanwhile, please visit us online at our website, theatre.utah.edu, or email us at info@theatre.utah.edu with any feedback or questions. We’ll see you at the theatre!

Sydney Cheek-O’Donnell, PhD Chair, Department of Theatre