28th Season
Bold Adventurous Theatre
...Anything But Square

Carpenter Square Theatre is proud to announce the 2011-2012 season of shows!
CST brings you the shows you won't see at any other local theater.

Join us in our new venue - located at 800 West Main on the southwest corner of Main & Shartel in Downtown Oklahoma City.

Discover what everyone's talking about...as we celebrate 28 years of quality alternative theatre in Oklahoma City.
For more information, please call (405) 232-6500.

Ticket Information

(Due to the nature of performing arts events, all titles subject to change.)
 

September 8 - 24, 2011
Superior Donuts
a comedy-drama by Tracy Letts,
Pulitzer Prize-winning author of AUGUST: OSAGE COUNTY


The newest play from Oklahoma's Tracy Letts is set in a run-down donut shop in the heart of one of Chicago's most diverse communities where Arthur Przybyszewski runs the shop that has been in his family for sixty years. Arthur is content to spend the day smoking weed and reminiscing about his Polish immigrant father.

The outside world comes crashing through the shop's front door in the character of Franco Wicks, a 21-year-old African-American who applies for a part-time job. His arrival shakes things up immediately. Franco has both an unpublished novel and an unpaid gambling debt.  SUPERIOR DONUTS explores the challenges of embracing the past and the redemptive power of friendship. 

"...a witty, seductive, live-wire and greatly entertaining dark comedy
that you just don't want to end and you just don't want to miss."
- Chicago Tribune

"…a soulful play, full of humor and humanity…drawn with deep affection."
—Variety

 "…a funny and moving evening of theater…as fresh and tasty as a doughnut right out of the oven."
—BackStage
 

Dark Matters is a suspense thriller about the secrets that hold families together and the terrible truths we sometimes choose to ignore in the people we love.

"…science fiction is virtually off the menu of contemporary playwriting.
So give Mr. Aguirre-Sacasa credit for trying to stretch the boundaries
of contemporary theater with a little pop-culture fun."
—NY Times

"Fans of both The Twilight Zone and The X-Files will find lots to like in DARK MATTERS…
Aguirre-Sacasa keeps one's head spinning with all of his story's delicious and sinister possibilities…"
—NYTheatre.com

"…a taut thriller, smartly constructed and written…"
—CurtainUp
 

November 24 - December 17, 2011

THE FOX ON THE FAIRWAY takes audiences on a hilarious romp which pulls the rug out from underneath the stuffy denizens of a private country club. Filled with mistaken identities, slamming doors, and over-the-top romantic shenanigans, it's a furiously paced comedy that recalls the Marx Brothers' classics. A charmingly madcap adventure about love, life, and man's eternal love affair with… golf.

"A grand slam…a joy to behold!"− Washington City Paper. "Farce raised to an art."
– The Home-News Tribune

"A belly laugh marathon! An amazingly ingenious satirical farce."
− Showbizradio.net

"Joyously ridiculous!"
− TalkinBroadway.com
 

January 13 - February 4, 2012

"Keith Huff's A Steady Rain offers one of the most powerful theatrical experiences in many seasons."
–David Sheward, Back Stage

"A gritty, rich, thick, poetic and entirely gripping noir tale of two Chicago police officers
whose inner need to serve and protect both consumes them and rips them apart."
—Chris Jones, Chicago Tribune

"A Steady Rain turns out to be less like the perpetual drizzle of its title and more like a snowball
that builds to an avalanche ...A Steady Rain [has] genuine dramatic power and a sense of true tragedy."
—Steven Oxman, Variety

"Huff's vivid, intricately layered script... lifts [the play] far above the usual clichés,
both detaching us from the melodrama and imbuing it with the force of tragedy."
—Richard Zoglin, Time

 

Based on true stories of immigration, the subject is explored and fictionalized by a playwright who tries to understand her own story. The moral of the "fable" might be that - regardless of our passport and native language - we are all "aliens" in search for love, understanding and a place to call "home".

A clown from the "unhappiest country in the world", Moldova, pins her hopes on a US work visa. Chased by Homeland Security, a deportation letter deflates Nadia's enthusiasm and a pair of spike heels might be all it takes to burst her American Dream (or turn it into a nightmare). New York City, with its special energy, seems like the perfect solution for her problems, but is it really? Luckily, Nadia is not alone in her journey: A Russian illegal immigrant, Borat, her fellow clown, tries to find his own path in the Big Apple. Lupita, her Latina roommate, an exotic dancer and wanna-be actress, shows Nadia the tough side of the city. Meanwhile, Bob, an American washed-up musician finds himself in a relationship with the Moldovan girl.
 

"…an enchanting piece of theater…Ms. Stanescu's dialogue is flawlessly observant."
-The New York Times

"Saviana Stanescu introduces us to two remarkable, resilient young women; it's gratifying to find a smart and intriguing play like this one, not only created by females but also focused on a pair of memorable heroines …Stanescu takes the audience into territory that will be uncharted for most of them: the immigrant experience is presented here with candor and without a shred of romanticism."
- Martin Denton, www.nytheatre.com

"Aliens with Extraordinary Skills may feel just like a lark—there's understated silliness,
a set of adorable strugglers and just the right thread of romance."
-Time Out
 

April 1-23, 2012
These Shining Lives
a comedy-drama by Melanie Marnich

Based on the true story of the women who worked for The Radium Dial Company in the 1920s and '30s, this chronicles the strength and determination of women considered expendable in their day, exploring their true story and its continued resonance. Catherine and her friends are dying, it's true; but theirs is a story of survival in its most transcendent sense, as they refuse to allow the company that stole their health to kill their spirits—or endanger the lives of those who come after them.

"[Marnich] has an ear for warm, natural dialogue that eschews snarky quips and truisms
…the play's linguistic honesty satisfies."
—Time Out New York

"…has a humanistic glow…clockwork precision…an initially comic and ultimately tragic look at how
individual women find employment within a system more concerned with profit than safety."
—Variety

"Perfect, touching and wistful…beautifully tragic."
—Talkin' Broadway
 

May 18 - June 9, 2012
Distracted
a comedy by Lisa Loomer

What's wrong with nine-year-old Jesse? He can't sit still, he curses, he raps, and you can't get him into—or out of—pajamas. His teacher thinks it's Attention Deficit Disorder. Dad says, "He's just a boy!" And Mama's on a quest for answers. Is Jesse dysfunctional, or just different? Don't we all have ADD, to some degree? She consults a psychologist, a homeopath, a neuropsychologist, and an environmental physician. She talks to neighbors, whose kids have their own diagnoses. A psychiatrist prescribes Ritalin for Jesse, but surely a pill can't solve all of his problems. Throughout, Jesse is an offstage voice, becoming louder and angrier, but he is in danger of fading away. And his parents' marriage is in peril. Everyone is distracted, even the actors—they're breaking character! A hilarious, provocative, and poignant look at a modern family and an epidemic dilemma: Are we so tuned into our 24/7 info-rich world that we've tuned out what really matters?

"A smartly comic, sharply observant and surprisingly humane play."
—Associated Press

"A chronically entertaining comedy."
—New York Daily News

"Five stars. My favorite comedy of the year!"
—Time Out NY
 

June 29 - July 21, 2012
End Days
a comedy by Deborah Zoë Laufer

Sixteen year old Rachel Stein is having a bad year. Her father hasn't changed out of his pajamas since 9/11. Her mother has begun a close, personal relationship with Jesus. Her new neighbor, a sixteen-year-old Elvis impersonator, has fallen for her hard. And the Apocalypse is coming Wednesday. Her only hope is that Stephen Hawking will save them all. End Days received the 2008 American Theatre Critics Association Steinberg citation.

"…Both poignantly redemptive and often hilariously funny. It begs the
question of what we would hold most sacred if we knew the end was near.
– The Huffington Post

"The universality of the denouement brings this comedy full circle, leaving us to
admire the relevancy of Laufer's humor and wisdom of her message."
– Variety

"…rapturously funny play about a family trying to survive in a world hurtling toward Armageddon,
proves that the right playwright can inspire healing laughter in even the most sobering subjects."
– The Miami Herald

"The smartest, most hysterical, laugh-out-loud show you'll see in the theater…A witty, funny and relevant play."
- Martha's Vineyard Plum

 

Season tickets now on sale. Phone (405) 232-6500 for more information.

Updated: January 08, 2012