The University of Texas
Department of Theatre and Dance

Date: January 17, 2007

MEDIA CONTACT: Amanda Flores, Public Affairs Specialist, (512) 232-5337, amflores@mail.utexas.edu

UT Theatre & Dance’s “Big Love” exposes the messy side of love

WHAT: Big Love, directed by Franchelle Stewart Dorn, Head of the Acting area at UT
WHEN: February 15, 16, 21, 22, 23 at 8PM; February 17, 23, 24 at 2PM
WHERE: Oscar G. Brockett Theatre, Winship Drama Building, 300 E. 23rd Street
TIX: $16/$13/$10 available now at www.utpac.org or 477-6060 or at door (cash only)
WEB: www.finearts.utexas.edu/tad/productions/production_season/2007-2008/biglove

AUSTIN, TX – Fifty brides and fifty grooms create drama fit for the tabloids when the UT Department of Theatre & Dance presents Charles L. Mee's Big Love, directed by Acting Area Head Franchelle Stewart Dorn, February 15-24 at UT's Oscar G. Brockett Theatre.

Inspired by Aeschylus' classic Greek play, The Danaids, Big Love examines the many contemporary complexities of love and marriage. It satirically exposes the truth behind arranged marriages, abuse, societal expectations, fear, confusion, masculinity, femininity sexuality and hope through the eyes of fifty brides and fifty grooms. In the first of two spring productions starring students of the UT MFA Acting class of 2010, fifty brides flee from Greece in a defiant effort to avoid their commitment to arranged marriages. The brides seek refuge in a villa on the coast of Italy only for their would–be grooms to arrive almost immediately to take them back, forcing the women to do whatever it takes to escape their marital obligations.

Director Franchelle Stewart Dorn, the Virginia L Murchison Regents Professor in the Department of Theatre and Dance, is currently Head of the Acting Program at the University of Texas at Austin, where she has taught since the spring of 2000. She received her MFA degree from the Yale University School of Drama where she was one of the founding members of the Yale Summer Cabaret. Dorn proclaims, "Everyone who is in a relationship, is wishing for a relationship, is despairing the loss of a relationship or hopes never to be in a relationship should see this play. At once tragic and satirical, the brutal end expresses our despair and yet offers the possibility of redemption."

Join us on February 15 for an Opening Night Reception immediately following the performance.

For more information about the playwright, director, cast, design team, costume renderings, and play synopsis, visit the Big Love production page at the Department of Theatre and Dance website: www.finearts.utexas.edu/tad.

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