NVCC Theatre presents Big Love

WATERBURY, Conn. (March 19, 2008) –  The Naugatuck Valley Community College Theatre Department will perform Big Love by Obie-award winning playwright Charles L. Mee on Thurs., Fri. and Sat., April 10-12.

Big Love is an adaptation of the 2,500 year old play by Aeschylus, The Suppliant Women, in which 50 sisters are promised in marriage to their 50 cousins, but instead make an angry pact to murder their husbands on their wedding night. 

In this contemporary rendition, Mee has drafted an athletic and pop-poetic updating in which the group is reduced to 3 and 3 and the context is inspired by the texts of Leo Buscaglia, Klaus Theweleit, Maureen Stanton, Laurie Williams, and others. The Greek theatrical elements of oration, bloody imagery, live music, and dance of course survive – add to it a few smashed wedding china, squashed tomatoes, a pop song or two, and plenty of athletic bodies to go around!

All performances will be held at 8:00 p.m. in the Mainstage Theatre at the college’s Fine Arts Center, 750 Chase Parkway, Waterbury. Post show discussion will follow. 

Tickets are $6 for students with ID and $10 for the general public. Reservations can be made by calling 203-575-8038. The production contains adult material, strong language, and brief nudity. It’s suggested for ages 16 and older.

Big Love is directed by Ed Wierzbicki, associate professor of theatre at NVCC, artistic director of the New Zenith Theatre and an Emmy-nominated director/producer. The play is choreographed by Broadway veteran and dance department adjunct James Clark.  Cast includes:

• Naomi Lee - theatre major;
• Shannon Sullivan - dance major graduate;
• Kadie Tolderlund - theatre major;
• Mauricio Pita-Goncalves - theatre major;
• Alvi Dinga - theatre major;
• Chris Lafferty - theatre major graduate;
• Tracy Mariano - theatre major;
• Sarah Robards - theatre major;
• Timothy Lee - theatre major;
• Doug Sobon - theatre major graduate; and
• Mark Gardner - theatre student.

The extra actors, set building and technical crews are supplied by NVCC theatre department students.

Charles L. Mee's plays have been produced throughout the United States and abroad. He is the recipient of the Lifetime Achievement Award from the American Academy of Arts and Letters and an Obie award for Big Love. His plays and a description of his processes are available at www.charlesmee.org.