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News Release

Last modified: Tuesday, January 18, 2011

IU Department of Theatre and Drama's summer Indiana Festival Theatre opens in June with 'Music Man'

WHAT: IU Department of Theatre and Drama presents the Indiana Festival Theatre
WHEN: Friday, June 24, at 7:30 p.m. through July 31.
WHERE: All performances take place at the Ruth N. Halls Theatre and Wells-Metz Theatre, Lee Norvelle Theatre and Drama Center, at 275 N. Jordan Ave.
TICKETS: Regular admission is $25 for adults, $15 for students; Flex Passes offer four ticket vouchers at a discount -- details at theatre.indiana.edu.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Jan. 18, 2011

BLOOMINGTON, Ind. -- The Indiana University Department of Theatre and Drama in the College of Arts and Sciences announced the inaugural Indiana Festival Theatre season Jan. 13 at the department's new academic and rehearsal space in the newly renovated west wing of the Lee Norvelle Theatre and Drama Center.

The season opens with one of America's most-loved musicals, Meredith Willson's The Music Man, opening June 24 at the Lee Norvelle Theatre and Drama Center in the Ruth N. Halls Theatre and continuing through July 9.

Opening July 14 in the Wells-Metz Theatre will be William Shakespeare's The Comedy of Errors followed by Eugene O'Neill's Ah, Wilderness!, opening July 21. The shows will run on alternating days through July 31.

"Everyone we talk to is very excited about the prospects for a creative summer theater season on the IU Bloomington campus," said Jonathan Michaelsen, chair of the Department of Theatre and Drama and producer of the Indiana Festival Theatre.

"From partnerships we have started with the Monroe County Convention and Visitors Bureau to a wide variety of organizations at IU, including the Indiana Memorial Union, everyone has shared wonderful ideas about how to make this a truly special experience as we serve the Bloomington community, the campus, and work to make the Indiana Festival Theatre a destination to boost tourism."

Indiana Festival Theatre season

The Music Man by Meredith Willson

• Preview (discounted price): June 23, 6 p.m.
• All performances will take place at Ruth N. Halls Theatre. June 24-26 and July 28- 30 and July 1-3 and July 5-9 at 7:30 p.m.; matinee performance June 26 at 2 p.m.
• Directed by George Pinney with musical direction by Terry LaBolt
• Appropriate for the whole family.

With beloved songs such as "Ya Got Trouble," "Seventy-Six Trombones," "Gary, Indiana" and "Till There Was You," Meredith Willson's The Music Man is one of the most enduring shows of all time, telling the story of Professor Harold Hill, the fast-talking salesman of musical instruments, who convinces the good folks of River City, Iowa, that they need a band. His plans to skip town with their money come to a crashing halt when he falls head-over-heels in love with Marian, the town's librarian. Wrote the New York Times in a review, "If Mark Twain could have collaborated with Vachel Lindsay, they might have devised a rhythmic lark like The Music Man, which is as American as apple pie and a Fourth of July oration. . . . The Music Man is a marvelous show, rooted in wholesome and comic tradition."

The Comedy of Errors by William Shakespeare

• Preview (discounted price): July 13, 6 p.m.
• All performances will take place at Wells-Metz Theatre. July 14-16, 23, 27, 29 at 7:30 p.m.; 2 p.m. matinee performances July 16, July 24 and July 30.
• Directed by Jonathan Michaelsen
• Recommended for audiences age 11 and above.

The Comedy of Errors by William Shakespeare is one of the great comedies of all time. A young man and his servant, both from Syracuse, show up in Ephesus, not knowing that the young man has an identical twin brother living in the city. This identical twin also has a servant, who happens to be the identical twin brother of the newly arrived servant from Syracuse. The resulting confusion, mistaken identities and madcap anarchy have entertained audiences for over 400 years.

Ah, Wilderness! by Eugene O'Neill

• Preview performance (discounted price): July 20, 7:30 p.m.
• All performances will take place at Wells-Metz Theatre. July 21, 22, 24, 28, 30 at 7:30 p.m. and July 26 at 6 p.m.; matinee July 31 at 2 p.m.
• Directed by Dale McFadden
• Recommended for audiences age 11 and above

Ah, Wilderness! by Eugene O'Neill takes place in turn-of-the-last-century, small-town America and follows the story of a young man falling in love for the first time. O'Neill shows us the trust and support the boy is given by his family, despite the "generation gap." O'Neill wrote of this comedy that it has "a lot which we badly need today to steady us …The good idea of the simple old family life as lived by the typical middle class hard-working American … It's a play about people, simple people of another day but real American people … And a comedy! It's damned funny!"

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