UCO`s Play "Heritage" Tells an Old Story

with a New Voice

September 11, 2006

The University of Central Oklahoma Department of Theatre, Dance & Media Arts will be staging the North American premiere of Irish playwright Nicola McCartney`s "Heritage" at 7:30 p.m. Sept. 21 through Sept. 23, and at 2 p.m. Sept. 24 in UCO’s Mitchell Hall Theater.

First produced in 1998 at the Traverse Theatre in Edinburgh, UK, and under contract to be made into a feature film, "Heritage" explores the journey of two Irish families struggling to make a new life on the Canadian prairies.

Set between the years 1914 and 1920, the play explores how two young lovers brave their families’ differences by daring to be together.

At first, the families have a chance to     Caitlin Kuykendall, left and Daniel Gilbert

put aside past differences in the new        play young Irish lovers in the upcoming             

country, but the pull of allegiances           UCO production of “Heritage.”

and religion prove too strong.

Charlotte Headrick, a theatre arts professor at Oregon State University, will be the guest director for this play. Headrick has written about and presented many works of Irish women playwrights.

“In some ways, in the love story it tells, ‘Heritage’ is similar to ‘Romeo and Juliet,’” Headrick said.

She said she believes that the lesson of the play is that we must find ways to peacefully co-exist with our differences.

"How much of the `old` heritage do we keep and how much do we adapt in the New Country? Although the play is set in Canada, it speaks not only to U.S. immigration history of the 19th century, but also to immigration and assimilation issues facing us today," she said.

Headrick`s recent works include completing a research project for Shakespeare`s Globe in London, and directing the American Premiere of another Irish play, “Treehouses," by Elizabeth Kuti, at Oregon State in 2005.

Following the Sept. 21 UCO production, the audience is invited to stay for a post-show symposium with Dr. Kole Kleeman, UCO professor of communication, and Dr. John Osburn, professor emeritus from the UCO History Department.

The symposium is funded by a grant from the Oklahoma Center for Arts Education.

For tickets to the play, call the Mitchell Hall Box Office at (405) 974-3375.

For a complete performance schedule of the UCO College of Arts, Media & Design visit www.camd.ucok.edu/event.

Page updated 9/11/06