Department of Theatre at ESU to Present Edward Albee’s Award-Winning Drama, The Goat Or Who Is Sylvia?

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Posted by: admin on February 28, 2013, No Comments

The East Stroudsburg University of Pennsylvania (ESU) Theatre Department will be presenting Edward Albee’s The Goat or Who is Sylvia?, winner of the 2002 Tony and Drama Desk awards for best drama.

Curtain times for the play are 8 p.m. March 5-9 and 2 p.m. March 10.  All performances are at the Smith-McFarland Theatre of the university’s Fine and Performing Arts Center, Normal and Marguerite streets, East Stroudsburg.  Because of adult language and content this play is recommended for mature audiences only. 

The play is a very dark comedy that focuses on the limits of an ostensibly liberal society.  In the piece, a very successful architect is forced to confess to his wife and son that he’s involved in a relationship that will probably destroy his marriage, his career, and his life.

“The great central scene in which husband and wife confront each other recalls Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf? in both its emotional intemperance and the shocking humour of its invective,” noted British critic Charles Spencer. 

“Albee’s power as a playwright is evident in the couple’s blistering dialogue,” said Susan P. O’Hearn, professor of theatre and director of the production. “Language is a tool that should bring them closer.  Ultimately, it fails.”

 “Four decades after Virginia Woolf sent shock waves through the mainstream theater,” New York Times critic Ben Brantley noted, “Mr. Albee still asks questions that no other major American dramatist dares to ask.”

Yoshinori Tanokura, assistant professor of theatre, designed the sets and costumes for the production. Guest designer Benjamin Weill created the lighting for the piece.

General admission is $12; $10 for senior citizens, faculty, and staff with ID; and $7 students with ID.

For more information or ticket reservations, please call the Fine and Performing Arts Events Line at 570-422-3483, and press option 4.  All reservations will be held until ten minutes before curtain time.