Purdue News

September 17,1999 'The Time of Your Life' opens Mainstage season WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. -- Purdue Theatre opens its 1999-2000 Mainstage season with William Saroyan's 1939 Pulitzer Prize-winner, "The Time of Your Life," Sept. 23 through Oct. 3 in the Experimental Theatre, Stewart Center. Performances will be at 8 o'clock each night, with the exception of Monday, Sept. 27, when no performance is scheduled. A matinee also will be presented at 2 p.m. Sunday, Sept. 26. Tickets are $7 for students and senior citizens, $11 for adults. The run opens with a sneak preview at 7:30 p.m. Wednesday, Sept. 22, and all tickets for that performance are $4.50. Tickets are available at Loeb Box Office, (765) 494-3933. Discounts are available for groups of eight or more by calling (765) 494-3084. In his preface to the play, Saroyan wrote, "In the time of your life, live, so that in that wondrous time you shall not add to the misery and sorrow of the world, but shall smile to the infinite delight and mystery of it." Saroyan gives voice to his thoughts through his plentiful cast of characters as they randomly comment about the impending war, the beauty of art, and traditional notions of good and evil. He creates a surreal, stream-of-consciousness piece that ignores standard play construction. "It may help audiences enjoy the show if they think of the TV series 'The Twilight Zone' or perhaps 'The X-Files,'" said the play's director Dale Miller, professor of theater. "Both the audience and the cast look forward and backward, right and left, up and down; all at the same time within the course of the action." This series of vignettes offers a compelling, often prophetic snapshot of American history in 1939, Miller added. The cast features a collection of Purdue graduate and undergraduate students. CONTACT: Lori Sparger, Purdue Theatre marketing director, (765) 494-3084; theatre@purdue.edu To the Purdue News and Photos Page