2009-2008

News Release

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SUBJECT: Grenfell: Theatre program announces fall season 2008

DATE: September 22, 2008

               For its 21st season of major productions in the Fine Arts Theatre at Sir Wilfred Grenfell College, the theatre program begins its third decade with three challenging and exciting productions.
              Opening Oct. 29 is Caryl Churchill’s seminal all-female drama Top Girls. Originally produced more than a quarter of a century ago as Margaret Thatcher was coming to power in England, the play has lost none of its relevance. It has recently been re-mounted on Broadway and by major theatres across Canada to the acclaim of a whole new audience for whom its examination of women and power resonates anew in our current political climate. Top Girls features the seven “top girls” from this year’s fourth year acting class. The production is directed by fine arts head Ken Livingstone with costume design by theatre program chair Carol Nelson and lighting design by stagecraft professor roy Hansen-robitschek.
             Next up on Nov. 12 is perhaps the wittiest of Shakespeare’s classic comedies, Much Ado About Nothing, in what promises to be a hilarious gender bending production featuring students from both the fourth- and second-year acting classes. Much Ado About Nothing is directed by this year’s visiting guest professor, Michael Waller, fresh from stints at the Stratford Festival and the Banff Centre for the Performing Arts. Set and costume design are by roy Hansen-robitschek with lighting design by theatre technical director Jim Chalmers-Gow.
             Finally the theatre program is delighted to welcome back Artistic Fraud of Newfoundland in the persons of Simminovitch Award winning director Jillian Keiley and Governor General’s Award nominated playwright Robert Chafe, who will be mounting the premiere of a brand new play by Kingston, Ontario Author Ned Dickens. Creon is in fact part of a seven-play cycle entitled City of Wine, for which the top theatre schools in the country, from Vancouver to Newfoundland, are each mounting individual productions over the year, culminating in all seven plays in the cycle being performed in a gala festival in Toronto in the spring. Designers for Creon are Carol Nelson and returning guest designer Renate Pohl. Creon opens Nov. 26.

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