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MEDIA CONTACT: Stacia Smith
561-297-2595: ssmith@fau.edu
FAU Presents “Courtship” and “Valentine’s Day”
Horton Foote’s plays offer a look at small-town life from a bygone era in America
BOCA RATON, FL (March 21, 2003) – Florida Atlantic University’s Department of Theatre will present a double bill of two one-act plays from Pulitzer-prize winning playwright Horton Foote entitled “Courtship” and “Valentine’s Day.” The plays will be presented April 4-6 (Friday and Saturday at 8 p.m., and Sunday at 2 p.m.) and April 10-13 (Thursday, Friday and Saturday at 8 p.m., and Sunday at 2 p.m.) in the Studio One Theater of Florida Atlantic University’s Boca Raton campus.
Set in Texas in the early 1900s, these two dramatic plays about courtship and marriage look at small-town family life from a bygone era in America. Elizabeth Vaughn is caught in a conflict as old as society itself. She has fallen for Horace Robedaux, an orphaned clothing salesman. Her proud and wealthy parents, however, frown on their daughter's love for this less than ideal candidate for their daughter’s hand. Elizabeth perseveres, but struggles in a repressive family environment. The two plays are part of Foote’s cycle of nine plays entitled “The Orphans’ Home Cycle.”
Foote is best known for his Academy Award-winning screenplays, “To Kill a Mockingbird,” “Tender Mercies” and “The Trip to Bountiful.” “The Orphans’ Home Cycle,” however, is his most monumental work. The sense of home and belonging is a central theme in all his works, as he explores why some are able to survive family tragedies and others are utterly destroyed.
The plays will feature guest director Benny Sato Ambush. Ambush is a professional stage director, producer, educator and consultant with national and international experience. He currently directs at Theatre Virginia in Richmond, Virginia. This will mark Ambush’s return to Florida. He was formerly director-in-residence at Florida Stage in Manalapan, Florida.
“Although rooted in the eastern Texas soil, these coming-of-age tales are an ‘Everyman’s’ diary in their revelation of ordinary people leading ordinary lives. Underneath the plays’ deceptively simple “beautiful normalcy” (as one cast member put it) lies the stuff of humanity: aspirations, disappointments, victories and agonies,” says Ambush.
The plays include performances and support by some of FAU’s finest theatre students.
“Courtship” and “Valentines Day” are presented by the Dorothy F. Schmidt College of Arts and Letters Department of Theatre at Florida Atlantic University. Tickets for the event are $15. FAU employees and children under 12 are $10 and FAU students are admitted free of charge with valid student I.D. For tickets, call the FAU Box Office at 561-297-3737, or contact Ticketmaster.
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FAU’s Boca Raton campus is at 777 Glades Road, ½ mile east of I-95. To reach Studio One, take a left into the main entrance to FAU from Glades and make the first right at Indian River Street. Then follow the signs “Schmidt Arts and Letters” and “Theatres and Galleries.” Turn left at Palm Beach Avenue and left into the parking lot. (Visitors may park in faculty and student lots for all events after 4:00 p.m. or on weekends.) Studio One is located in the Performing Arts Building, which is the first building at the end of the parking lot. Enter the building and go all the way to the back to the last set of doors
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