Pitt Repertory Theatre's Global Crossings Season Celebrates International Theatre, Opens With Gao Xingjian's Nocturnal Wanderer
PITTSBURGH-The Pitt Repertory Theatre kicks off its 2006-07 Global Crossings season Oct. 4 with Nocturnal Wanderer, Nobel Laureate Gao Xingjian's haunting and dreamlike mystery. The play will run through Oct. 15 in the Studio Theatre, (B-72) the basement of the Cathedral of Learning, 4200 Fifth Ave., Oakland. A special talk-back session with the actors will take place following the 2 p.m. matinee Oct. 8.
In the play, a man walking the streets of urban China in the middle of the night is confronted by a prostitute, a homeless man, and a thief. When the prostitute is found murdered, the blame shifts to the man, a nocturnal wanderer. In the fervid internal monologues of the play, the wanderer wrestles with his feelings, his responses to outside forces, and his search for peace within a violent world.
"Nocturnal Wanderer is not a story, but a dream. It is a dream about restlessness, isolation, brutality, and blame," says director Paul "Spike" Wilson, a Pitt doctoral student in theatre and performance studies. Wilson was attracted to Xingjian's work because of its strong connection to Zen Buddhism and its unabashed exploration of the nature of violence. "This is a play that presents something inescapable," Wilson says, "in a way in which we have no choice but to respond on a personal level. You are not audience, but eyewitness, perhaps corroborator, of a human state."
Pitt Rep's 2006-07 Global Crossings season will take audiences on an adventure through the world of international drama, featuring works by international playwrights including Argentina's Osvaldo Dragún, Britain's Caryl Churchill, Russia's Anton Chekhov, and Ireland's Brian Friel.
Tickets for Nocturnal Wanderer are $19 for general admission; $15 for senior citizens, Pitt Alumni Association members, and Pitt and UPMC faculty and staff; and $10 for students. For information, call 412-624-PLAY (7529) or visit www.play.pitt.edu.
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10/2/06/tmw
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