News Release

Theater Hopkins' production of Faith Healer, Irish playwright Brian Friel's masterwork, will open on Friday, February 23 at the Merrick Barn on Johns Hopkins' Homewood campus.

At the center of Friel's masterwork is Francis Hardy, eloquent, debauched and charismatic. As his eerie and inconsistent talent propels him through the remote provinces of modern Celtic Britain, he is accompanied by the ever- loyal Gracie, and his Cockney manager Teddy. Hardy's accounts of his career's climactic events are enhanced, amended, and contradicted by those of the two characters whose fates are bound with his.

The cast includes Robert Riggs as Hardy, J.R. Lyston as Teddy, and, making her Theatre Hopkins debut, Christine Glazier as Grace.

Friel's distinguished body of work includes: Philadelphia, Here I Come! (1964), Translations (1981), Molly Sweeney (1994), and his best known, Dancing at Lughnasa (1992).

Curtain time for Friday and Saturday performances is 8 p.m.; Sunday matinees begin at 2:15 p.m. Tickets at the door are $12 on Friday evenings and $15 on Saturday evenings and Sunday afternoons. A $1 senior discount is available on Fridays and Sundays. Student rush tickets are available at curtain time for all performances. The production will run weekends through Sunday, March 25.