January 15, 2002

Contact: Paul Stephen Lim, English Alternative Theatre, (785) 864-3642.

Benefit to help send student play to regional competition

LAWRENCE -- A benefit performance this weekend will give audiences one last chance to see a University of Kansas graduate student's play before it advances to the regional competition.

Kirby Fields' one-act play, "Mourning Glorie," will be performed at 2:30 p.m. Sunday, Jan. 20, at Liberty Hall, 642 Massachusetts St. Tickets cost $5.

Paul Stephen Lim, professor of English and founder and artistic director of the English Alternative Theatre at KU, said the money raised at the performance would help send Fields' play to the regional competition of the Kennedy Center American College Theatre Festival in Lincoln, Neb., later this month. Judges from the Kennedy Center will watch the performance in Lincoln and decide whether it will be invited to the national festival in Washington, D.C., in April.

Fields, a graduate student in English from Joplin, Mo., wrote "Mourning Glorie" in Lim's playwriting course at KU.

Lim said that although the play was written before Sept. 11, the underlying story was especially relevant in light of recent events. The play deals with a mysterious young man who spends a great deal of time attending the funerals of people he does not know because he realizes he has the wondrous gift of helping survivors deal with the loss of their loved ones.

"Mourning Glorie" is not the only play written by a KU student that will compete at the regional festival, Lim said. David Huffman, a senior from Kansas City, Kan., will have his play, "Two Faces of Deception," entered in the 10-minute plays category.

EAT and Card Table Theatre sponsor the benefit performance. This year marks the 12th anniversary of the English Alternative Theatre at KU. EAT has sent 13 plays to various regional festivals sponsored by the Kennedy Center. Three of those plays went on to represent KU at the national festival, and many are available in print from Dramatic Publishing Inc.

Student actors featured in "Mourning Glorie":

JOHNSON COUNTY
From Leawood
Christina Schafer, junior, daughter of Katherine Schafer, 4525 W. 140th St.

From Stilwell
Kari Jackson, junior, daughter of Mike Jackson, 16036 Meadow Lane.

MARION COUNTY
From Hillsboro
Jacqueline Grunau, sophomore, daughter of Charles Grunau, 218 S. Main.

OTTAWA COUNTY
From Ada
David Utter, sophomore, son of Deborah Cummings, 185 Nemaha Road.

CONNECTICUT
From Coventry
Patrick Davis, freshman, son of Kenneth and Nancy Davis, 160 Sam Green Road.

OKLAHOMA
From Mooreland
Ryan Butts, senior, son of Regina Bates, P.O. Box 611.