Upstage Left Theatre is an independent student-run theatre group, dedicated to putting on quality performances for the Cornell community.

Members have the opportunity to gain experience in all aspects of production, including acting, set design, lighting, building, directing and administrative aspects. If you are interested in getting involved, send us an email at upstage-left@cornell.edu

Here are some of our recent shows, and some interesting tidbits:

A Midsummer Night's Dream - Spring 2001
For this show we took a semester off from our usual home at Risley Theater, and performed at the top of Libe slope, next to the Johnson museum. Our custom-built stage even had a trap door for Puck's dramatic exits. The weather turned out much colder than we would have hoped, but many determined audience members stuck through.

Exit the Body - Fall 2000
We performed this lesser-known farce at our good old home in Risley. And, in good farsical fashion, the show was filled with mistaken identities, people running through doors, and bodies hanging in closets. To top it all off, Justin Peters delivered an excellent impromtu beatnik poem at the end of the final show, proving once again that only amatures stick to the script.

Odd Couple - Spring 2000
Audiences (and cast members) got more than they bargained for, as USL broke all the rules for Neil Simon's classic comedy. With the help of window-jumping and pirate imatations, audiences were rolling in the aisles for this one. After all, isn't theatre all about keeping the audience on their toes? Howie Goldstein (Oscar) starred under Daniel Fischer's direction.

Noises Off - Fall 1999
Doors. This show proved that there is one magical component to any successful farce, and that's doors. With one of the biggest sets ever erected in Risley, the group took audiences by storm with this stair falling, underwear showing, pants dropping, window breaking, and of course, door slamming performance. Ben Bleiberg directed the sublime cast in Michael Frayn's classic self-referential farce.

A Night Of One Acts - Spring 1999
We performed a series of three one-acts for this show. Black Comedy provided a new twist on the standard farce - the lighting was reversed. Whenever the lights were suppossed to be out for the characters, the lights went on for the audience; because watching people bumble around in "darkness" is nothing but entertaining. In The Watchmaker, two watchmakers breathe in a little too much radioactive dye, and start seeing Einstein. The show closed with After Liverpool, a more serious piece about relationships and what it means to give someone an apple.

Beyond Therapy - Fall 1998
Our actors had a hard time keeping a straight face while performing this insanely bizzare absurdist comedy by Christopher Durang. Practically every character is a lunatic in their own way, including the seedy psychiatrist Stuart, that tries to convince his patients to have sex with him, or the conservative Prudence, in love with a gay man, or the toucy-feely psychiatrist Charlotte, who keeps crayon drawings on her walls. This production also saw the creation of the USL cow couch, used as a chair in Charlotte's office, which later made an appearance as Titania's bed in Midsummer's.