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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE (1/06)
Contact: Lynn Stewart or Kelsey Johnson, Centenary News Service, 318-8641-7265

Centenary's Marjorie Lyons Playhouse Presents The Tailor of East Kings Highway Feb. 9-12 & 16-18

SHREVEPORT, LA — Centenary College’s Marjorie Lyons Playhouse will premiere Jeffrey D. J. Kallenberg’s playThe Tailor of East Kings Highway Feb. 9-12 and 16-18. Walter Schoen will guest direct.

The Tailor of East Kings Highway takes place in a Brooklyn tailor shop in 1968. A journey of fantasy begins when a Finnish sea captain enters the shop with a bolt of “magic” cloth to be made into a suit.

Poet and playwright Kallenberg is a native of New York City and a graduate of Columbia University. He finds much of his inspiration for his writing from everyday things, with his main influences being poets William Butler Yeats and Robert Frost. The Tailor of East Kings Highway has been a work in progress since 2002.

Schoen will bring Kallenberg’s play to the stage for the first time. Schoen has been a professional actor, director and stage manager for more than 30 years. He has been involved with such shows as Oklahoma, The Sound of Music and Guys and Dolls. He assisted in the Broadway production of Edward Albee’s The Lady From Dubuque. Schoen has also directed and taught at many colleges across the country, including the University of Arizona, the University of California and the University of Richmond.

Schoen has cast Phillip Brooks as the Jewish tailor, Morris. Theatre major cast members include Jeni Loer of San Antonio, Texas, as Ida; Courtney Gaston of Elm Grove, La., as Mrs. Lorrizo; Tim Broderick Jr. of Bossier City as Mr. Holstrom, the Finnish sailor; and Sarah Smith of Shreveport as Morris and Ida’s daughter, Harriet.

Don Hooper, the chair of the Theater and Dance Department at Centenary, will provide the set and light design. Having performed in Lysistrata eariler this season, Miranda Miller, a senior performing arts major, will step behind the scenes as stage manager.

The Tailor of East Kings Highway will open Thursday, Feb. 9, and play Feb. 9-11 and 16-18, all at 8 p.m., and Sunday, Feb. 12 at 2 p.m. General admission is $5, with free admission for all Centenary students, faculty and staff.

For tickets, call the box office at 318-869-5242 between noon and 4 p.m. daily. Visit http://www.centenary.edu/playhouse for information about the complete Marjorie Lyons Playhouse 2005-06 season.

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