Discussion to follow 'Marriage Play'

Ithaca College’s Department of Theatre Arts and Gerontology Institute are teaming up for a special one-time staging of Edward Albee’s Marriage Play, to be followed by a panel and audience discussion on issues of marriage and aging. The performance will be held on Monday, January 18, at 7:30 p.m. in Muller Chapel, and it is free and open to the public.

Reprising their roles from the successful production of Marriage Play last August at the Firehouse Theatre in Ithaca are director Arno Selco and actors Greg Bostwick and Judith Levitt, all members of the Ithaca College theater arts faculty. In Albee’s story, Jack returns home from a day at the office to tell his wife, Gillian, that he is leaving her. She refuses to concede an end to their 30-year marriage and the two struggle—verbally, physically, and emotionally—with their past, present, and possible future.

Following the play, six panelists representing a variety of academic disciplines will lead the audience in discussing issues raised by Albee: associate professor of philosophy and religion Lee Bailey, assistant professor of writing Katharyn Howd Machan, associate professor of sociology Susanne Morgan, professor of anthropology Joel Savishinsky, retired professor of modern languages and literatures Willard Daetsch, and Susan Thompson ’00, a student in the School of Health Sciences and Human Performance who volunteers at Ithacare.

This special production grew out of a Faculty Colloquium Series presentation last fall at which Bostwick and Levitt staged a scene from the play. "During the discussion following, people raised interesting points about how the story transcends the problems of these individual characters and reflects common American attitudes toward aging in a relationship," says Bostwick. "Arno thought we should continue those discussions and reach a larger audience, so he worked with the Gerontology Institute to arrange this performance."

For more information, call the Gerontology Institute at 274-1965.