Theater production at CSC this weekend

The director, Roger Mays, said Wilson ranks with the likes of Tennessee Williams, Arthur Miller, David Mamet and Marsh Norman as one of America’s outstanding playwrights.

The play deals with the shooting of an outcast hermit in Eldritch, a small Midwestern former mining town that is withering away. Mays said the script moves rapidly forward and backward in time and place to reveal all of the prejudices, events and fears that have culminated with the killing.

Mays added, “With the strongly geometric and flexible set design and lighting by Scott Cavin, this dark and haunting play will leave the audience with some of the questions we all face such as ‘Where do we find safety and security in our government, religious values and our community?’ ”

The 17-member cast includes seasoned upper-division actors and several new faces at Chadron State. Seven incoming theater majors have major roles in the production.

Those in the cast who have previously performed on the Memorial Hall stage include Heath Draney, Omaha; Crystal Ekberg, Mitchell; Shelley Fiester, Scottsbluff; Dan Giffee, Dawson; Mark Griffith and Hannah McMaster, Chadron; Jesse Hamer, Ellworth AFB; Lars Monson, Benkelman; Crystal Neitzel, Gregory, S.D.; and Elisabeth Saunders, Gillette, Wyo.

The newcomers include April Armstrong, Minatare; Jen Beckstead, Havre, Mont,; Cody Griebel, Hot Springs; Brittany Halladay, Kamas, Utan; Danell Pickett, Kearney; Whitney Rickard, Mitchell; and Joel Rowan, Gurley.

Tickets may be reserved by calling the Memorial Hall box office at 432-6360.

Admission will be $5 for adults and $3 for senior citizens and those 18 and under if the tickets are obtained in advance. All CSC personnel will be admitted without charge if they pick up their tickets prior to play. All tickets at the door will be $6.