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Press Releases
For Immediate Release
February 8, 2008
For more information, contact
Stuart Soloway
(585) 395-2797
ssoloway@brockport.edu
Dancing at Lughnasa Lights Up Brockport's Mainstage Theatre
Memory of 1930s Irish Life Captivates Audiences
Callie Jean Slusser (l.) and Keenan Bloom (r.) relive their past attraction in Dancing at Lughnasa
Brockport, NY – In a 1930s Irish village, simple lives are lived. These lives, and their complications, are depicted in Brian Friel’s touching memory play, Dancing at Lughnasa. The production opens on Friday, February 29, 2008, at 7:30 pm at The College at Brockport’s Tower Fine Arts Center Mainstage, 180 Holley Street.
Told through the eyes of Michael, the son of one of a household of women, Friel examines the day-to-day existence of these five Mundy sisters, who are seeking to make ends meet as the world recovers from the Great Depression. A rare visit from Michael’s father reveals various apprehensions amongst the sisters, as does the return of their brother, a missionary who had been living in Africa for 25 years. Even the upcoming festival of Lughnasa, celebrating the harvest, doesn’t seem able to lift the spirits of these women, as they find their old beliefs ineffective against the modern world.
Frank Kuhn, chair of the Department of Theatre at The College at Brockport, and producer of the TheatreBrockport season, is directing the production, winner of the 1992 Tony Award® for Best Play. He feels “these women, in their commonplace existences in their farm house and village, mirror the eroding insularity of Europe in the 1930s; and just as the troubles facing Europe were about to throw lives across the continent into disarray, here the troubles are far less broad in scope, yet no less powerful.”
Capturing the atmosphere of the Irish countryside, as well as the Depression-era interior of a house bursting at its seems, the settings for Dancing at Lughnasa are designed by noted scenic artist John Haldoupis, artistic director of Blackfriar’s Theatre in downtown Rochester.
Performances of Dancing at Lughnasa are February 29, March 1, 6, 7, 8 at 7:30 pm and March 2 at 2 pm. The performance on Sunday, December 2, will be sign language interpreted for the hearing impaired.
Tickets for the play are $12/General, $10/Seniors and $8/Students and are available by phone at (585) 395-ARTS or at the Tower Fine Arts Center Box Office. Tickets can also be obtained at all area Wegmans supermarkets.
Photo credit: James Dusen
The College at Brockport, State University of New York
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