FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

MEDIA CONTACT: John Edward Kinzer, Director of Audience Development,

812-855-0514, jkinzer@indiana.edu

PROFESSOR MURRAY McGIBBON STAGES HONOUR :

PLAY PRESENTS NEW PERSPECTIVES ON OLD ISSUES OF DIVORCE

BLOOMINGTON, IN —Writing last year in the Bloomington Herald-Times, Joel Pierson declared, “It's hard to go wrong when Professor Murray McGibbon is directing a play.” This comment was used by way of introducing McGibbon's stellar staging of Athol Fugard's “MASTER HAROLD”…and the boys, a production called “a play that deserves to be seen by all,” (Glenn Kaufmann, Herald-Times ), “a must-see play” (David A. Nosko, Indiana Daily Student ), and “something very special” (George Walker, WFIU). Now the acclaimed director and IU faculty member turns his attention to Australian Joanna Murray-Smith's searing portrait of a family ripped apart by divorce, Honour, which opens in the Wells-Metz Theatre on Friday, February 3, with additional performances February 4, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, and 11, all at 7:30 PM.

Honour shows the dissolution of a marriage when lauded journalist Gus (Jeff Grafton, Arcadia ) leaves his poet wife Honor (Jessica Rothert, Arcadia ) after thirty-two years of marriage. Gus takes up with the 28-year-old Claudia (Rosalind Rubin, Macbeth ), a bright young reporter not much older than his daughter Sophie (freshman Alyson Bloom). As her life crumbles around her Honor must evaluate her life, and the sacrifices she has made to be a wife and mother. Murray-Smith punctuates the ninety-minute play with intense, rapid-fire dialogue that is darkly comic, highly poetic, and uncompromisingly honest.

McGibbon, who used his own life experience as a native South African to inform his direction of “MASTER HAROLD,” openly acknowledges his strong personal ties to Honour . "I've just recently been divorced myself,” says the director. Soon after his separation McGibbon returned home to South Africa on a sabbatical. There, he attended a theatre festival, where he first saw Honour. “I was sitting next to my mother,” he begins, and as characters in the play began to talk about the collapse of their relationship “she said to me, ‘You said that.'” Deeply moved by the play, McGibbon suggested it for consideration for this year's Lee Norvelle Theatre and Drama Center season.

At first the director was sure the department would never select the play, thinking “How are we going to do this? It's so hard.” Still, the department surprised him, selecting the play to open the second half of the department season. He takes showing all sides of the argument as his major task for the play (he tries to avoid the use of the word "challenge”). “How can we get the audience to empathize with each of the four characters without judging any of them?” The staging will be done in the round, with audiences on all four sides of the stage, mirroring the four characters and four perspectives in the play. It is important to McGibbon that the audience not take sides: "I'm trying to give people an inkling as to the destruction that divorce causes, not just for the person being divorced, but the person divorcing.”

In addition to a cast that he praises as “passionate” for the material, McGibbon is joined by a trio of new M.F.A. design students for the production: scenic designer Chris Wych, costume designer Angela Burkhardt, and lighting designer JoJo Percy.

Honour opens on Friday, February 3, with additional performances on February 4, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10 and 11. Performances will take place in the Wells-Metz Theatre, and please remember that this year all performances will begin at 7:30 PM. Ticket prices are $15.00 for adults and $13.00 for students and seniors (discounts Monday-Thursday only). STUDENT RUSH tickets are available the day of each performance; students with a valid IU I.D. may purchase any available tickets for $10 cash. Group prices are available. For detailed ticket information, call 812-855-1103 and ask for info about Lee Norvelle Theatre and Drama Center tickets. To purchase tickets by phone, call Ticketmaster at 333-9955 (for the Bloomington , Indiana area) or visit www.ticketmaster.com . For more information visit www.indiana.edu/~thtr .

How to Find Us

• The People of the Production
• Jessica Rothert Steps Into HONOUR'S Spotlight
• Honour Homepage