DePauw Theatre to present 'Arcadia'

A scene from the DePauw University production of "Arcadia" features student actors Billy Burke '16 (Valentine) and Courtney Feiller '18 (Hannah) at desk, while David Mather '19 (Septimus) and Laura Loy '16 (Thomasina) are dancing. (Courtesy photo)

"Arcadia," described by the New York Times in 1995 as Tom Stoppard's "richest, most ravishing comedy to date, a play of wit, intellect, language, brio and, new for him, emotion," is coming to the DePauw University stage.

DePauw Theatre will present a production of "Arcadia," which is, as the Times' Vincent Canby opined, "like a dream of levitation: you're instantaneously aloft, soaring, banking, doing loop-the-loops and then, when you think you're about to plummet to earth, swooping to a gentle touchdown of not easily described sweetness and sorrow."

The DePauw production, directed by Amy Hayes, part-time assistant professor of communication and theater, opens Thursday, Nov. 19 at 7:30 p.m. in Moore Theatre of the Judson and Joyce Green Center for the Performing Arts, and will be followed by a reception in the Great Hall.

Performances continue on Friday, Nov. 20 and Saturday, Nov. 21 at 7:30 p.m., with a matinee performance on Sunday, Nov. 22 at 3 p.m.

"Arcadia" follows the lives of two sets of characters who live in the same house nearly 200 years apart -- in the early 1800s and today.

In the past, Thomasina is a 13-year-old girl ahead of her time academically, tutored by Septimus, a friend of Lord Byron. In the present, a writer and a literature professor are studying the life of Byron when they discover the history of the house's predecessors.

First opening in London in 1993, "Arcadia" featured an all-star cast that included Bill Nighy as Bernard Nightingale, the literature professor. In 1995 the Broadway continuation of the play received a Tony nomination for Best Play, followed by Best Revival of a Play nomination in 2011.

Tickets for the DPU production are $6 for general admission and $3 for students. They are available online for purchase at www.brownpapertickets.com/event/2461315.