Purdue Theatre to present "Seven Guitars" Sept. 21 to Oct. 1

"Seven Guitars."
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Performances will be at 7:30 p.m. on Sept. 21, 23 and 27-30 and at 3 p.m. on Sept. 24, 30 and Oct. 1 in the Carole and Gordon Mallett Theatre in the Yue-Kong Pao Hall of Visual and Performing Arts.

Set in 1948 in Pittsburgh's Hill District, the play follows a group of African-American friends through the drama and excitement of their lives. They gather after the death of local blues musician Floyd "Schoolboy" Barton, who returns home to Pittsburgh to revive his career.

The Purdue production will feature a guest director, Theresa M. Davis, and a guest actor, Damani Singleton, in the role of Floyd Barton. In addition, two Black Cultural Center staff members, Bill Caise, assistant director of the center, and Juanita Crider, program adviser at the center, are part of the seven-member cast. Two students in the center's performing arts ensembles also have roles.

"We've had a long relationship with the Division of Theatre and this is the sort of production toward which we have been working," Caise said. "In 'Seven Guitars,' you will see theater students and arts ensemble students working together."

"Seven Guitars" was first performed in 1995 at the Goodman Theatre in Chicago and is the first Wilson play produced at Purdue. It won the New York Drama Critics Circle award for best play and was nominated for a Tony Award for best play in 1996. Wilson, who died in October 2005, was a two-time Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright.

Purdue's production of "Seven Guitars" coincides with an off-Broadway revival featuring Purdue alumnus Stephen McKinley Henderson, who was a former theatre graduate student and Black Cultural Center Artist In Residence for the New Directional Players.

"Wilson left an incredible legacy," Davis said. "He wrote a play about the African-American experience for every decade of the 20th century, which no other American playwright has done."

Davis is the new associate professor of cross-cultural performance at the University of Virginia in Charlottesville. Her acting credits include the musical revue "This is the Life" with the E. T. A. Hoffmann Theatre in Bamberg, Germany. Her previous directing credits include "The Colored Museum," "A Piece of My Heart," "Flyin' West," "For Colored Girls" and "Twelfth Night." She received her bachelor of arts degree from Gannon University and her master of fine arts degree from Virginia Commonwealth University.

Singleton is a native of Los Angeles with past roles in "The Cider House Rules," "A Soldier's Play" and "Once On This Island." He also appeared in the Spike Lee film "Clockers" and the television show "Relativity." He earned a bachelor of fine arts degree from Howard University.

Tickets are $7.50 for the general public and $6 for students. They may be purchased at the Loeb Playhouse, Elliott Hall of Music or Yue-Kong Pao Hall box offices or by calling (765) 494-3933 or (800) 914-SHOW. Information about Purdue Theatre productions is available online.

Writer: Bethany Bannister-Andrews, (765) 494-2432, bbannister@purdue.edu

Sources: Renee Thomas, Purdue Black Cultural Center director, (765) 494-3092, rathomas@purdue.edu

Peggy Felix, Purdue Theatre director of marketing and donor relations, (765) 494-3084, felix@purdue.edu

Bill Caise, (765) 494-4630, wpcaise@purdue.edu

Purdue News Service: (765) 494-2096; purduenews@purdue.edu

CUTLINE:
Floyd "Schoolboy" Barton (guest actor Damani Singleton) has returned home to reclaim an old flame Vera (Lisa Darden) and revive his music career in the Purdue Division of Theatre presentation of August Wilson's "Seven Guitars." The production runs Sept. 21-Oct. 1 in the Carole and Gordon Mallett Theatre in the Yue-Kong Pao Hall of Performing Arts. (Purdue photo/Richard Myers-Walls)

A publication-quality photograph is available at https://www.purdue.edu/uns/images/+2006/theatre-7guitars.jpg

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