NEWS RELEASE

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

9/21/2006

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

NATCHITOCHES -The Northwestern Theatre will highlight its fall schedule with performances of Merchant of Venice and Arsenic and Old Lace, according to artistic director Scott Burrell.

"We wanted to mix in classic plays with wide appeal along with new works," said Burrell. "This semester, we have found a good variety of plays."

Shakespeare's Merchant of Venice will be performed on Oct. 11-14 and 17-21 in Theatre West. Dr. Vicki Parrish is the director. Arsenic and Old Lace is set for Nov. 8-11 and 14-17 in Theatre West. Pia Wyatt is the director.

This version of Merchant of Venice is set in Miami in the 1980's. When a merchant must default on a large loan from an abused Jewish moneylender for a friend with romantic ambitions, the bitterly vengeful creditor demands a gruesome payment instead.

In Arsenic and Old Lace, a drama critic learns on his wedding day that his beloved maiden aunts are homicidal maniacs, and that insanity runs in his family. The play was written in 1939 and was adapted for a 1944 film starring Cary Grant.

The fall season will also include two "Second Stage" shows directed by senior theatre students. Eric Duhon will direct Women of Lockerbie on Oct. 26-28 and Van White will direct Danny and the Deep Blue Sea on Nov. 15-17. Both plays begin at 7:30 p.m. in the Loft Theatre in Room 221 of the Old Wing of the A.A. Fredericks Center for Creative and Performing Arts.

Women of Lockerbie is a play about how the women of Lockerbie, Scotland, try to cope with the aftermath of a tragic plane crash while a family from New Jersey joins them in an attempt to find closure for their loss. The crash of Pan Am Flight 103 in Lockerbie in 1988 killed 270 people.
Danny and the Deep Blue Sea is set in a bar in the Bronx. Two lonely individuals, Danny and Roberta, start a conversation, an affair, and then a relationship emerges. This play is for adults only due to mature content.

Northwestern Theatre will be involved with the annual Christmas Gala on Nov. 30 and Dec. 1 in the A.A. Fredericks Auditorium. This year's Gala will feature an original script by Roger Chandler, coordinator of Fine and Graphic Arts at NSU,

For more information on the Northwestern Theatre's fall season, call (318) 357-4483.

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