News Release

Theater Hopkins will open its 80th season on Friday, Oct. 19, with the area premiere of Collected Stories by Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright Donald Margulies.

Set in the Greenwich Village apartment of Ruth Steiner, an accomplished short story writer, Margulies' drama examines her relationship with Lisa Morrison, her talented prot‚g‚e. In addition to the depiction of an increasingly complex and intimate attachment between the two women, Margulies also explores the ethical bounds of authorship. Is a writer of fiction justified in appropriating the confided memory of a friend as the basis for her own work?

Judy Shannon plays Ruth Steiner, the role portrayed off-Broadway by Uta Hagen. Recent Towson University theater graduate Lisa Walsh plays Lisa Morrison.

The production will run five weekends through Sunday, Nov. 18, at the Merrick Barn on the Johns Hopkins University's Homewood campus. 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. Student rush tickets for $5 are available at curtain time for all performances.

For reservations, subscriptions, or information, call (410) 516-7159 or send an e-mail message to thehop@jhu.edu.

The balance of the season will include the following productions:

Laura, by Vera Caspary & George Sklar, opening Feb. 15, 2002, will be the classic murder mystery. The stage version of the authors' novel also became the basis for the classic 1940s film noir.

Pygmalion by George Bernard Shaw will be Theatre Hopkins third offering, opening April 19. Perhaps Shaw's best-loved comedy, Henry Higgins' wit, Eliza's courage, and Doolittle's satiric eloquence, never cease to touch and amuse.

Assassins, with music and lyrics by Stephen Sondheim, and book by John Weidman, is currently scheduled to open on June 21. In view of recent events, this title may be subject to replacement later in the season.