The Special Prosecutor Opens at Duke
Durham, N.C. - The Duke Department of Theater Studies will present The Special Prosecutor April 6-15, 2006. Jody McAuliffe will direct the production.
The Special Prosecutor , playing in Sheafer Theater on Duke's West Campus, is McAuliffe's new translation and adaptation of Nikolai Gogol's 19-century comedy, The Inspector General . Duke Theater Studies alumnus Jim Findlay, now designer for the distinguished New York Wooster Group, designed the set, and award-winning Raleigh designer Sonya Drum created the costumes for the production.
McAuliffe, professor of Theater Studies and Slavic and Eurasian Studies, changed the setting from 1836 Russia to the heart of modern America, and she changed the inspector general to a special prosecutor to make him recognizable to American audiences, but she didn't have to alter the original story of hubris and incompetence and corruption run amok in government to make the play timely for 21 st century theater-goers.
"The play becomes more relevant every day as news of eavesdropping and shameless bribery and posing and manipulation continues to hit the papers," says McAuliffe. "This play proves there is nothing new under the sun, and Gogol's brilliance transcends time. His play is about humanity--not about a Russian town a long time ago. We're seeing the same things now because Gogol understood that the bad behavior of government officials is innate if humans are left to their own devices with no checks."
The Special Prosecutor will play in Sheafer Theater in the Bryan Center on Duke's West Campus April 6-8 and 13-15 at 8 pm and April 9 and 15 at 2 pm. Tickets are $10 general admission and $7 for students and senior citizens and are available at Duke University Box Office, www.tickets.duke.edu and 919-684-4444. Please check the Theater Studies website for any schedule changes. www.duke.edu/web/theaterstudies .
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