Deep Dish Theater to Present ARCADIA, 2/28-3/22

A gaggle of academics tries to make sense of the past and a precocious girl is on the verge of altering the future in Tom Stoppard's sparkling comedy, Arcadia, presented by the Deep Dish Theater Company February 28-March 22. Directed by Artistic Director Paul Frellick, the play continues the company's thirteenth season at University Mall.

The play is set in the same English country manor and moves back and forth between two different eras. It documents a tangle of events involving a tutor (Ryan Brock), his gifted student (Nicole Gabriel) and an inept and incensed would-be poet (David Godshall) in the early 19th Century, as well as the contemporary investigation of those events by two sparring English scholars (Dorothy Recasner Brown and Eric Carl) and a prickly mathematician (Adam Sampieri). The cast also includes Erika Edwards, Thom Gradisher, Leanne Heintz, Doug Lally, Bill Mercer and Will Pierson.

"This play is such giddy fun, which is all the more amazing given the weighty concepts woven through it," noted Frellick. "I'm a great admirer of Stoppard's work, and of this play in particular-it seems to me the perfect expression of the playwright's many and considerable talents, and as exhilarating an experience as one is likely to encounter in the theater."

The design staff includes a number of Deep Dish veterans, including Christa Devitt, who designed sets for Uncle Vanya, Via Dolorosa and Polish Joke; Doug Wood, whose lighting has adorned such productions as The Cripple of Inishmaan, Nathan the Wise and Jitney; Karin Bagan, who created props for Good People; costumer LeGrande Smith, whose work was seen in After the Revolution and Henceforward...; and Marc Maximov, who has designed sound for Mi Vida Loca, She Stoops to Conquer, and this season's A Queer Kiss. David Berberian is the technical director and Jen Bauer the stage manager.

Dramaturg Karen Blansfield will present a pre-show "Meet the Play" talk on Friday, March 7 at 7 pm. Post-performance discussions will take place Sunday, March 2 (with Karen Blansfield and Paul Frellick); Sunday, March 9 (with the cast and Adam McCune of the UNC Department of English and Comparative Literature); and Thursday, March 13 (a "Meet the Designers" discussion with the production staff). The Deep Dish Book Selection, Life After Life by Kate Atkinson, will be discussed on Monday, March 17 at 7 pm at the Chapel Hill Public Library.

Performances begin Wednesday and Thursday at 7:30 p.m., Friday and Saturday at 8 p.m., and Sunday (matinee) at 2 p.m. Deep Dish is located in Chapel Hill's University Mall, on Estes Drive and US 15-501.

Tickets are $24 for adults and $21 for seniors, with a $2 discount for Wednesday and Thursday shows. Student tickets are $16 for all shows. Wednesday, March 5 is "Cheap Dish Night" - all tickets are $12 (no reservations accepted). Call 919-968-1515 for ticket reservations and for more information visit www.deepdishtheater.org.

The Deep Dish Theater Company is committed to presenting compelling, human-centered dramatic work that contributes to the cultural richness of the Triangle area and challenges audiences to explore concerns of the community and the world-at-large.