February 01, 2005

Part of Black History Month Award-winning play 'Home' at McLeod Feb. 11-12

by Paula M. Davenport

CARBONDALE, Ill. -- The Tony-award winning play "Home" will be staged for the public as part of February Black History Month events at Southern Illinois University Carbondale.

The play chronicles the 1970s-era struggles of orphaned Cephus Miles, a young African American man who's inherited a small South Carolina farm. But because he's a pacifist, he lands in prison for dodging the draft.

After his release, he moves to an urban area in the north where he turns to street crimes, bottoms out and eventually heads home in search of peace and fulfillment. Throughout his ordeals, Miles retains unwavering goodwill and unsinkable personality.

The curtain goes up at 7:30 p.m. Friday and Saturday, Feb. 11 and 12, at McLeod Theater, in the Communications Building. For more information, call the SIUC Theater Department at 618/453-7581.

Tickets are $11 general public, $9 for senior citizens and $6 for students with IDs. Box office hours are noon to 5:30 p.m. weekdays and an hour before performances. To order with a credit card, just call 618/351-3001.

Olusegun A. Ojewuyi, assistant professor of theater, will direct the work, written by Samm-Art Williams.

Actors Bert L. Belasco, Basha S. Williams, both seniors in theater, and Cara Harper, a junior in the department, will star. Graduate students Anna Goller and Jennifer Peterson are the respective set and costume designers.

The University's Theater Department and its Black American Studies Program are collaborating on the project.

Offering cultural performances like this is one of the goals of Southern at 150: Building Excellence Through Commitment, a long-range plan SIUC is following as it prepares for its 150th birthday in 2019.