Shepherd's production of "Big River" begins February 7

ISSUED: 28 January 2010
MEDIA CONTACT: Valerie Owens
(Shepherd's production of "Big River" begins February 7)

Shepherdstown, WV--Shepherd University's production of "Big River: The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn" takes the stage on February 7 at 3 p.m. and February 11-13 at 8 p.m. and February 14 at 3 p.m. in the Frank Center Theater. "Big River" is the winner of seven Tony Awards, including best musical, and was nominated for 10 NAACP Theatre Awards.

"Big River," written by William Hauptman with music and lyrics by "King of the Road" country music icon Roger Miller, is based on Mark Twain's classic 1884 novel Adventures of Hucklebery Finn. A Tony Award-winner for best original score, it features a jubilant score of cajun, gospel, folk, country, and blues to accompany the irrepressible Huck Finn on a musical journey as he helps his friend Jim, a slave, escape to freedom.

Hauptman won the 1985 Tony Award for Best Book of a Musical for "Big River." His plays include "Heat," "Domino Courts" which won an Obie Award, and "Gillette" which won the LA Drama-Logue Award. His fiction has appeared in The Best American Short Stories anthology, The Atlantic Monthly, and Southwest Review. Hauptman has also written screenplays for film and television, garnering an Emmy nomination and an NAACP Freedom Foundation Award, and was a guest professor at the Texas Center for Writers, a program of the University of Texas in Austin. Hauptman was born in Texas and attended the University of Texas and the Yale School of Drama.

Admission and seating for "Big River" is on a first-come, first-serve basis; advance sales and reservations are not available. The box office will open one hour prior to each performance. General admission is $15; $10 for faculty, staff, and students 18 and under; and free for Shepherd students and Friends of Music Gold and Silver MAC Cardholders.

For more information, call 304-876-5555 or visit www.shepherd.edu/musicweb.

-30-YOUNG

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