MEDIA CONTACTS: Polly Burks
561-297-2595, pburks@fau.edu or
Stacia Smith
561-297-2971, ssmith@fau.edu

FAU To Host "Fabulous 4th" Celebration
Festivities include "West Side Story," Family Entertainment, Concert and Fireworks

BOCA RATON, FL (June 27, 2005) - In collaboration with the City of Boca Raton, Florida Atlantic University will host a "Fabulous 4th" celebration on Monday, July 4. The festivities will start at 4 p.m. with a staging of West Side Story, followed by food and family entertainment at 6 p.m., a concert of patriotic music by the Florida Wind Symphony at 7:30 p.m. and fireworks at 9 p.m. The festivities will take place at FAU's Boca Raton campus. Tickets for the play are $20 (with group prices available) and FAU faculty, staff, students and alumni may receive tickets for $16. The ticket price for children 12 and under is $10. Admission to the other festivities is free.

West Side Story is a Broadway musical that sets Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet, a timeless story of two lovers caught in the middle of a family feud, in the gang-ridden streets of New York City in the late 1950s. It tells the tale of Maria, whose relatives are part of a Puerto Rican gang, and Tony, a member of another local gang of many nationalities. The teens overcome racism and fall in love, but their romance turns to tragedy when the 'Sharks' and the 'Jets' go to war. Songs like "America," "Maria" and "Somewhere" make this a memorable classic. The play will be directed by Clarence Brooks, a visiting assistant professor at FAU and head of FAU's dance program.

The play takes place in the University Theatre of the Dorothy F. Schmidt College of Arts and Letters at FAU's Boca Raton campus. The rest of the evening's activities will take place at the north end of the campus.

FAU's Boca Raton campus is located at 777 Glades Road, ½ mile east of I-95. Follow the signs to Schmidt Theatre/Gallery for West Side Story. There will also be signs for the concert and fireworks. For more information on West Side Story or FAU's other summer productions, The Hollow and A Celebration of Rodgers & Hammerstein, call FAU's department of theatre at 561-297-3810 or go to www.fau.edu/festivalrep. Tickets may be obtained by calling FAU's School of the Arts box office at 561-297-2977 or by emailing artstickets@fau.edu.

- FAU -