Kenyon College Dramatic Club presents Juvenilia

GAMBIER, Ohio (February 8, 2006) It's come full circle. Juvenilia, written by Kenyon College's James E. Michael Playwright-in-Residence and Associate Professor of Drama Wendy MacLeod, may have premiered in New York City in 2003, but the play was conceived in Gambier, inspired by material that students brought to MacLeod's Introduction to the Theater class. Now it's being performed in Kenyon's Hill Theater at 8:00 p.m. on Thursday, Friday, Saturday, and Sunday, February 23-26.

MacLeod has come full circle as well; since 1990, she has been teaching at Kenyon, where she herself was a student. After graduating in 1981, she earned an M.F.A. from the Yale School of Drama. Author of The Water Children, Sin, Schoolgirl Figure, and Things Being What They Are, MacLeod is a New Dramatist alumna and a member of the Dramatists Guild. Her play The House of Yes was adapted by director Mark Waters into a 1997 film starring Parker Posey, Tori Spelling, and Freddie Prinze, Jr. She is one of several writers working with Bradford Louryk on his latest project, Version Mary.

Juvenilia--the title is a Latin term referring to early, immature works of an artist-- is set in a dorm at fictional Jubilee College, a small liberal-arts institution not dissimilar to Kenyon. The school motto, Puberes ex pueris, which translates roughly as "Adults out of children," suggests the arc of the play: in the secure incubator that is college life, the characters are each searching for emotional balance, juggling emergent sexuality, maturity, and morality.

The action centers on four characters: roommates Henry and Brodie; Brodie's girlfriend, Meredith; and Angie, who lives across the hall. Or, as MacLeod explained in a November 2003 interview with Tim Sanford, artistic director of Playwrights Horizons, where the play premiered, it's about "the reality of the college experience, with its drinking, drugs, sex, Internet porn, and boundary-testing."

Assistant Professor of Drama Daniel Kramer is directing the production, and senior Samantha Oberstein designed the costumes as part of her senior exercise. Visiting Professor of Drama Hugh Lester designed the lighting and scenery. Cast members are seniors Max Bunzel and Liz Jacobsen, and juniors Claire Fort and Pat Shaw.

Ticket prices are $5.00 for general admission; $2.00 for non-Kenyon students, seniors, and children under 12; $2.50 for groups of ten or more with reservations; and $1.00 for Kenyon students. The box office is open from 1:00 to 5:00 p.m. Monday, February 20, through Sunday, February 26, and one hour prior to each performance. For more information or to make reservations, call (740) 427-5531.