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Elizabeth Blevins, Director, Office of Communications
Phyllis Noah, Communications Coordinator
Office: (740) 351-3810; FAX: (740) 351-3179; Cell: (740) 464-4854
940 Second Street – Portsmouth, Ohio 45662
E-mail: eblevins@shawnee.edu or pnoah@shawnee.edu
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            John Huston, associate professor and Theater Department coordinator at Shawnee State University, announces the upcoming 2010-11 season of plays that has been expanded to offer four productions this season.
            “We are very excited about the upcoming season,” Huston said. “We are doing twice as much this year and one play will be a musical that is so much fun. We are looking forward to more students being involved and making a much bigger impression on campus and in the community.”
            The first play is John Ford Noonan’s comedy, “A Coupla White Chicks Sitting Around Talking.” The play tells the story of Hannah Mae Bindler and Maud Mix, two very different women from very different backgrounds, and the unlikely friendship that develops between them.
            “The incident that bonds them would drive most women apart,” Huston said. “But they find that they have much to learn from each other about life and what they want from it.”
            Student Amy Strickland, of West Union, plays the conservative and repressed Maud Mix and student Kit Kongos, originally of Phoenix, Ariz., is the outrageous Hannah Mae Bindler. The production will be directed by new adjunct theater faculty member, Mary Baughman.
            Three performances are offered in the Kahl Studio Theater at the Vern Riffe Center for the Arts. The first performance will be at 7:30 p.m. on Friday, Sept. 17. A matinee is offered at 2:30 p.m. and the final performance will be at 7:30 p.m. on Saturday, Sept. 18. General admission tickets are $5.00 and may be purchased at the McKinley Box Office in the VRCFA.
            Three other productions offered this season are:
            · Alfred Uhry’s “The Last Night of Ballyhoo,” winner of the 1997 Tony Award for Best Play, is directed by Huston. The play will be offered at 7:30 p.m. on Friday and Saturday, Nov. 12-13, and four nights on Wednesday, Thursday, Friday and Saturday, Nov. 17-20 in the Kahl Studio Theater.
            · Sandy Wilson’s musical, “The Boyfriend,” at 7:30 p.m. on Wednesday, Thursday and Friday, Feb. 9-11, 2011, and Wednesday, Thursday and Friday, Feb. 17-19, 2011. A special Valentine performance is planned for Sunday, Feb. 14, 2011, in the Kahl Studio Theater.
            · Pulitzer Prize winning playwright Paul Zindel’s “The Secret Affairs of Mildred Wild” at 7:30 p.m. on Wednesday, Thursday and Friday, April 20-22, 2011, in the Main Stage Theater at the VRCFA.