Thursday, October 11, 2007

Wilmington, N.C. - The University of North Carolina Wilmington Department of Theatre opens its fall season with Southern Girls, a memory play by Sheri Bailey and Dura Temple, directed by faculty member Kindra Steenerson. All performances are in the Cultural Arts Building Mainstage Theatre. Shows run at 8 p.m. Oct. 18-20, with a 2 p.m. Sunday, Oct. 21 matinee performance. Theatre is co-producing with the Upperman African American Center. Playwright Bailey will conduct a talkback session after the opening night performance.

Southern Girls follows the lives of six little girls, three white, two black, and one bi-racial, who play together in a small Alabama town. Utilizing flashback and epistle, the action chronicles their often-complicated relationships to one another, their racial identities, and their rapidly changing world from 1956 through middle age.

Wanda-Sue, half-black and half-white, teeters between the world of her white half-sister, Charlotte, her white friends, Dolly and June-Adele, and her black friends, sisters Ruth and Naomi. Each woman is driven by unique fears, hopes and secrets. As the years pass by and their world changes, each woman's dreams are affected by the turbulent times in which they live.

For ticket information see www.uncw.edu/thr. For reservations, please call 910.962.3500

Other 2007- 2008 Mainstage Season Events Include:
Nov. 15-18
Bus Stop by William Inge, Directed by Renee Vincent
This American classic explores the many facets of love revealed at an all-night diner in mid-America, and features scene designs by Broadway designer, Cam Baird. Bus Stop also includes a weeklong tribute to acting legend, Pat Hingle.

Feb. 21-24, 2008
The Birthday Party by Harold Pinter, Directed by Ed Wagenseller
This play represents the 50th anniversary of the first production of this groundbreaking, haunting play, considered a classic of the Absurdist era.

April 10-13, 2008
Scapino by Moliere (contemporary adaptation, Directed by Paul Castagno
A contemporary adaptation of this play, Scapino shows the commedia dell'arte masterpiece of masks is all physical fun, mischief and frolic.

April 25-26, 2008
Dance Concert
UNCW faculty, Nancy Podrasky Carson and guest artists choreograph the theatre department's first dance concert.

Media Contact: Caroline Cropp, 910.962.7109