EUGENE–A black comedy about personal relationships and self-discovery, "Raised in Captivity," opens on Wednesday, Nov. 10, in the Arena Theatre at Villard Hall, 1109 Old Campus Lane, as the second production of the University Theatre Second Season.

The play, directed by Don LaPlant, a second-year University of Oregon doctoral degree student in theater arts from Ithaca, N.Y., continues on Nov. 11—13 and Nov. 18—20. All performances begin at 8 p.m., and no late seating is permitted. Free parking is available nearby in the UO lot at East 11th Avenue and Kincaid Street.

Tickets cost $6 for the general public; $5 for senior citizens, UO faculty and staff, and non-UO students; and $4 for UO students. A $1 discount is available to UO students for Wednesday and Thursday performances.

Tickets for all University Theatre events are now available at the Hult Center for the Performing Arts, One Eugene Centre, as well as at the Ticket Office in the Erb Memorial Union,
1222 E. 13th Ave., and the University Theatre Box Office in the Robinson Theatre Lobby.

"Raised in Captivity" is a hilarious black comedy in the style of Joe Orton, Christopher Durang and John Guare. The characters who inhabit this world are living at the edge of their capabilities. We meet them at the moment they are about to make shocking discoveries about themselves and find them wholly unprepared for the emotional roller coaster they are about to ride.

"On one level," says director LaPlant, "the show is a fairly traditional tale of romantic and familial relationships which address a number of common themes: guilt, spirituality, death, loss, yearning, forgiveness, punishment, redemption and love. The cast and I are aiming for a style which supports and reinforces the direct emotional and intellectual engagement with relevant issues and themes."

"‘Raised in Captivity’ is about guilt, redemption, and self-punishment, and, against all odds, it is also very funny," according to the New York Times in an article about the original production in New York. "The dialogue skillfully juxtaposes the banal and the outlandishly whimsical, and has the shimmer of an opal…," the story adds.

The production team working with director LaPlant includes lighting designer Brian Jones, a sophomore theater arts major from McMinnville; and costume designer Margaret Dillner, a senior theater arts major, and technical director David Crouse, a junior theater arts major, both from Portland.

Also part of the production team are stage manager Jackie Jacobus, a junior theater arts major from San Francisco, Calif.; and set designer Kate Slepicka, a senior theater arts major from Hillsboro, Ill.

The cast features Mark Baylis, a junior international studies major from Boring as Dylan and Roger; Sam A. Super, a sophomore theater arts major from Oregon City, as Kip; Lindy Anderson, a junior English major from The Dalles as Bernadette; Colleen Wroblewski, a senior theater arts major from Danville, Calif., as Hillary and Miranda; and Brian Henderson, a junior philosophy major from Sacramento, Calif., as Sebastian.

For more information about performances of "Raised in Captivity" and other Second Season productions, browse http://darkwing.uoregon.edu/~theatre or call the University Theatre Box Office, 346-4191; the EMU Ticket Office, 346-4363; or the Hult Center Box Office, 682-5000.

A taped message about University Theatre productions and activities also is available 24 hours a day by calling GuardLine from a Touch-Tone phone at 485-2000, ext. 2287.

—30—

#P-2076/A&E