For Immediate Release Contact: Barbara K. Laskin
February 16, 2004 Doug Stone
(651) 696-6203

Macalester College Theater and Dance Department Presents
"Mud, River, Stone" by Lynn Nottage
February 26-29, 2004

St. Paul, Minn. - Macalester College Theater and Dance Department presents four performances of "Mud, River, Stone," a drama by Lynn Nottage, Janet Wallace Fine Arts Center MainStage Theatre, 1600 Grand Avenue, St. Paul, Minn. General admission $7, senior and group $5. (651) 696-6359. Performances are Thursday, Feb. 26, Friday, Feb. 27, and Saturday, Feb. 28, at 7:30 p.m., and Sunday, Feb. 29, at 2:00 p.m.

"Mud, River, Stone" is the story of an upwardly mobile African American couple searching for the ultimate African vacation. With inadequate planning and poor navigation skills, they become lost and consumed by mud, jungle and fatigue, eventually stumbling upon the Imperial Hotel, a once magnificent hotel and tribute to British imperial excess. What appears to be an oasis becomes the setting for a hostage situation as guests and captors argue conflicting values and definitions of what it means to be African.

Director Dawn Renee Jones, a Macalester guest professor in the Theater and Dance Department since 1996, said the Macalester student actors have gotten their minds and hearts around this play. "They are giving thoughtful and passionate readings of the script and the issues it explores," said Jones. "It has been a joy to both nurture and observe their development as artists." The Macalester cast includes Simon Morrison, Nisreen Dawan, Mikhail Higgins, Sarah Meyeroff, Elliot Stapleton, David Jacobs and Nonni Hlongwane.

Jones is the Artistic Director of Alchemy Theater in Minneapolis which presents the work of writers of African heritage. It was there that Macalester Theater and Dance Department Chair Beth Cleary heard "Mud, River, Stone" read.

Lynn Nottage, the 33-year-old playwright from Brooklyn, N.Y., has also written "Crumbs from the Table of Joy" and "Las Meninas."

Macalester is a private liberal arts college with a full-time enrollment of 1,810 students. Macalester is nationally recognized for its commitment to academic excellence, internationalism, diversity and service to society.