November 3, 2009

Purdue Theatre presents 'Hedda Gabler'

Performances are in the Nancy T. Hansen Theatre, Yue-Kong Pao Hall of Visual and Performing Arts, 552 W. Wood St. at 7:30 p.m., Nov. 13-14 and 18-21, with matinee performances at 2:30 p.m. on Nov. 21 and 22. There is a 7:30 p.m. preview performance Nov. 12, with general admission seating at a discount price.

"Hedda Gabler exists as the center of a constellation of forces trapped within a home, said Richard Stockton Rand, Department of Theatre chair. "Her conflict -- and the conflict within many of Ibsen's characters -- is between larger yearnings and the internal and external forces that keep them from being realized. Hedda doesn't want to play her role in the mundane play of daily life. She wants to play out grand schemes that resonate far beyond the boundaries of her little world."

Director Kristine Holtvedt, associate professor of theatre and head of the acting program said of the play, which premiered in 1891, "I've always felt a kind of alienation from the Victorian times in which 'Hedda Gabler' is usually set. So in working with the design team, we decided to place our production in a world not so far removed to make it more relevant and, hopefully, universal. We settled on the 1950s as a recent era that still shared the social and political conservatism of Hedda's time, when a woman's place was in the home, raising and caring for her family, and men were engaged in the workplace."

Tickets for regular performances are $19 for the general public, $12 for students and $15 for seniors (ages 62 -above). Tickets to the Nov. 12 preview performance are $6.

Tickets for "Hedda Gabler" are available at the Pao Hall, Elliott Hall and Stewart Center box offices or by calling 765-494-3933 or 800-914-SHOW.

Contact: Richard Stockton Rand, 765-494-3081, richardrand@purdue.edu

Purdue News Service: (765) 494-2096; purduenews@purdue.edu

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