When the spread of the COVID-19 pandemic forced the leaders of the Seattle Pacific University Theatre Department to cancel all performances, many theatre students were left without what they love most: performing. Friday, May 1 represented an important day for the theatre department as they announced their 2020-2021 season through a Zoom chat with theatre students and faculty.

As their 60th season and with plans to put on five shows instead of four, 2020-2021 is shaping up to be an important year for the theatre department. 

The first of these shows, “The Shakers of Mount Lebanon Will Hold A Peace Conference This Month,” was originally scheduled for this year’s spring season but is now slated to be performed Nov. 12-14 and 19-21 of 2020. 

Sophomore theatre major Andrew Bolland was originally supposed to be a part of “Shakers” and will return with the original cast in November.

“I am super excited. During the audition process I got a chance to read a version of the script and it is such a great story, and it’s something that I think a lot of people would benefit from seeing and I’m really glad it is going to get a chance to come back to the stage and be performed,” Bolland said. 

The next show is “A Midsummer Night’s Dream,” which is to be performed Feb. 4-6 and 11-13 of 2021. This classic play by William Shakespeare which, as alluded to in departments’ reveal video, featured an 1980s twist.

The theatre department will also be featuring student-directed one-act plays in a show titled “Here & Now,” which will be showing March 9-13, 2021. These plays will be written by local professional screenwriters and directed by SPU theater students.

They will also be performing another classic “Pride and Prejudice,” adapted from the novel by Jane Austen. This is set to run April 22-24 and April 29-May 1 of 2021.

“I am super excited for ‘Pride and Prejudice’ partly because it is a really fun show but partially because it is the show I did my junior year of high school … It has a little bit of nostalgia appeal for me,” Bolland said.

The final play of the upcoming season was also meant to premiere in Spring 2020: Shakespeare’s “Cymbeline,” which is now set to play in the theater May 25-29, 2021.

The upcoming season is billed to be a strong one for the theatre department, a much needed expectation for SPU students and faculty to look forward to.