For Immediate Release Contact: Barbara K. Laskin
November 3, 2003 Doug Stone
(651) 696-6203

Macalester College Theater and Dance Department Presents The Rover

St. Paul, Minn. - The Macalester College Theater and Dance Department presents The Rover by British playwright Aphra Behn (1640-1689), directed by guest artist Joel Sass, artistic director of the Mary Worth Theatre Company in Minneapolis, Minn.

Even though it was written over 300 years ago, Behn's robust and witty treatment of politics, desire, intrigue and disguise is delightful and surprisingly contemporary. The Rover opens 7:30 p.m. November 14 and stars 18 Macalester students.

The play is set in Spain during the week of Carnival that precedes the observance of the Lenten holidays. The plot revolves around three wealthy, sheltered but adventurous sisters who sneak out of their father's house wearing Carnival disguise and fall in with a group of exiled English mercenary soldiers or "Rovers." The Rover, which fell out of the repertory for nearly 100 years, has regained much critical attention in the last decade.
In her brilliant life, Aphra Behn wrote more plays than any other British playwright of her generation except John Dryden -- and then fell into obsolescence until feminist scholars rediscovered her several decades ago.

The Rover, at 7:30 p.m., November 14 - 15, 20 - 22 and November 16 at 2 p.m. is on the Main Stage Theatre, Janet Wallace Fine Arts Center, 1600 Grand Ave.,
St. Paul. Admission is $7 for general admission, $5 for seniors and groups and free for children 12 and under. For more information call (651) 696-6359.

Macalester is a private liberal arts college with a full-time enrollment of 1,851 students. Macalester is nationally recognized for its commitment to academic excellence, internationalism, diversity and service to society.

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