Purdue News

January 22, 1999 Purdue Theatre schedules Second Season productions WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. -- Two Second Season productions and an Avant-Garde Theatre Festival will be presented by Purdue University Theatre during the spring semester. The Avant-Garde Theatre Festival will be presented at 8 p.m. Feb. 12 and 13 in the Experimental Theatre, Stewart Center. Admission is free. Organized by two undergraduate theater students, the festival will feature the work of various student actors and directors. Plays to be performed include "Lights" by Francesco Cangiullo, "The Gas Heart" by Tristan Tzara, "Variations on the Death of Trotsky" by David Ives, "Medea" by Christopher Durang, "Largo Desolato" by Vaclav Havel, "He Couldn't Wait It Out" from the Little Theatre of The Green Goose, and "Negative Act" by Bruno Corra and Emilio Settimelli. "The Serpent" by Jean-Claude van Itallie will be the first of two Second Season productions. The play tells the biblical story of Genesis, following the narrative of the original story, while repudiating many of its assumptions. "It is such an abstract piece, it attempts to break some kind of barriers of theatrical form," the playwright said in 1970. Richard Sullivan Lee, associate professor of theater, directs the production. "The Serpent" will be presented at 8 p.m. Feb. 25, 26 and 27, and there also will be 2:30 p.m. matinee on Saturday, Feb. 27. All shows will be in the Black Box Theatre, Creative Arts Building 3. Tickets are $5 at the Loeb Box Office, (765) 494-3933. The Second Season concludes with an evening of theater featuring Tom Stoppard's "The 15-Minute Hamlet" and selections from "All in the Timing," a series of one-act plays by David Ives. Julie Listengarten, visiting professor of theater, directs the pieces, which will be performed at 8:30 p.m. April 22, 23 and 24 and at 2:30 p.m. April 25, in the Black Box Theatre, Creative Arts Building 3. Tickets are $5 at the Loeb Box Office, (765) 494-3933. The Second Season is in addition to two previously scheduled mainstage shows, "Into the Woods" to be presented Feb. 19-27 at Loeb Playhouse, and "A Doll's House," to be presented April 15-25 at the Experimental Theatre. CONTACT: Lori Sparger, Purdue Theatre publicist, (765) 494-3084; e-mail, theatre@purdue.edu Compiled by J. Michael Willis, (765) 494-0371; e-mail, mike_willis@purdue.edu Purdue News Service: (765) 494-2096; e-mail, purduenews@purdue.edu To the Purdue News and Photos Page