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Perpetua opens St. Olaf Theater fall season

By Sarah Meyers '06
October 14, 2004

The St. Olaf College Theater Department opened its fall season Oct. 13 with Perpetua, an original new work by playwright Vincent Delaney and directed by Karen Peterson Wilson, an associate professor of theater at St. Olaf. Performances run through Saturday, Oct. 16, at 7:30 p.m. in Haugen Theater, with 2 p.m. matinee performances on Oct. 16 and 17.

Perpetua
Playwright Vincent Delaney (left) chats with St. Olaf students Solveig Harriday '06 (Lakeville, Minn.), Nick Sahli '07 (Rochester, Minn.), Katherine Olson '06 (Cottage Grove, Minn.) and Max Wojtanowicz '06 (Rice, Minn.) on the set of Perpetua.


Perpetua, part of St. Olaf's New Plays on Campus program, is the first play to be produced as part of a new national collaboration with the Minnesota Playwrights' Center. The program, which connects working playwrights with college theaters, enables Delaney to be on the St. Olaf campus for two weeks working with students and cast members, and visiting theater classes. New Plays on Campus is supported by funding from the St. Olaf Artists Series and the Communication and Theater Association of Minnesota Foundation.

"I am excited about this collaboration," says director Karen Peterson Wilson. "I can honestly say such a bridge between theater professionals and college theater makes a connection in a way that is creative, important and useful for all parties involved."

Perpetua follows the story of two sisters who are reunited on the Oregon coast to bury a father they hardly knew. Before they can even begin, magic sweeps in, transforming both present and past. By turns wistful, angry and funny, Perpetua explores the strangeness of grief and redemption.

There will be a post-show discussion following the Oct. 16 matinee performance with members of the Minnesota Playwrights' Center and playwright Delaney. Delaney also wrote Kuwait, a 10-minute play about a Gulf War journalist captured in Iraq by U.S. soldiers, which won top prize in the National Ten-Minute Play Contest sponsored by the Actors Theater in Louisville. The full-length version of Kuwait won the new play award at the Sonoma County Repertory in Sonoma, Calif.

Tickets for are $8 and can be reserved by calling the St. Olaf Theater box office at (507) 646-8987.

Contact Carole Engblom at 507-646-3271 or leigh@stolaf.edu.