#97-04-10
For Release: 4-18-97
Contact: Peter Bailley

Knox College theater will present the play "Translations," at 8 p.m., Wednesday - Saturday, April 30 -May 3 in Studio Theater, Ford Center of Fine Arts, Knox College. The play is free and open to the public.

Written by Brian Friel, the play depicts the Irish-English conflict during the 19th century, when the English banned the use of the Irish language in Ireland. The play explores Irish-English relationships, the struggle for survival of Irish culture, and how an adapted Irish-English language came out of the death of the Irish language.

"Translations" is set in Baile Beag, Ireland, during 1833, when the English government had ordered a complete mapping of all of Ireland. The project included replacing the Irish place names with English translations. The play focuses on a group of Irish adults attending an illegal "hedge school," outlawed because it provided education for Catholics.

Knox Senior Jennifer Werner, the director of the play, says that the play presents the Irish-English conflict on two levels. It depicts the relationship between Irish townspeople and English soldiers and deals with the death of the Irish language.

The cast includes Kate Berry, Chip Chandler, Allen Doederlein, Rachel DeHartog, Tim Lord, Jason Powell, Karen Rosenkoetter, Ralph Sledge and Matt Wunderlin. Stage manager is Rachel L. Michalski; set designer is Sandy Nahm; technical director is Brian Durall; master electrician is Hannah R. Dawson; lighting direction is by Tim Lord.

Werner is directing the play as the completion of her year and a half long honors project on the Irish language and how "Translations" specifically relates the cultural crisis. She received a Ford Fellowship last fall and spent the summer at the University of Notre Dame researching the Irish language and other historical, social, and political aspects of the play. Her project includes a thesis paper and the direction of the play. Werner is one of only two students admitted into the graduate program at Tufts University in Massachusetts for the 1997-1998 school year.

Founded in 1837, Knox is an independent, four-year, liberal arts college, located in Galesburg, Illinois, with 1,100 students from 42 states and 33 nations. Knox's "Old Main," a National Historic Landmark, is the only building remaining from the 1858 Lincoln-Douglas debates.