The Dixie State College Theatre program will raise the curtain on its 2008-09 season with the production of “Dancing at Lughnasa,” a Tony Award-winning masterpiece by legendary Irish playwright Brian Friel. The production will run nightly Oct. 7-11, at 7:30 pm, in the Main Stage Theater of DSC’s Dolores Dore’ Eccles Fine Arts Center.
“Dancing at Lughnasa,” set in Ballybeg, a fictional village in Donegal, Ireland, is a charming, bittersweet memory of the laughter and tears of a long-lost summer. The narrator, Michael (played by Jarom Brown), looks back to the summer of 1936, when he was seven, living with his mother and her four spinster sisters, and an uncle, Father Jack (played by Spencer Potter), a priest who, after 25 years in Africa, has recently returned home. The memory is completed by a visit from Michael’s seldom-present father, Gerry (played by Scott Pederson), who had gone off to fight in the Spanish Civil War.
The play’s title refers to the pagan Irish harvest festival, Lughnasa, which is celebrated with bonfires and dancing. This background, coupled with Father Jack’s description of the ceremonies of Africa, and underscored by traditional Irish music, easily establishes the conflicts between the head and heart, faith and passion, what might have been and what is.
Friel is considered by many to be Ireland’s greatest living playwright and “Dancing at Lughnasa” is widely regarded as his masterpiece. His plays have been performed continuously around the world for over 40 years. “Dancing at Lughnasa” premiered in Ireland, went on to the London stage and then to New York where in 1992 it won three Tony Awards, including Best Play.
The cast for “Dancing at Lughnasa” features as the five sisters: Rebecca Wright as “Maggie,” Whitney Morgan Cox as “Kate,” Lindsay Cordell as “Chrissie,” and Lindsay Harding as “Aggie,” with Meleah Ridd and Hannah Davenport alternating in the performance of the role of “Rose.” DSC Director of Theatre Varlo Davenport will serve as the director of “Dancing at Lughnasa,” while Potter serves as costume designer. DSC theater professor Dr. Brent Hanson serves as the set designer, with light design by Josh Scott, choreography by Whitney Cox, and Brook Owen is the Stage Manager for the production.
Ticket prices are $15 for adults, $10 for seniors and non-DSC students, and $1 for DSC students, faculty and staff with a valid activity card. Dixie State’s Fine Art Department is also introducing an all-new DSC Fine Arts Season Pass, giving patrons access to all 20 DSC theatre productions and instrumental and vocal concerts for the 2008-09 season. The DSC Fine Arts Season Pass is available for $85, a $49 savings over the regular box office single-event ticket price.
For tickets and further information, please call 435-652-7800 or visit the central campus ticket office at the DSC Avenna Center. Performance information may also be obtained by visiting www.dixie.edu.
