TECH STAGING `THE ILLUSION' NEXT WEEK

                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: FRIDAY, February 14, 1992                   TAG: 9202130271
SECTION: CURRENT                    PAGE: NRV-4   EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY 
SOURCE: JOE TENNIS
DATELINE: BLACKSBURG                                LENGTH: Medium
TECH STAGING `THE ILLUSION' NEXT WEEK
Tony Kushner's new adaptation of Pierre Cornielle's "L'Illusion Comique" will make its university theater premiere at Virginia Tech on the Squires Student Center Haymarket Stage next week.
Called "The Illusion," this play finds powerful and unsettling parallels between the 17th century and the 20th century while tackling issues like parental love, swashbuckling romance and the elusive pictures of memory.
The production will run Wednesday through Feb. 23, with shows at 8 p.m. A 2 p.m. matinee will be featured on Saturday and Sunday. Tickets are $7 for adults and $5 for students and senior citizens.
In the play, Kushner, whose other works include "A Bright Room Called Day," forces his audience to ask: What child has not been disappointed by a parent? What parent has not been disappointed by a child? Who has not fallen madly in love?
The play opens with Pridamant, in search of his estranged son, seeking the guidance of Alcandre, a man renowned for his magical talents. Alcandre shows Pridamant illusions of his son's life. Through these illusions, Pridamant sees his son in a series of romantic entanglements.
Tech's version of the play - the third production of the Virginia Tech Theatre Arts-University Theatre season - is the first sanctioned production in the university arena.
The show is under the direction of Nancy Kiracofe, a master of fine arts candidate who is completing her final year in the directing program.
Kiracofe recently returned from the West Coast where she worked with several prominent regional theater companies. In San Francisco, she was the assistant director for the American Conservatory Theater's productions of "Cat on a Hot Tin Roof" and "A Christmas Carol." This spring, she will be working with the Manhattan Theater Club in New York City.
At Tech, she has been known for her eclectic workshop productions of such pieces as Anouilh's "Antigone" and Kohout's "Fire in the Basement." She has also led the Theatre Arts AIDS Improvisation troupe.
Michael Uhrich, 28, a graduate student in the Department of Music, is composing a score for the show. For years, Uhrich, a regular performer at the Farmhouse in Christiansburg, played Latin jazz - on keyboards, flute and alto sax - at clubs in Miami with guitarist Adrian Montijo.

by Bhavesh Jinadra by CNB