A young man and woman are smiling and looking at each other while dancing closely together in a warmly lit indoor setting.

A woman sitting on a chair on stage, reading a book, with a dimly lit background featuring a man in the background and a wooden wall with papers pinned to it.

Three women on stage acting out an emotional scene, with one woman in a red skirt and two women in white shirts, holding each other with distressed expressions.

Two young actors sit on a stage with a dark background. The male actor, dressed in a red jacket and white shirt, holds a steering wheel prop, while the female actor in a pink cardigan and white dress sits beside him. The scene is lit with red stage l

A woman in a yellow dress standing on a stage, speaking or singing passionately, with a dark background and a wooden frame behind her.

Three young actors on stage performing a scene with intense expressions. Two males and one female stand close, facing each other. The backdrop is dark with stage lights.

Two women on stage, one in a pink jacket and white skirt, the other in an orange skirt and white tank top, kneeling and touching faces while holding each other's faces, with dramatic lighting creating shadows.

Three actors performing on stage in costume, with two men wearing fedoras and one woman in casual vintage attire, engaged in dialogue or scene.

A theatrical scene with a woman singing or speaking passionately, illuminated by pink and purple stage lighting, with a man with pink hair listening, against a mostly dark background. A black and white portrait is visible on the wall to the left.

Two male performers on stage, one standing and leaning forward with a smile, the other bent over with eyes wide, both in casual clothing, with stage lighting and wooden props in the background.

Two women on stage, one with dark curly hair and a headset microphone, speaking passionately, and the other with light hair and an elaborate hat, standing quietly, in the spotlight.

Person with makeup and glasses kneeling on stage, wearing orange pants, white tank top, and black shoes, against a dark background.

Bonnie & Clyde

Northwestern University, WAVE Productions
Directed by Alexander Lopez
Produced by Connor Smith

Music by Frank Wildhorn
Lyrics by Don Black
Book by Ivan Menchell

Fall 2024

I fell in love with Bonnie and Clyde when I was in middle school. My first memory of it at that time was when I sketched a stage design for “Picture Show” in an old notebook, imagining what the show would look like performed on my middle school theatre stage. It was listening to Bonnie and Clyde for the first time that taught me how to imagine staging in my head and create narratives in my heart.
You are about to witness the story of two of America’s most famous criminals through a lens of love and attraction, highlighting beauty, passion, and the fight for freedom that so many Americans go through today. These two loved each other in a way I can only hope to know, and let their love topple over their sense of morality. Still, the two fought for their families and themselves to taste freedom while embedded in the lower class of the Great Depression.
By examining their attack on the institutions of religion and justice, we reflect on modern-day calls for representation, equality, and reformation in America. While we are not romanticizing crime and violence, we will acknowledge how Bonnie and Clyde’s fight against religion, government, and justice in the Great Depression reflects many sentiments of people today who desire to change the world. Through this fight, we are enlisting the imagery of a broken American dream, exploring how the institutions that promised to protect and support us come to fail us.
Through our production of Bonnie & Clyde, I hope to show America its reflection in the mirror, asking if current systems of oppression and inequality truly reflect the love, desire, and passion within the ideal of freedom. I also hope to continue to highlight the ways in which love, care, family, and friends can support us through trying times. I wish for all of you seeing this show that you leave feeling a larger capacity for love in your hearts and a broader sense of empathy for equality and freedom in the world.

Bonnie & Clyde

Director's Note

Alexander Lopez