'Mrs. Farnsworth' Comes to SUNY Plattsburgh Stage'

PLATTSBURGH, N.Y. (Sept. 1, 2010) – The SUNY Plattsburgh Department of Theatre presents the Book & Blanket Players, in association with The Adirondack Democracy, in two performances of "Mrs. Farnsworth" at SUNY Plattsburgh Thursday, Sept. 16 and Friday, Sept. 17.

The performances will take place at 7:30 p.m. in Krinovitz Recital Hall in Hawkins Hall. There will be a panel discussion following the Sept. 16 show. Tickets will be sold at the door. Admission is $5 for the public and free for SUNY Plattsburgh faculty, staff and students.

“Mrs. Farnsworth” – co-directed by Tyler Nye, a SUNY Plattsburgh Department of Theatre alumnus, and Karen Lewis of Saranac Lake – is a comedy written by A.R. Gurney that premiered in 2004. The roles of Mr. and Mrs. Farnsworth were originally performed by Sigourney Weaver and John Lithgow at the Flea Theatre in New York City.

Set in a creative-writing class in Manhattan 2004, the play centers on three main characters: a sardonic, harried teacher named Gordon Bell and the Farnsworths, two members of the upper crust from New Canaan, Conn. The three collide in a witty battle of ideals punctuated with questions from the students.

Mrs. Farnsworth wants to learn writing because she has a story that urgently needs to be told. Her narrative, the tale of a Vassar College girl who becomes pregnant by a hard-partying boy from Yale, starts to sound like a memoir in which only the names have been changed. Could her memoir, if published, influence the outcome of an upcoming presidential election?

The role of Bell is played by George G. Davis Jr. of Essex, N.Y. Mr. Farnsworth is played by Kevin Cooper of Westport, N.Y. Kathleen Recchia of Jay, N.Y., is featured in the title role of  Mrs. Margery Farnsworth.
 
Proceeds from the company's run of six performances in northern New York will be donated to Greg Mortenson's Central Asia Institute, to help support the building of schools in Afghanistan. For more information, call 518-946-8323.

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