Senior Lileana Blain-Cruz is directing the student production of Ntozake Shange's play "for colored girls who have considered suicide/when the rainbow is enuf," which offers a portrait of women of color in America. (Photo: Marisol Rosa-Shapiro)
At left: A surprise visitor from the 19th century, Emily
Dickinson (junior Ann Preis), offers comfort to friendless
middle-school student Andy (freshman Sam Zetumer) in "A Long History of
Neglect," a play by Princeton alumnus Noah Haidle. (Photo: M. Teresa Simao)
"A Long History of Neglect," a tragicomic tale of contemporary
American domestic life by Princeton alumnus Noah Haidle, opens Friday,
Nov. 11, at the Berlind Theatre.
The fall performance of the Program in Theater and Dance, Haidle's play
will feature a student cast under the direction of Davis McCallum, a
lecturer in theater and dance and a 1997 Princeton graduate. The play
focuses on an adolescent boy's attempt to find a place for himself in
the universe.
Haidle, a member of Princeton's class of 2001, has been praised as a
fresh new voice in American theater known for his daring and
originality. He has had plays produced at the South Coast Repertory
Theater and the Long Wharf Theater. Haidle studied with playwright
Christopher Durang as an undergraduate at Princeton and later at the
Juilliard School, and his stories often evoke the works of both Durang
and Thorton Wilder.
"A Long History of Neglect" was commissioned by the South Coast Repertory Theater and has been developed at Princeton through a grant from the David A. Gardner '69 Magic Project. Another play by Haidle, "Mr. Marmalade," opens Sunday, Nov. 20, at New York's Roundabout Theater in a production featuring Michael C. Hall, who starred in the HBO show "Six Feet Under," and directed by Michael Greif, who directed "Rent."
Also opening at Princeton Nov. 11 is Lileana Blain-Cruz's senior thesis production of the award-winning play "for colored girls who have considered suicide/when the rainbow is enuf" at the Matthews Acting Studio, 185 Nassau St. Ntozake Shange's 1974 play offers a portrait of women of color in 20th-century America.
Both plays will be performed at 8 p.m. Friday and Saturday, Nov. 11-12, and Thursday through Saturday, Nov. 17-19.
Tickets for "A Long History of Neglect" are $10 to $15 and are available at the McCarter Theatre box office, (609) 258-2787. Tickets for "for colored girls" are $8 for students, faculty and staff and $10 for the general public. They are available at the Frist Campus Center box office, (609) 258-1742.
For information on other upcoming productions, visit the Program in Theater and Dance Web site.
