"The Zoo Story" and "The American Dream" / LJWorld.com

Details

Categories: Theater
Event posted: Feb. 4, 2013
Last updated: Feb. 18, 2013

Event details

Friday, Feb. 15, 2013, 7:30 p.m.
Inge Theatre, 1530 Naismith Drive in Murphy Hall, KU campus, Lawrence
Cost: $10 - $15
Age limit: Not available

The Zoo Story and The American Dream, both by Edward Albee, will be staged by undergraduate students at the University of Kansas Theatre in February. Performances will be February 14-16 at 7:30 p.m. and February 17 at 2:30 p.m. in the Inge Theatre in Murphy Hall. Each season the University Theatre includes student-directed plays. This gives undergraduate students an opportunity to hone their directing skills by staging fully-supported productions under the mentorship of faculty advisors. Both plays will be staged each evening or afternoon, beginning with The Zoo Story and ending with The American Dream. Albee wrote The Zoo Story in 1958 and followed it with The American Dream in 1960. Considered to be a part of the Absurdist wave of art and literature, Albee’s work challenges audiences to let go of expectations of an absolute and fixed meaning. The plays do not chronicle the lives of characters in a traditional manner, but rather seek to draw the audience into a larger conversation about contemporary notions of progress and success. The first show is The Zoo Story, directed by junior Brian Laurence Buntin. The play was Albee’s first and was produced in Germany before opening in the United States. The one-act takes place on a bench in Central park. Characters Jerry and Peter strike up a conversation that questions the value and significance of progress. The second one-act is The American Dream, directed by senior Jacci Lufkin. The action takes place in the living room of an American family. A series of visitors reveal a family secret that has been wrapped up and hidden away in the hollow promises of the American Dream. General admission seat tickets for The Zoo Story and The American Dream are on sale in the KU ticket offices: University Theatre, 864-3982, and Lied Center, 864-ARTS, and online at kutheatre.com. Tickets are $15 for the public, $14 for senior citizens and KU faculty and staff, and $10 for all students. All major credit cards are accepted.