CSU Theatre to Stage World Premiere, Honor Playwright

May 16, 2008

COLUMBUS, Ga. - A world premiere and a special-guest presentation are on tap when Columbus State University’s Department of Theatre stages the drama “The Chimes,” at 7:30 p.m. Friday and Saturday, May 30-31, at CSU's Studio Theatre in its art-theatre complex.

The production marks the premiere of an international prize-winning play by Kevin Christopher Snipes of New York City.

Set in a Massachusetts prep school at the outset of World War II, the play earned the most recent Larry Corse Prize for Playwriting, winning the CSU-hosted international competition that drew about 300 entries from 15 countries.

The plot centers on a group of boys in the school who bond through their love of Shakespeare until the emerging war strains and severs their friendships.

Snipes, who received $1,000 with the prize, will attend both performances and formally accept the Corse prize following the Saturday show from the competition’s founder and namesake, Larry Corse, a retired theater and English professor from Clayton State University.

Directed by theatre professor Kate Musgrove, CSU student cast members include Evan Fricks , Nicholas Wolfe , Jeremiah Hobbs , Jim Pharr , Caleb Lawton and Chase Anderson .

Musgrove also is directing non-student actors in the production: her husband, J.J. Musgrove, executive director of the Columbus Symphony Orchestra, and theatre faculty colleague Larry McDonald.

The production involves adult themes and content. General admission is $10; $8 for senior citizens, military personnel and CSU alumni; and free for CSU students, faculty and staff. For tickets or more information, call 706-507-8444.