POTSDAM, NY (03/10/2011)(readMedia)-- The Department of Theatre and Dance at SUNY Potsdam will present an ambitious drama by Tony Award-nominated playwright Sarah Ruhl in an upcoming production.

"Passion Play" will be presented with six performances at 7:30 p.m. on Thursday through Saturday over two weeks, from March 24 to 26 and March 31 to April 2. The play will be performed in the College Theatre, located in Satterlee Hall.

After Saturday's performance, the cast will lead a talk back. Members of the audience are encouraged to ask questions about the play, the process and the production.

On Sunday, April 3, at 1 p.m. in the College Theatre, the acting ensemble will present a reading of the third part of the "Passion Play" cycle. Part III is set in Spearfish, South Dakota from 1969 to the present.

The backdrop for acclaimed playwright Sarah Ruhl's play is the centuries-old traditional staging of the Passion of Christ. The play investigates productions in two different eras -- Northern England in 1575, just as Queen Elizabeth outlaws the annual staging, and Oberammergau, Bavaria in 1934 as Adolf Hitler is rising to power.

As one character says: "Everything is not as it appears to be."

Ruhl examines how our private, sexual, political and religious identities can inform and impact our public relationship to community, country and faith.

"Ruhl has a mind of literary elasticity. 'Passion Play' hopscotches from the literal to the dreamlike on the steppingstones of metaphor," said Peter Marks in the Washington Post.

Department of Theatre and Dance Artist-in-Residence Susan Neal will direct the ensemble of 11 students. Lindsay Myers designed the costumes as her senior project under the guidance of college Costume Technologist Julia Ferreri. Faculty members Donald Borsh and Todd Canedy designed the lights and set, respectively. Senior student D.J. Krams is the production's stage manager.

The student acting ensemble includes: Mackenzie Barmen, Conrad Browne-Lorcher, Alyssa Cavallo, Anthony Chanov, Matt Dubrey, Caitlin Hammer, Peter Klug, Bridget Macalusco, Andy Metz, Aaron Moore and Ryan Hart.

Tickets are $12 for general admission, $10 for SUNY Potsdam faculty and staff and senior citizens and $5 for SUNY Potsdam students with ID. There will be open seating at the performance, and tickets will be sold at the door beginning at 6:30 p.m. before both shows.

For further information, please call (315) 267-3394 or e-mail ddtix@potsdam.edu.

To learn more about the many productions offered throughout the year through SUNY Potsdam's Department of Theatre and Dance, visit www.potsdam.edu/academics/AAS/Theatre/index.cfm.

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Founded in 1816, and located on the outskirts of the beautiful Adirondack Park, The State University of New York at Potsdam is one of America's first 50 colleges. SUNY Potsdam currently enrolls approximately 4,350 undergraduate and graduate students. Home to the world-renowned Crane School of Music, SUNY Potsdam is known for its handcrafted education, challenging liberal arts and sciences core, excellence in teacher training and leadership in the performing and visual arts.

-www.potsdam.edu-

Posted Thursday March 10, 2011 at 03:17 pm by SUNY Potsdam
Last Updated Thursday March 31, 2011 at 03:26 pm