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October 11, 1999

UMBC DEPARTMENT OF THEATRE PRESENTS CLOUD 9 BY CARYL CHURCHILL

The UMBC Department of Theatre proudly presents its Mainstage Production, Cloud 9 by Caryl Churchill.

The award-winning Cloud 9 was the first major international success for one of the contemporary theatre's most important and original playwrights. The play was developed by Churchill with and for the English theatre collaborative, Joint Stock, in 1979, and was seen at the Royal Court Theatre in London in 1980, and in New York in 1981.

One of the funniest and most original plays to come out of contemporary Britain, Cloud 9 is an epic comedy about "sexual politics, family life, class struggle, homophobia, orgasm, woman-hating, the British Empire, and the irrepressible strangeness of the human heart" [critic Judith Thurman].

The first act is set in colonial Africa in 1880. The second is set a hundred years later in contemporary London, although the same characters appear, miraculously only 25 years older. Through this device - and others, such as women playing men, men playing women, adults playing children, and dolls playing people - Churchill lays bare the links between past and present, between colonial oppression and sexual repression, and between a nation's political mythologies and the most intimate lives of its citizens.

Directed by Xerxes Mehta, Cloud 9 features songs directed by Charles Beitzell, lighting by Terry Cobb, sound by Sam Wylie, and for costumes and sets, designs by guest professionals from Washington D.C. and New York, respectively. Bill Pucilowsky's costumes wittily span the century past, while Evan Alexander's sets ring changes on Magritte's great surrealist fantasy, The Threshold of Liberty.

Cloud 9 will be performed in the UMBC Theatre with previews on November 29 & 30 at 8 p.m. and performances December 1, 3-4, 9-11 at 8 p.m. and December 2 &12 at 4 p.m. All seating is general and tickets are $10 general; $8 UMBC faculty/staff/seniors; $5 students. The matinee on December 2 is free for UMBC faculty, staff and students. Reservations are suggested and may be made by calling the Theatre Box Office at 410-455-2476.

FOR MATURE AUDIENCES.

Posted by dwinds1 at October 11, 1999 12:00 AM