For Immediate Release

Contact: Barbara K. Laskin or Doug Stone
October 4, 2004
(651) 696-6203

Macalester College Theater and Dance Department Presents the Twin Cities Premiere of Ellen McLaughlin's "Tongue of a Bird," October 8-10, 15 and 16, 2004

St. Paul, Minn. - Macalester College Theater and Dance Department presents the Twin Cities premiere of Ellen McLaughlin's "Tongue of a Bird," Janet Wallace Fine Arts Center, MainStage Theatre, 1600 Grand Avenue, St. Paul, Minn. Tickets are $7 general admission and $5 for seniors and groups. Performances are 7:30 p.m., Fri. - Sun.,
Oct. 8 - 10, and Fri. and Sat., Oct. 15 and 16. There is also one 2 p.m. performance on Oct. 16. Theater and Dance Department chair Beth Clearly directs.

"Tongue of a Bird" is about a woman search-and-rescue pilot with a "perfect record" who accepts an assignment that's outside her area of expertise. The search triggers the desire to find lost pieces of her own life and lost stories in her family.

Ellen McLaughlin is a contemporary playwright, actress and scenic designer. Her new adaptation of Sophocles' "Oedipus the King" opens this January at the Guthrie Theater.

As an actress, McLaughlin originated the role of "Angel" in the stage version of "Angels in America." She is currently acting in Michele Lowe's play, "String of Pearls," off-Broadway.

Director Beth Cleary has been at Macalester since 1993. Her last production at Macalester was Bertolt Brecht's "Mother Courage and Her Children." Her play "Findings Uncertain" was included in the Theater Unbound Festival of Boston Theatreworks in 2003, and her short play, "Break," was workshopped at the Last Frontier Theater Conference in Alaska last summer.

Cleary teaches a course in Feminist Theatre(s) at Macalester which focuses on the work of 20th Century and contemporary women playwrights, including Ellen McLaughlin.

Macalester is a private, national liberal arts college with a full-time enrollment of 1,845 students. Macalester is nationally recognized for its long-standing commitment to academic excellence, internationalism, diversity and civic engagement.

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