NEWS RELEASE

Contact: David West (west@nsula.edu )
News Bureau
Northwestern State University
Natchitoches, LA 71497
(318) 357-6466

01/07/2004

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

NATCHITOCHES-The Northwestern Theatre's spring 2004 schedule will include the musical "Cabaret" and the drama "A Raisin in the Sun," according to artistic director Roger Held.

"Cabaret" will be presented on March 19-21 in the A.A. Fredericks Auditorium. "A Raisin in the Sun" will be performed April 22-25 and 27-29 in Theatre West.

"Cabaret," set in the tumultuous city of Berlin just before Hitler's rise to power, is based on Christopher Isherwood's "Berlin Stories" and John Van Druten's "I Am a Camera." The main action of the play revolves around a cabaret performer, Sally Bowles, and the brief affair she has with an American writer who takes her in after she is kicked out of the Kit Kat Club where she performs.

Although Sally and Clifford soon find themselves deeply in love they soon find their relationship jeopardized by outside forces which threaten to tear them apart. Held will direct the play with choreography by Pia Wyatt and musical direction by Don Whittaker.

"We will do a revised version of 'Cabaret' which will include a number of songs from the movie that were not in the original Broadway production," said Held.

"A Raisin in the Sun" portrays a few weeks in the life of the Youngers, an African-American family living on the South Side of Chicago in the 1950s. When the play opens, the Youngers are about to receive an insurance check for $10,000 from the deceased Mr. Younger's life insurance policy.

Each of the adult members of the family has an idea as to what he or she would like to do with this money. The matriarch of the family decides to put a down payment on a house located in an all-white neighborhood. The Youngers eventually move into the
home fulfilling the family's long-held dream. Their future seems uncertain and slightly dangerous, but they are optimistic and determined to live a better life. Vicki Parrish will direct "A Raisin in the Sun." The play was the first by an African-American woman to be produced on Broadway. "A Raisin in the Sun" was later made into a film starring Sidney Portier.

"This is one of the plays that made me want to do theatre," said Held. "It is a wonderful complex show."

Held calls the playwright, Lorraine Hansberry 'one of his favorites." Hansberry died of cancer in 1965 at age 34.

"She had seen a play by Sean O'Casey, 'The Nurses of Dublin," and saw that the people in that play were like those her father had worked with in south Chicago. They had the same kind of dreams and aspirations," said Held. "That lit a fire for her."

For more information on the Northwestern Theatre's spring 2004 season, call (318) 357-6891.

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