IU DEPARTMENT OF THEATRE AND DRAMA

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Media Contact: John Edward Kinzer, Director of Audience Development
(812) 855-0514 or jkinzer@indiana.edu

LEE NORVELLE THEATRE AND DRAMA CENTER OPENS
DIAMOND ANNIVERSARY SEASON WITH DEAD MAN WALKING

BLOOMINGTON, IN—Where do you stand on capital punishment? What does your faith tell you? The Indiana University Department of Theatre and Drama opens its 2008-2009 Lee Norvelle Theatre and Drama Center diamond anniversary season on Friday, October 10th, exactly 75 years to the day of the first official University Theatre season. Tim Robbins’s deeply moving stage adaptation of his Academy Award-winning film, Dead Man Walking, chronicles the real-life story of the fearless and inspirational Sister Helen Prejean as she shepherds a convicted murderer through the final days before his execution. Confronting the consequences of murder and capital punishment through the lens of spirituality, Dead Man Walking challenges our perspectives and asks us to plumb the depth of humanity in everyone. The play runs through October 18 at the Ruth N. Halls Theatre in the Lee Norvelle Theatre and Drama Center.

This powerful story began as a memoir, and has been presented as an opera, a film, and now a play, which Tim Robbins wrote and developed for schools and universities across the US to perform as opposed to a Broadway event. The project’s aim is to broaden discussion and deepen reflection on one of the key moral issues of our day. There are several opportunities for more education and discussion, including a panel discussion after the matinee performance Saturday, October 18.

Professor of Acting and Directing Dale McFadden (The Birthday Party), who directs this blend of a one-woman show, journalism, realism, and fantastical realism, was drawn to the play because it demonstrates the power of theatre to speak to important social issues, to both raise questions that need to be discussed and help the audience experience them. What do we do with murderers? Is capital punishment the best way? Is there another choice? He points out that while the play does not answer these questions, by “dealing with Sister Helen’s spiritual journey and her involvement with capital punishment and the issues that relate to murder and whether one can be forgiven and the degree to which one is to be punished,” the conversation begins.

Third-year M.F.A. Acting student Lilia Vassileva plays Sister Helen Prejean as her M.F.A. thesis project. She must not only identify with the compassion of the character but explore her struggles as Sister Helen faces the suffering of the families involved, which McFadden calls “the emotional center of the play. How can you stand on the side of the murderer when so much suffering has occurred? How do you reconcile not killing the murderer without some retribution or balance being created?” Previously at the Norvelle Center Lilia has appeared as Masha in The Seagull, Annie in The Real Thing , Olivia in Twelfth Night, and Elizabeth Proctor in The Crucible.

The production is also the thesis project of third-year M.F.A. Costume Design student Scott M. Anderson, who helps the actors bring the individual characters to life and expose the loneliness, loss, pain, and anger, but also the redemption found in the play. He previously designed costumes for the Norvelle Center productions of A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum, The Real Thing, and Side Man and the IU independent productions of Aria da Capo and Three Sisters. In December Scott’s work will be seen on the Wells-Metz stage in Marisol.

Other members of the design team include: Scenic Designer Jared Rutherford (Measure for Measure, Big Love), Lighting Designer Liz Replogle (Metamorphoses), Sound Designer Gabriel G. Gula (Norvelle Center debut), and Technical Director Mary Weber (A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum, Twelfth Night).

Dead Man Walking opens Friday, October 10th (75 years to the day after we opened our first official season at IU) at 7:30 P.M. with additional performances October 11 and 14 through 18. All performances will take place on the Ruth N. Halls Stage at the Lee Norvelle Theatre and Drama Center at 7:30 PM. with an additional 2:00 pm matinee on Saturday, October 18. Ticket prices: $20 for adults, $15 for 30-and-under/student/seniors; Student Rush Tickets for $12 cash with valid IUB student ID are available 30 minutes before each performance. Group prices are available. For ticket information, call 812-855-1103 and ask for information about Lee Norvelle Theatre and Drama Center tickets.  Tickets can be purchased at the IU Auditorium box office or at the Lee Norvelle Theatre and Drama Center box office which opens an hour before curtain. To purchase tickets by phone, call Ticketmaster at 333-9955 or visit www.theatre.indiana.edu .

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