Academic Theatre at CCBC Catonsville to Present Lynn Nottage's INTIMATE APPAREL

The Theater department at the Community College of Baltimore County explores a variety of challenging themes in its student academic theatre productions. This semester, while CCBC Essex students put on their innovative interpretation of "The Elephant Man," students at CCBC Catonsville examine Lynn Nottage's "Intimate Apparel." Nottage's play weaves an age-old Cinderella-like story into a rich and complex theatrical tapestry. Set in Lower Manhattan in 1905, the play centers on Esther, a lonely black seamstress who stitches sumptuous corsets and negligees alone in her boarding house bedroom. But when she receives a letter from a workman digging the Panama Canal, she begins to dream of sewing her own trousseau.

Performances will be given Thursday, Nov. 5 at 11:15 a.m.; Friday and Saturday, Nov. 6 and 7 at 8 p.m., Sunday, Nov. 8 at 3 p.m. and Monday, Nov. 9 at 10 a.m. in the Center for the Arts Theatre, CCBC Catonsville at 800 S. Rolling Road. Tickets are $8 General Admission; $5 seniors, students, CCBC faculty, staff and alumni and Free to CCBC students with current ID. Call the CCBC Box Office at 443-840-2787 (ARTS) for tickets and information.

The ensemble cast includes Takira Stokes (Esther), Tierra Stone (Mrs. Dickson) and Charles Gearhart (Mr. Marks) of Baltimore, Md., Elizabeth Tybush (Mrs. Van Buren) of Reisterstown, Md., Kezia Cornich (Mayme) of Cockeysville, Md. and Olawale Esan (George). Tom Colonna, Professor of Theatre, directs, G. Maurice "Moe" Conn designed the set and lighting, Frank Tybush is sound designer and James J. Fasching is the costume designer. Sara Rainess is the stage manager.

According to her website http://www.lynnnottage.com/about.html, Lynn Nottage, an award-winning playwright and a screenwriter, has had her plays produced widely in the United States and throughout the world. Her plays include Sweat, By The Way, Meet Vera Stark, Ruined, her most honored and recognized, which won the Pulitzer Prize, OBIE, Lucille Lortel, New York Drama Critics' Circle, Audelco, Drama Desk and Outer Critics Circle Award, and Intimate Apparel, which garnered the American Theatre Critics and New York Drama Critics' Circle Awards for Best Play. Nottage is also a recipient of a MacArthur "Genius Grant" Fellowship. A graduate of Brown University and the Yale School of Drama, where she has been a faculty member since 2001. She is currently working on an opera of Intimate Apparel.

Photo credit: Frey Photographic