STERLING — A talking lion, a newsboy named Crutchie, a dog named “Bruiser” and Anne Hathaway will all grace the stage during Sterling College Theatre’s 2021–2022 season. Two musicals, two plays, one children’s show and a unique docu-musical will be included in the season.

First up will be Disney’s “Newsies,” which will be presented as the Homecoming musical this year on Oct. 14–17. Centered on the newsboy (or “newsies” as they were called) strike of the 1890s, the wildly popular Disney musical is well known for its highly energetic dance. Crutchie is one of the lead characters in the show. 

The first play of the year will be the new title “The Book of Will” by America’s most popular current playwright Lauren Gunderson. The fictional play is based on the attempt of Shakespeare’s contemporaries to publish his plays after his death. “The Book of Will” will be staged Nov. 19-21. Anne Hathaway – not today’s Hollywood A-lister but Shakespeare’s wife – is a character in the show.  

December will see a unique 10-man acapella “docu-musical.” Blending Christmas carols and World War One songs, the show is entitled “All Is Calm: The Christmas Truce of 1914.” It will be staged at Sterling High School Dec. 9-11. 

Feb. 4-6, 2022, will see a stage production of C. S. Lewis’ classic “The Lion, The Witch, and the Wardrobe.” The adaptation by Adrian Mitchell features the iconic title characters of Aslan, the lion, and the White Witch. The show will also be presented for a special school matinee. 

The spring musical to be staged on March 4-7, 2022, will be “Legally Blonde: the musical.” With music and lyrics by Laurence O’Keefe and Nell Benjamin and book by Heather Hach, the story is based on the novel “Legally Blonde” by Amanda Brown and the ever-popular Reese Witherspoon film of the same name. “Bruiser” is the name of leading character Elle Wood’s small pet dog in both the movie and musical. 

Oscar Wilde’s “An Ideal Husband” will be presented April 8-10, 2022. Written and set in 1895, Wilde’s classic play continues to delight audiences over a century later with its mixture of scandal, humor, melodrama and satire. Sterling College senior theater major Ava Bachert will direct this production.   

Sterling College Theatre Artistic Director Sasha Hildebrand will direct the two musicals and “The Book of Will.” Vocal music director Marisa Callan is music director for the musicals. Technical director Stephen English will helm “The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe” and Arts Director Dennis Dutton will direct the Christmas production. 

“I am pleased with our lineup of shows this year,” Hildebrand said. “Each year it is a challenge to find the right mix of shows that will give our students ample opportunity to perform, design and construct plus our audiences a balance of comedy and drama as well as entertainment. While our two musicals this year are very popular with our students, they are both audience pleasers as well. It will be great to have our audiences and students experience a new play with ‘The Book of Will’ and, of course, classics like Wilde and Lewis will always have a place on stage.” 

In addition to the regular theater season, there will be additional showcases for senior theater students that will be announced as they are scheduled. The closing production of the academic year will the annual night of one-act plays directed by younger theater students. 

All productions with the exception of “All Is Calm” will be in Culbertson Auditorium in Spencer Hall on the campus of Sterling College. Tickets for individual shows will be available online as well as at the door before each performance.

Tickets for the first show, the musical “Newsies,” are already available online at sterling-college.ticketleap.com.