Dec. 29, 1998

Contact Joseph Gilg (541) 346-4190 or John R. Crosiar 346-3135

EDITOR'S NOTE: Photo call for "Old Times" will be at 6 p.m. on Monday, Jan. 4, in the Arena Theatre at Villard Hall, 1190 Old Campus Lane.

EUGENE-University Theatre's Second Season will present "Old Times" by Harold Pinter beginning on Wednesday, Jan. 13, at the Arena Theater in Room 104 of Villard Hall, 1190 Old Campus Lane on the University of Oregon campus.

Performances, all at 8 p.m., will continue on Jan. 14-16 and 21-23. There will be no late seating. Free parking is available nearby in the lot at East 11th Avenue and Kincaid Street.

Pinter is the greatest English-language playwright living and working today, according to director Jimmy Bickerstaff, a doctoral degree student in theater arts from Silver City, N.M. For this very reason, Bickerstaff chose this play and feels that this production will "provide an opportunity for students and audiences to encounter some of the most challenging work available."

Critics have called "Old Times" Pinter's most important play. The New York Times review called it "the finest play of a master dramatist... a mature and astonishingly satisfying play." The New York Daily News described it as "a touching, beautifully written, often funny and steadily engrossing piece.... It is a work of art and a lovely one."

The story concerns a fashionable and urbane couple who is entertaining the wife's former roommate and friend whom they have not seen in 20 years. The action shifts back and forth in time through memories and recollections of what did-or, perhaps, did not-happen. As the tensions build, we are aware that the husband and friend have become locked in a duel for the wife's very soul.

Part of Pinter's mastery as a playwright is his gift for creating scenes, characters and situations that run deep and complicated. His works often present ambiguities that hint at much more than is actually said, and "Old Times" is no exception.

Bickerstaff feels that this play will "appeal strongly to a contemporary audience." The play is "intellectually sophisticated and stimulating with subtle humor as deft as Noel Coward's and [contains] ambiguities that are like mysteries about the past," says Bickerstaff.

One of the things he says he most enjoys about the production is the way the play engages the mind of the audience with its sub-textual actions and palpable underlying tensions.

Besides director Bickerstaff, the artistic staff includes set designer/properties manager Kevin Macpherson, a senior in theater arts from Ontario; costume designers Ashlynn Billingsley, a master of fine arts student in costume design from College Park, Md., and Kellian Allen, a senior in theater arts from Grants Pass; lighting designer Michael Mateyko, a senior in theater arts from Woodland Hills, Calif.; sound designer Michael Grof, a junior in theater arts from Freemont, Calif.; and technical Director Glenn Calkins, a junior in mathematics from Alpine.

Dramaturg is Ame Wilson, a doctoral degree student in theater arts from Flagstaff, Ariz.; stage manager is Emily Westerman, a senior in theater arts from Ashland; assistant stage manager is Jennifer Henderson, a freshman from Roseburg; and dialect coach is Megan Smith, a senior in music and theater arts from Davis, Calif.

The cast features John Sanders, a senior in theater arts from Granite Bay, Calif., as Deeley; Carrie Gardner, a senior in theater arts from West Linn as Kate; and Autumn Armstrong, a junior in theater arts from Salem as Anna.

Ticket prices for "Old Times" are $6 for the general public; $5 for UO faculty and staff, senior citizens and non-UO students; and $3 for UO students. All seats are general admission.

For tickets and more information, visit the University Theatre Box Office in the lobby of Robinson Theatre at Villard Hall, or call (541) 346-4191. Box office hours are noon-6 p.m. Tuesday through Friday and noon-8:15 p.m. on performance days.

Tickets also are available at the ticket office at the Erb Memorial Union, 1222 E. 13th Ave., or call 346-4363.

Information about University Theatre productions is available 24 hours a day on the Web at http://darkwing.uoregon.edu/~theatre/ or call GuardLine from a Touch-Tone phone at 485-2000 and select ext. 2287.

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