THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Sunday, July 23, 1995 TAG: 9507210071
SECTION: DAILY BREAK PAGE: E7 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY TERESA ANNAS, STAFF WRITER
LENGTH: Short : 41 lines
WITH ITS 1995-'96 lineup, Generic Theater is continuing its tradition of presenting challenging plays that are new, or new to the area.
The five-show season is preceded by a benefit production - ``The Glass Mendacity,'' a funny take-off on Tennessee Williams' plays put together by the Illegitimate Players, a Chicago troupe. Jerry Pope will direct; it opens Sept. 15.
The season starts with Elizabeth Egloff's modern fairy tale ``The Swan,'' about a thrice-divorced woman in yet another troubled affair who has a magical encounter with a swan. Generic's artistic director Bob Nelson directs; it opens Nov. 10.
In January, Amlin Gray's ``How I Got That Story,'' written during the Vietnam Era, lets us watch a journalist at work in the surreal atmosphere of Vietnam. Carl McKinney directs.
Playwright Scott McPherson was dying of AIDS when ``Marvin's Room'' was an off-Broadway hit. Yet, the play is life-affirming and somehow amusing, as family members dying from one disease or another learn to lean - and love. Opens in February; Betty Xander directs.
Set in a black rural community in the 1940s, Shay Youngblood's ``Shakin' the Mess Outta Misery'' is about a girl whose mother is immature, so she gets raised by eight wise women, each a distinctive character. Karen Turner Ward, who teaches theater at Hampton University, will direct this April production.
The season closes with ``Goodnight, Desdemona (Good Morning, Juliet),'' by Ann-Marie MacDonald, a quirky fantasy about Shakespeare's ``Othello'' and ``Romeo and Juliet.'' A professor tries out her strange thesis about certain characters when she gets sucked into a trashcan and suddenly reappears in the Bard's plays. Opens in May; Bob Nelson directs.
Season tickets are $32 and $40; single tickets are $8 and $10. Tickets for ``The Glass Mendacity'' will by $10, $8 for subscribers. Call 441-2160. by CNB