UA Theatre & Dance will close the first half of it’s 2016-17 season with a poignant and sharp comedy Appropriate in the Marian Gallaway Theatre, November 15-18 at 7:30PM and November 20 at 2:00PM. Appropriate, winner of the 2014-15 Obie Award for Best New Play, tells the story of estranged members of the Lafayette family reuniting to their Arkansas homestead to settle the affairs of their recently deceased father. As the children sort through the clutter of their father’s belongings, years of debt, family issues and untold secrets turn the family reunion into a family feud.
“It comes in a long line of American plays about the American family. It’s dysfunction and disintegration over the years. There’s a central core of a relationship between brothers and sisters. The feelings of resentment and how that resentment still festers over time. We go home and no matter how old we are we still act like kids,” claims UA Professor and Appropriate director Dr. Steve Burch as it regards to the story and theme of the play.
Dr. Burch returns to the director’s chair after a successful run of the play The Dining Room in 2014 in the Allen Bales Theatre. Although different plays, Dr. Burch’s process is still consistent, “Whether I am working on Shakespeare plays or contemporary plays, I work organically and I prefer to help the actors find things within themselves and what is going on emotionally and spiritually with their characters. I polish them up and make it look theatrical. I try to create moving pictures and I am an advocate of the play,” states Dr. Burch.
Appropriate has already turned heads with the New York audience and will definitely make the people of Tuscaloosa stand up and take notice.
Tickets are $20 Adults, $17 Seniors/UA Faculty & Staff and $14 UA Students/Children. They are available in Rowand-Johnson Hall at the ticket office in the front lobby, by phone at (205) 348-3400 or online at theatre.ua.edu. There will be a special talkback and reception following the Friday, November 11 performance.
For a full performance and event calendar, more information, and to sign up for a free newsletter, visit https://theatre.ua.edu or call (205) 348-3400. Follow us on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram (@uatheatredance).