Immediate Release
August 23, 2007, Carbondale, IL

07- 08 IMPRESSIVE Season for SIUC Theater
The SIUC Theater Department 2007-2008 Season line-up is impressive.  The season will consist of a five show subscription series, two events that feature new works, and two special major events.

The five show subscription series includes “Biloxi Blues” by Neil Simon (Oct. 4-7), “Talking With” by Jane Martin (Oct. 25-28), “Death and the King’s Horseman” by Wole Soyinka (Feb. 28 – March 2) “The Fastest Woman Alive” by Karen Sunde (Apr. 3-6), and “The Full Monty” by Terrence McNally and David Yavek (Apr. 23-27).  “It’s an amazing selection of plays,” says Mark Varns, Chair of the Theater Department.  “They cover a variety of issues and  a range of styles.  I think our audience and students will find each one individually interesting and as a series, remarkable.”

Of particular note are the guest artists coming to work with the students.  “Death and the King’s Horseman” is being co-produced by the SIUC Theater Department and the St. Louis Black Repertory Theater.  The cast for the production will be a combination of SIUC students and professionals from the Black Rep.  The show will star Ron Himes, founder and artistic director of the Black Rep.  Ron Himes is also the Henry E. Hampton, Jr. Artist-in-Residence at Washington University.  Among his many awards is the Arts and Education Council Award for Lifetime achievement, given in 2001. (Ron Himes http://www.theblackrep.org/)
 
“Death and The King’s Horseman” will be performed first at SIUC  Feb. 28 – March 2 and then will be presented at the Black Repertory in St. Louis as part of their season from March 19 - April 13.  “It’s a wonderful opportunity for the students,” said Segun Ojewuyi who initiated the collaborative venture and will direct the production. “Our students will be getting professional experience with a first rate company, and St. Louis Theater audiences will get to hear more about the incredible work we’re doing here at SIUC.”

“The Fastest Woman Alive,” which tells the life story of Jackie Cochran the first woman pilot to break the sound barrier, features guest director George Ferencz.   Mr. Ferencz’s has many international credits for directing, but is probably best known for his current position as resident director of New York’s La Mama Theater. (http://www.georgeferencz.com/index.html) La Mama is probably the only theater in New York which started during the experimental movement of the sixties that still survives.  (History of LaMama can be found at http://www.lamama.org/)

The two special events on the schedule are “wowers.”   First, two-time Tony Award winning actress Judith Ivey, popularly known for her role on the last season of “Designing Women” will be visiting the SIUC Theater Department for a series of master class workshops with the SIUC Theater students.  Judith Ivey has appeared in hundreds of films, television shows, and stage productions.  She is also active as a director.   -(Information at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Judith_Ivey)   While at SIUC Ms. Ivey will perform her one woman show “Women on Fire” by Irene Garden on Tuesday, October 23 at 7:30 pm in the McLeod Theater.   “Women on Fire” is a collection of monologues that reflect the breadth of classic and contemporary women’s issues with humor and wisdom.  Judith Ivey appeared in the original Off-Broadway sell-out production. This performance is free and open to the public.

Simultaneous with the production of “Death and the Kings Horseman”, SIUC will be the hosting the second special event, an “International Symposium” Feb. 27 – 29 which will feature international and nationally recognized scholars.   Nobel prize winner Wole Soyinka the author of “Death and the King’s Horseman,” will give a University lecture on Feb. 28 at 5 pm.   Playwright, author, actor, director, and political activist, Wole Soyinka’s history is as rich and vital as his work.  Through the wars in Africa and a twenty-two month stint as a political prisoner, Mr. Soyinka will bring his story and the force of his life to the symposium.  (For more information on Wole Soyinka   http://nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/literature/laureates/1986/soyinka-bio.html)

Two events this year will feature new work by SIUC playwrights. SIUC Theater Department’s playwriting program is one of the most prestigious in the country.  The program fosters young playwrights and allows them to develop their own voices as opposed to fitting traditional or commercial formulaic modes.  

First is the “Playwrights’ Thesis Play Festival,”  Nov., 29-Dec.2.  The Festival consists of two plays:  “Verse, Chorus, Verse,” by Randall Colburn and “Summer of the Wolf” by Laramie Dean. The plays will be performed in the C.H. Moe Theater on alternating nights.

The second is the annual “2008 Journeys” productions Feb. 12 – 17.  This is a collection of new short plays, performed in two bills in rotating repertory.  Submissions of new work are open to anyone: playwrights, theater students, SIUC students, faculty staff, and community members.  A reading committee chooses plays for production.   “Journeys” is most exciting because of its immediacy.  The selections are usually contemporary and pressing.

Tickets for the Subscription Series are $60 for adults, $55 for seniors and $25 for students.  Subscription buyers may add the playwriting productions for $10 an event (each event includes tickets to both plays and/or bills of plays).  Individual tickets may be purchased $15 for adults, $12 for seniors, and $6 for students.

For a season brochure, additional information, or to purchase tickets, please call the Box Office at (618) 453-3001.   The Box Office opens September 4 and will be open Mon.-Fri. 12 – 5:30 pm also one hour before each production.

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