Faculty Performance Production: The Comeuppance by Branden Jacobs-Jenkins

Course Description

Summary

In this course, we will rehearse and perform a play: The Comeuppance by Branden Jacobs-Jenkins. 

Synopsis: When a group of old classmates meet to pregame their 20th high school reunion, everyone is nervous for the night ahead. As alcohol and pot help the self-declared “Multi-Ethnic Reject Group” let their guards down, they begin to reminisce about their teenage selves and reveal how their lives have unfolded since graduation. Did their friendships stand the test of time, or will they realize they don’t have as much in common as they thought they did?  Brilliantly witty, theatrical and moving, The Comeuppance focuses on millennials and their reckoning with the world they will soon inherit.

Branden Jacobs-Jenkins is a Brooklyn-based playwright, producer, Tony Award winner and two-time Pulitzer Prize for Drama finalist. Honors include a USA Artists fellowship, a Guggenheim fellowship, the MacArthur fellowship, the Windham-Campbell Prize for Drama and the inaugural Tennessee Williams Award.

“★★★★★ Branden Jacobs-Jenkins delivers his third masterpiece.” – The Stage

“The Comeuppance is a rich and fully mature work… a haunting new play. It’s a mystery of the fine writing that the humor does not squash but rather enhances the pathos surging underneath. When it erupts, it can be devastating.“ – The New York Times

“The Comeuppance channels and condenses what’s been floating in the ether and brings it all to earth. Here’s a drama where Branden Jacobs-Jenkins both sums up and reconfigures the present moment.” – New York Magazine

“Brilliant… a worthy successor to standouts like Gloria and An Octoroon.” – New York Stage Review

“The anxiety of elder millennials as we peer over the hill is a rich source of drama, and Jacobs-Jenkins finds thrilling ways to exploit that.” – TheaterMania

BY AUDITION ONLY 

Preparation: One contemporary monologue (comedic or dramatic).

Length: 2–3 minutes maximum. 

Requirement: Must be fully memorized and off-book.

Audition Dates: Thursday, Sept. 3rd & Friday, Sept. 4th.

Location: VAPA Room D207.

Callbacks: Will be held that same weekend (Sept. 5th–6th).

Sign-up: Sheet will be posted on the Drama bulletin board during the first week of classes.

Schedule: Rehearsals will occur Monday through Friday, 6:30–10:30 p.m., and Saturday, 12–6 p.m., though not all actors will be called every day.

Performances: September 20th, 21st, and 22nd at 8 p.m. in the Lester Martin Theater