University News
University Theatre to Present "The Memorandum"
February 8, 2001
MACOMB, IL -- The Western Illinois University Theatre will present Vaclav Havel's "The Memorandum" at 7:30 p.m. Tuesday through Saturday, Feb. 20-24 in the Horrabin Hall Theatre.
Directed by Theatre Department Chair Gene Kozlowski, "The Memorandum" is an Orwellian gem written and performed during Czechoslovakia's era of relative political freedom in the 1960s. It is a sarcastic assault on the madness and absurdity of "efficiency" peculiar to governments, organizations and institutions bogged down in bureaucracy.
Havel wrote the play in 1965. It was translated into English and produced by Joseph Papp in the United States in 1968, when it won the Obie Award for Best
Foreign Play.
Havel was a political maverick who was sent to prison in 1977 for writing a document calling upon the Czech government to abide by its own laws. It is significant to audiences of "The Memorandum" that Havel was again arrested in 1979 for speaking out against a system of government that believes itself to be infallible.
Other plays during the spring include Shakespeare's "The Tempest," April 4-7 in the Hainline Theatre; and the Stephen Sondheim musical "Company," which was originally scheduled for April 24-28 and will now run April 17-21. The time and place for "Company" remain the same, 7:30 p.m. in the Horrabin Hall Theatre.
Tickets are $10.50 public, $8.50 student/seniors. Western's Theatre Box Office is open from noon to 5 p.m. weekdays the week of the shows, 309-298-2900.
Posted By: University Communications (U-Communications@wiu.edu)
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