The 50th Anniversary Production
of
William Inge’s
Picnic
Director:
Jack
B. Wright
Scenic & Lighting Designer: Delbert
Unruh
Costume Designer: Beth Collins
Choreographer:
Hannah Ballou
Set in a small Kansas
town, Picnic is the tale of a stranger who comes to town and unwittingly
becomes a catalyst for change. The drama opens when Hal, a hunky drifter with
a past and a history of seduction, takes a room in exchange for doing odd
jobs at a boarding house. Dim-witted, but gregarious and aware of his effect
on women, Hal walks around shirtless flirting with the single mother and her
two teenaged daughters who live next door.
Madge, the older girl, is the local beauty queen, engaged to the son of the
richest man in town. Her younger sister, Millie, has brains and personality,
but she is plain and she knows it. A self-described old-maid schoolteacher,
Miss Sidney, who boards with them, is trying to convince her reluctant beau
to marry her.
When Madge's well-heeled beau Alan shows up on the Owens' porch one afternoon,
it turns out he and Hal are old school chums, and that Hal is hoping Al and
his father can set him with a job. Impulsive and overanxious, Hal upsets the
order of the community. He regales Alan with half-made up stories of his nomadic
conquests and wanderings, and incites lust in all the town's women, both young
and old.
Picnic shakes up the lives of its characters, dredging up suppressed
feelings and buried resentments. Within a day of arriving, Hal changes all
the womens’ lives. He lures Millie out of her tomboy reclusion and almost
breaks her heart; he stimulates Miss Sidney into a humiliating, but eventually
successful fight for the hand of Howard; and he seduces Madge. By the time
he leaves the next morning, just ahead of the police, the emotional storm
Hal has caused brings all the women to the realization that their outlook
has been enlarged as a result of Hal’s invigorating presence.
September 5th at 7:30
p.m.
September 7 th at 2:30 p.m.
KU THEATRE
CANCELS PERFORMANCE OF 'PICNIC';
URGES PATRONS TO ATTEND FOOTBALL GAME
LAWRENCE---The Saturday, Sept. 6, performance of William Inge's drama, "Picnic" at the University of Kansas, has been canceled so as not to compete with the KU Jayhawks' football game with the University of Nevada, Las Vegas. The University Theatre is reviving its summer production of the Pulitzer Prize-winning play as a kickoff to the 2003-04 University Theatre season. Performances are now at 7:30 p.m. Sept. 5 and 2:30 p.m. Sept. 7 in the Crafton-Preyer Theatre. John Staniunas, associate professor and artistic director of the University Theatre, said the decision to cancel was made in an effort to support the KU football team. "Both the director of the production, Jack Wright, and I have season tickets and we want to go to the game," Staniunas said. "It's Band Day and we want to support the bands too. We have a great relationship with both our neighbors—the Athletics Department and the KU Bands. We just didn't want to compete with an event we support so much." Patrons with tickets to the Sept. 6 performance may exchange them for another performance, Staniunas said. "We urge people to go to the game Saturday evening either before or after they see 'Picnic' Friday or Sunday."
CAST
Helen Potts: Laura Leffler-McCabe
Hal Carter: Darren Maloney
Millie Owens: Hannah Ballou
Bomber: Brandon DeLany
Madge Owens: Samara Naeymi
Flo Owens: Robin Murphy
Rosemary Sydney: Allison Gabbard
Alan Seymour: Andrew York
Irma Kronkite: Jill Taylor
Christine Shoenwalder: Sarah Elizabeth
Homan
Howard Bevans: Don M. Schawang
MUSICIANS
Eddie Higgins and his Happiness Boys
