BU Players to Stage Harsh Lands: A Collection of Short Plays

Bloomsburg, PA (10/30/2026) — Commonwealth University-Bloomsburg's BU Players will stage Harsh Lands: A Collection of Short Plays Nov. 5 to 8.

Performances are Thursday through Saturday, Nov. 5 to 7, at 7:30 p.m., and Sunday, Nov. 8, at 3 p.m. at the Alvina Krause Theatre, 226 Center Street, in downtown Bloomsburg. The approximate running time of the show is 120 minutes, which includes a 10-minute intermission.

Tickets are free for CU-Bloomsburg students with ID, $6 for adults, and $4 for students and seniors. Tickets are available in advance at buplayers.org or at the door one hour before curtain.

CU-Bloomsburg theatre faculty member Dr. Carrie Winship is directing the production.

The production features the work of Susan Glaspell and Gwen Pharis Ringwood, two significant North American playwrights who are celebrated for their distinct plays that often weave non-realistic and realistic theatrical writing together. Each of the three plays included in this production is an example of "frontier" drama and focuses on the particular hardships that the characters face living in frontier or on-the-edge landscapes during the early 20th century.

The three specific plays included are:

• Trifles by Susan Glaspell: The wife of a strangled farmer is arrested on suspicion. While officers and neighbors search the old farmhouse for evidence, two female friends discover the truth only they can see....
• The Outside by Susan Glaspell: Set on the bleak, rocky coast of Cape Cod, the play centers on two women who are forced to reveal how deeply they have been numbed by their own losses when an unexpected visitor arrives.
• Still Stands the House by Gwen Pharis Ringwood: Bruce finally agrees to give up his house for his wife's sake when a city man makes him an offer. But his sister refuses to move from the house with its hallowed memories. She may need to do more than stand her ground to keep her home.