WINNIPEG – The University of Winnipeg’s Department of Theatre and Drama presents an examination of small-town society and interpersonal relationships as the 3rd-Year Honours Acting students stage a production at Convocation Hall of William Inge’s moving drama Picnic.
Picnic is essentially about the confrontation between the individual and society in an understated small town setting. A handsome, sexually disturbing young man named Hal Carter arrives into this world and the action unfolds as a result of the effects Hal’s presence has on the town’s women and some male characters. The play was considered shocking by audiences when it first opened in 1953.
While playwright William Inge is deceptively simple in his presentation of situations, his ear is actually carefully attuned to the dialogue of the people he writes about, demonstrating through it the crushing boredom and ensuing frustrations of singularly commonplace members of society – often the lower middle classes of America’s Midwest. His realism becomes a form of American Gothic.
Inge, who won a Pulitzer Prize for Picnic, writes, “I once compared a play to a journey, in which every moment should be as interesting as the destination, every line and every situation have its extensions of meaning beyond the immediate. I doubt if my plays “pay off” for an audience unless they are watched rather closely. I deal with the surfaces in my plays, and let whatever depths there are in my material emerge unexpectedly so that they bring something of the suddenness and shock which accompany the discovery of truths in actuality.”
Picnic is directed by Shelagh Carter; sets and costumes were designed by Lisa Hancharek.
Performances are February 1 – 8, at 8:00 p.m. nightly (except Sunday), with a special matinee performance on Saturday, February 2 at 3:00 p.m., and take place in Convocation Hall (2nd Floor, Wesley Hall), University of Winnipeg. Admission is free. For reservations (24-hours) call 204.786.9152, or visit the UWinnipeg Theatre Department website.
The University of Winnipeg’s theatre season will close with Arthur Wing Pinero’s Trelawny of the “Wells”, directed by Arne MacPherson, April 2-6 at the Gas Station Theatre.
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For further information or to arrange interviews, call Patty Hawkins at 204.786.9955.
