George Mason University's Center for the Arts

GMU PLAYERS AND THE DEPARTMENT OF THEATER
PRESENT TENNESSEE WILLIAMS’ “ORPHEUS DESCENDING”
DIRECTED BY KRISTIN JOHNSEN-NESHATI

Post-performance discussion to follow the performance on March 6 at 2 p.m. TheatreSpace

GMU Players and George Mason University’s Department of Theater present Tennessee Williams’ 1957 American classic “Orpheus Descending” at TheatreSpace on Mason’s Fairfax Campus.

“Orpheus Descending” is set in a small southern town, not far from Williams’ ancestral home of Clarksdale, Miss. The story tells the tale of Val, a young musician with a guitar, good looks and a questionable past, who wanders into a conventional small town and takes a job at a store run by a middle-aged woman named Lady, who has a past of her own and a loveless marriage with an elderly husband who is dying. Lady becomes entranced with Val and is tempted by the possibility of a new life that he seems to offer.

Underscored by mountain music and Delta Blues, this retelling of the Greek legend of the musician and poet Orpheus and his bride Eurydice tests the endurance of art, love, truth and justice through a drifting musician’s chance arrival and a townswoman’s offer to take him in.

The GMU Players ensemble is a dynamic faculty-directed, student organization within the theater department. The Mainstage Series provides students the opportunity to work directly with Mason theater faculty and guest artists, while the Studio Series is selected, directed and designed by students. The GMU Players produce eight productions each season. Director and professor Kristin Johnsen-Neshati has taught on the theater faculty of George Mason University since 1993. In addition to her work as a translator, director and writer, Johnsen-Neshati serves as dramaturg/artistic associate for Theater of the First Amendment, where she has worked on more than 30 productions and workshops. She is the recipient of the KC/ACTF Criticism Faculty Fellowship to the Critics Conference at the Eugene O'Neill Theater Center and Mason's Fenwick Fellowship. She holds a B.A. in Russian and theater from Swarthmore College, and M.F.A. and D.F.A. degrees in dramaturgy and dramatic criticism from the Yale School of Drama.

Tickets are $12. ($8 For students, seniors and GMU faculty/staff)
Limited free tickets available for GMU students.
All performances are in TheatreSpace. Free parking available in adjacent surface lots on weekends, paid parking available in the Mason Pond Parking Deck. Tickets may be purchased at the door one hour prior to the performance. To purchase tickets by phone, or for directions, please contact the Center for the Arts Box Office at (703) 993-8888.

For information on group sales, please call Kimberly Schall at (703) 993-8600

For Information on the GMU Theater Department or the GMU Players, please call (703)-993-1120.