Purdue News
Purdue News
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February 11, 2000 Purdue Theatre alumna to perform 'Sarah'WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. – In conjunction with Purdue Theatre's upcoming Purdue Playshop Theatre Reunion, alumna Connie Heaver Clark will present her solo-performance play on French actress Sarah Bernhardt. "Sarah" will play at 2 p.m. Feb. 26 and 27 in the Experimental Theatre, Stewart Center. All tickets are $5. To order, call (765) 494-3933. Clark, who earned Purdue degrees in 1965 and 1969, began researching Bernhardt in 1988 and has performed her play since 1989 at venues from the Performing Arts Library at New York's Lincoln Center to Stratford-upon-Avon, England, to Edinburgh, Scotland. Edinburgh's The Scotsman said of her show, "Connie Clark as Sarah Bernhardt achieves the impossible – she captures the legendary silken-voiced goddess of the 19th century." The United Kingdom's The Stage said, "From the moment she stepped on to the stage, out came fire and passion, wit, extravagance of glance and gesture, and eloquence – torrents of it." Although Bernhardt often is portrayed as an egocentric prima donna, Clark said she found much more as she researched the actress's life: "During the Great War, Sarah was at first refused permission to go to the front to entertain the troops. After all, she was in her seventies and had had her right leg amputated above the knee. Yet she insisted on doing her part to raise the spirits of those fighting for freedom. "Egomaniacs are not beloved by the public. Sarah was. At her death in 1923, one Parisian said 'Bernhardt is gone. How dark it seems all of a sudden.'" Clark's solo performance career began during the summer of 1981 after she was cast in "The Belle of Amherst," a play about Emily Dickinson. By 1985, Clark had written her own solo play on Dickinson called "Emily." She has performed her two solo pieces to schoolchildren in 12 states and in Norway. CONTACT: Lori Sparger, Purdue Theatre marketing director, (765) 494-3084; theatre@purdue.edu
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