Southeastern Theatre celebrates milestones

Southeastern Louisiana University Theatre is celebrating two milestones this season — the return to a newly renovated Vonnie Borden Theatre and the graduation of its second class of B.A. in Theatre students.

To mark the reopening, the Mainstage Season opens with the very first production ever produced in the Vonnie Borden Theatre in 1971 — Thornton Wilder’s “Our Town,” directed by playwright and theatre artist Donna Gay Anderson, daughter of Vonnie Borden.

The 1938 Pulitzer Prize–winning drama by Thornton Wilder serves as the inaugural production in the newly renovated theatre. The classic American drama asks, “Do we ever realize life while we live it?” It follows the interconnected lives, loves, and losses of a fictional small American town between 1901 and 1913.

Instructor of Theatre Anne-Liese Juge Fox said to celebrate this special event, there will be a panel discussion with the original 1971 cast members of Our Town on Thursday, Oct. 22, at 2 p.m., in Vonnie Borden Theatre, located at 1220 SGA Drive in Hammond on Southeastern’s campus. Fox said Alumni from every era are invited to return to campus and see the Vonnie Borden Theatre back in full power.

Our Town runs from Oct. 21 – 24, and each production begins at 7:30 p.m. Tickets are free for Southeastern students with valid university ID, $20 general admission, and $15 discounted for seniors, non-Southeastern students, and military.

Southeastern Theatre’s 2026–2027 Mainstage Season features four productions, including Our Town, across three campus performance spaces, all united by the theme of hope and community. Tickets are available at the door or two weeks before opening at www.southeastern.edu/boxoffice.

The next production during the fall semester is “The Dames Are Not to Blame: La Cheniere Caminada.” The show runs Nov. 18–21, in the D Vickers Studio. Please note that seating in the new studio space is limited. Tickets are free for Southeastern students with valid university ID, $20 general admission, and $15 discounted for seniors, non-Southeastern students, and military.

The world premiere of this choreopoem by Cheryl J. Williams tells the story of four volunteers who survive the night during the catastrophic 1893 Cheniere Caminada hurricane, which altered Louisiana’s coastline forever. When the boundaries blur between land and water, life and death, stories become not only a refuge but a revelation and an affirmation.

Two productions will be offered during the spring semester. First up is “Cats!” scheduled March 12 and 19 at 7:30 p.m. and March 13 and 20 at 2 p.m. in Southeastern’s Columbia Theatre for the Performing Arts.

In collaboration with the Columbia Theatre and the Department of Music and Performing Arts, the production is directed by Chad Winters and Kristi-Anne Lyons. The beloved Broadway musical, inspired by T.S. Eliot’s Old Possum’s Book of Practical Cats, brings together a gathering of cats who share their stories and celebrate the chance at a new life.

Tickets are $25–$40, and admission is free for Southeastern students with valid university ID. Tickets may be purchased online at columbiatheatre.org or call 985-549-SHOW.

The second show of the spring semester and final of the season is “Enter Two Murderers” by Mark Holley. Scheduled April 28–May 1, in D Vickers Studio, the production is the winner of Southeastern’s 2026 Inkslinger Playwriting Contest and directed by Gary Mendoza. All shows begin at 7:30 p.m.

Life wickedly imitates art in this light-hearted tragicomedy, when actors cast as Shakespeare’s murderous couple begin planning a murder of their own. Now in its 14th year, Southeastern’s Inkslinger Playwriting Contest remains the South’s premier competition for emerging playwrights.

Tickets are free for Southeastern students with valid university ID, $20 general admission, and $15 discounted for seniors, non-Southeastern students, and military.

For more information, contact Anne-Liese Juge Fox at [email protected].