Performing arts students hit the stage

RELEASED: April 12, 2007

DANVILLE, KY—From a swashbuckling comedy to musical performances of such classics as Handel, Rachmaninoff, Tchaikovsky, Mozart, Brahms and Beethoven, Centre College performing arts students will be showcased during the next few days.

Shakespeare Meets Pirates of the Caribbean
Centre drama students will present four performances of Thomas Heywood's riotous and rollicking play Fair Maid of the West. Under the direction of Anthony Haigh, professor of dramatic arts, the performances will take place April 18-21 at 8 p.m. in Weisiger Theatre at the Norton Center for the Arts on campus.

The cast includes: Landon Berry, David Brown, Ayumi Deeny, Adam Haigh, Jeff Hortillosa and Andy Rapone.

The play is an epic, swashbuckling comedic adventure that tells the fantastic tale of Bess Bridges, a 17-year-old barmaid who sets out on a high-seas quest to find Spencer, her lost love. Along the way, she faces off with bandits, pirates, ruffians, a lecherous king and the Spanish Armada.

"The early years of the seventeenth century were a period of great exploration," says director Anthony Haigh. "The Elizabethans were fascinated by travel, and English sailors were opening new trade routes and discovering new lands on almost a daily basis."

"Pirates were a fact of life for travelers by sea," Haigh continues. "Often they were unofficially licensed to the crown—as long as they paid a share of the booty to the Queen. There is even a record of Queen Elizabeth meeting with the notorious Irish lady pirate, Graine O’Malley."

Heywood, an English actor and dramatist, was a prolific writer whose peak period of activity falls between late Elizabethan and early Jacobean theater in the seventeenth century. He claimed to have written and collaborated on more than 200 plays, most of which are now lost. Although he wrote dramas based on English history, classical mythology, and romantic adventure, he is most famous for those dealing with contemporary English life.

Tickets may be purchased through the box office at Centre’s Norton Center for the Arts or by telephone by calling (859) 236-4692.

Musical Talent Showcased at Spring Concert
The Centre Music Program will present a Spring Musicians Showcase concert on April 19 at 7:30 p.m. in the Audrey R. Gillespie Recital Hall on campus. Admission to this public concert is free.

"Students who perform in the Musicians Showcase have been studying their instruments all year, and this is a wonderful opportunity for them to showcase their unique talents," says Larry Bitensky, associate professor of music.

Highlights of the concert will include classics from composers such as Handel, Rachmaninoff, Tchaikovsky, Mozart, Brahms and Beethoven. In addition, there will be some more contemporary works by composers such as Honegger, Gordon Lewis and Centre student composer Candice Steiner.

Performances will include vocal works as well as pieces for piano, violin, flute, clarinet, French horn and harpsichord.

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Founded in 1819, Centre College is ranked among the U.S. News top 50 national liberal arts colleges. Centre alumni, known for their nation-leading loyalty in annual financial support, include two U.S. vice presidents and two Supreme Court justices. For more, visit http://www.centre.edu/web/elevatorspeech/

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