Temple Theaters Presents ARCADIA, Now thru 2/21

Temple Theaters continues its 2014-2015 Season with Tom Stoppard's 1993 masterpiece Arcadia, directed by Liz Carlson, performing tonight, February 11-21 in the Tomlinson Theater. This classic drama, describe by The Times as a "perfect marriage of ideas and high comedy," follows the inhabitants of a wealthy English country estate, Sidley Park, as they wrestle with secrets, discovery, and romance. Crossing the centuries, Arcadia explores the mysterious human intersection between head and heart, with passion and wit.

The play interweaves the story of two generations of Coverlys. In the early nineteenth century, the household of Lady Croom (Ashley Fisher-Tannenbaum) is disrupted by the presence of Lord Byron and his mistress. At the center for the Sidley Park household is the deepening relationship between tutor Septimus Hodge (Ian Monaco) and his student Thomasina Coverly (Mikayla Cleary), a precocious genius. In the present day, scholars Hannah Jarvis (Kyra Baker) and Bernard Nightingale (Darryl Gene Daughtry, Jr.) visit estate, with the present-day Coverly siblings, to conduct research on the Sidley Park hermit and Lord Byron respectively. Divided by centuries, the characters meditate on sex and chaos, explore romance and mathematics, and search for answers to the past and solutions for the present.

Arcadia is a modern masterpiece, says director Liz Carlson, because "it asks us to stop and marvel, not merely at the nature of the universe but at the very great miracle and mystery of the things we encounter every day." The rich script is perennially relevant and enduring. "Arcadia is a play about all that which makes us human; a play in which the ridiculous and the sublime are inextricably intermixed," say Carlson.

Temple Theaters' 2014-2015 season continues with Merrily We Roll Along, directed by Brandon McShaffrey, running March 13 - 22, and The Matchmaker, directed by Douglas C. Wager, running March 25 - April 4. With an eclectic mix of old and new, this season showcases the artistry and talent of the Department of Theater's diverse student/faculty resident ensemble. Information about the mainstage season and special events can be found at temple.edu/theater.