Eastern to Perform "Quyne Paterson"

Written by Kate Harner

Willimantic, Conn. - Students from Eastern Connecticut State University's Theatre program will perform "Quyne Paterson" from Sept. 30 to Oct. 2 at the Harry Hope Theatre, located in Shafer Hall at the corner of High and Valley Streets. The show opens each night at 7:30 p.m. The public is invited. Tickets are $5 for Eastern students and groups of 10 or more; $10 for Eastern faculty, staff, alumni and senior citizens; and $12 for the general public.

             "Quyne Paterson" was written by Charlie Cheng, who attended Eastern for several years and graduated from the Academy of Arts University in 2002. The play takes place in a diner on Dec. 1, 1941, in Bakersfield, CA. Quyne Paterson hopes to speak with his father for the first time in 12 years, an hour before he is deployed to Japan. However, Paterson ends up sitting with a stranger about whom he knows more than he initially thinks.

            Shane Kegler '10 directs the play under the guidance of Ellen Brodie, director of theatre. The cast includes Luke Reinwald '10, Gia Kilbrith '11, Ben Donnel '11, Shannon Delahanty '12 and Corey Welden '13.

            "The show is about looking into the past and accepting what happened," says Kegler. "It teaches us to forgive those who may have hurt us in the past. It's a great show, but it's also a complicated one. The writer Charlie Cheng did an amazing job writing the story in such a way that you don't see the twists and turns of the plot."

            Eastern students had performed the play last spring during a staged reading as part of the Phoenix New Play Series. Due to its popular reception, the Performing Arts Department decided to turn "Quyne Paterson" into a full-scale production.

            For reservations, call the Box Office at (860) 465-5123.