CONTACT: Beth L. Lorow
Assistant Director of Public Relations
Office: (717) 691-6027
E-mail: blorow@messiah.edu

Messiah College theatre department to perform "Summertree"

	Messiah College students (left to right) Meghan Thibodeaux, Scott Abernathy and Alyssa Lopez will perform in "Summertree" on April 28 to 30. Click on image to download print-quality version
	Messiah College students (left to right) Scott Abernathy and Meghan Thibodeaux will perform in "Summertree" on April 28 to 30. Click on image to download print-quality version

GRANTHAM, Pa. (April 14, 2005) — The final production of the Messiah College theatre department’s season will feature senior students in the Ron Cowan play “Summertree,” with performances on April 28 to 30 at 8 p.m. on the Miller Stage in the Climenhaga Fine Arts Center on the college’s Grantham campus. Tickets cost $8 for adults and $5 for students and seniors and can be purchased by calling the ticket office at (717) 691-6036.

Entirely student produced, “Summertree” is directed by senior, theatre major Drew Beckwith and 23 other students have assisted in set and costume designs, lighting, sound and acting.

Chosen by Beckwith as part of his senior project, “Summertree” begins with a 20-year-old man dreaming in his backyard by a tree. “I have to remember!” the young man exclaims, as he recalls his family and past relationships, including himself as a boy and as a young man. As the play progresses, the audience learns that this tree is not in the man’s backyard, but instead in Vietnam where the man has been wounded in battle. The play was released as a movie in 1971 with Michael Douglas as the young man.

Messiah College, a private Christian college of the liberal and applied arts and sciences, enrolls more than 2,900 undergraduate students in 50 majors. Established in 1909, the primary campus is located in Grantham, Pa., near the state capital of Harrisburg. A satellite campus affiliated with Temple University is located in Philadelphia.

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ARTICLE DATE: THURSDAY, APRIL 14, 2005
ARTICLE NUMBER: MC-063-05