Neil Simon's 'Fools' opens Mainstage season

Theatre Northwest, the dramatic arts program of the Department of Communication, Theatre and Languages, opens its 2008-’09 Mainstage season Sept. 25-28 with “Fools,” a light-hearted comedy by Neil Simon.

The play serves as this year's Freshman/Transfer Showcase and is cast entirely with new freshmen or students who have transferred to Northwest from other colleges and universities. Dr. Joe Kreizinger, associate professor of communication, theatre and languages, directs.

Curtain time at the Performing Arts Center on campus is 7:30 p.m. on Thursday, Sept. 25, Friday, Sept. 26, and Saturday, Sept. 27. There will be a 2 p.m. matinee on Sunday, Sept. 28. Tickets cost $8 at the door.

All seats are general admission with seating on a first-come, first-served basis. Half-price ticket reservations to Main Stage productions for groups of 12 or more may be made by calling 660.562.1172 at least one week in advance of the show date.

As “Fools” begins, the audience meets Leon Tolchinsky, an ambitious young schoolteacher arriving in the village of Kulyenchikov. There he encounters a rather “unintelligent” shepherd by the name of "Something Something Snetsky, the sheep loser." After a confusing and tedious conversation with Snetsky, Leon goes off to find the home of his new employer, Doctor Zubritsky.

Soon Leon is introduced to the Zubritsky's daughter, Sophia, and is immediately love struck. Alas, she proves to be just as “unintelligent” as Snetsky and the other villagers, if not more so.

The teacher discovers the town's idiocy is the result of a 200-year-old curse of stupidity cast by Vladimir Yousekevitch after his son killed himself because the first Sophia Zubritsky (an ancestor of the doctor’s) was forbidden to see Vladimir's son, who had never learned to read and write.

Now Leon must education the current Sophia within 24 hours or fall victim to the curse himself.

For more information, please contact:

Anthony Brown,
News Bureau Manager
E-Mail: abrown@nwmissouri.edu
Phone: 660.562.1704
Fax: 660.562.1900

Northwest Missouri State University
219 Administration Building,
800 University Drive
Maryville, MO 64468

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