ASU Theatre announces 2008-09 season of four performances

Sept. 3, 2008 -- The Arkansas State University Theatre has released the schedule for the 2008-09 ASU Theatre season. All performances of the 2008-09 season are at 7:30 p.m. Tickets are $8 in advance, or $10 at the door. Reservations are highly recommended. The ASU Theatre is located in Fowler Center, 201 Olympic Drive, Jonesboro.

The season opens with “Dancing at Lughnasa” by Brian Friel. This extraordinary play is the story of five unmarried sisters eking out their lives in a small village in Ireland in 1936. Their sparse existence is interrupted by brief, colorful bursts of music from the radio, their only link to the romance and hope of the world at large. The New York Times says, “…this play does exactly what theatre was born to do, carrying both its characters and audience aloft on those waves of distant music and ecstatic release that, in defiance of all language and logic, let us dance and dream just before night must fall.” Performance dates for “Dancing at Lughnasa” are 7:30 p.m. Friday-Saturday, Oct. 3-4, and 7:30 p.m., Tuesday-Wednesday, Oct. 7-8.

The season’s second performance is “The Rimers of Eldritch,” by Lanford Wilson. Who is this man, who murdered him, and what were the circumstances? To solve the drama’s tragic mystery, Wilson looks at the outsides and insides of a tiny Midwestern town. He grasps the very fabric of Bible Belt America, with its catchwords for morality and its capability for the vicious. A New York Times review speaks of the play’s “fluidity, for its language, for its almost musical sense of pattern.” Performance dates for “The Rimers of Eldritch,” are Friday-Saturday, Nov. 14-15, and Tuesday-Wednesday, Nov. 18-19.

The new year of 2009 brings “Talk Radio” by Eric Bogosian. Barry Champlain, Cleveland’s controversial radio host, is on the air doing what he does best: insulting the pathetic souls who call in the middle of the night to sound off. Barry’s show is going into national syndication, and his producer is afraid that Barry will say something that will offend the sponsors. This, of course, makes Barry even more audacious. “Talk Radio” is funny and moving, off-beat, outrageous, and totally entrancing. New York Newsday says “…a compelling show that makes the call-in talk show a metaphor for America’s lost souls.” Performance dates for “Talk Radio” are Friday-Saturday, Feb. 13-14, and Tuesday-Wednesday, Feb. 17-18.

The final show of the 2008-2009 season is “Lovers and Executioners” by John Strand. This “startling, modern” tale about attempted murder and a woman’s revenge concerns a husband who discovers evidence that his wife has been unfaithful. He abandons her on a desert isle, expecting her to die. The Washington Post says, “You can’t ask for more than an evening in which you laugh like mad, then sit wondering how the tale will turn out.” Performance dates for “Lovers and Executioners” are Friday-Saturday, April 17-18, and Tuesday-Wednesday, April 21-22.

All seating is reserved. Tickets should be purchased in advance at the ASU Central Box Office in the Convocation Center by calling 972-ASU1, or by purchasing online at http://tickets.astate.edu. Reservations are highly recommended.
           

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