March 25, 2010

by Kelly Beggs

Playwright Ken Ludwig (middle, back) visited campus this week, and posed with the cast of "Leading Ladies."

The Davidson College theatre department will present the comedy Leading Ladies March 25-28 in Duke Family Performance Hall as its major spring production.

Assistant Professor of Theatre Mark Sutch directs this tale of two struggling British Shakespearean actors, Jack and Leo, who find themselves penniless in rural Pennsylvania. To escape their fate, they scheme to collect an inheritance by posing as the long-lost relatives of a dying local dowager. As the plot develops, role reversals, complications and romantic entanglements abound.

Performances are March 24-25 at 7:30 p.m.; March 26 -27 at 8 p.m.; and March 28 at 2 p.m. All performances will be in Duke Family Performance Hall. Tickets are $15 for general admission, $11 for seniors, and $6 for students. For tickets call 704-894-2135 from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. weekdays, or reserve online at www.davidson.edu/tickets. The play is recommended for ages 12 and up.

After directing three darker plays at Davidson, director Sutch was eager to take on a comedy. He was already familiar with playwright Ken Ludwig's award-winning works, Lend Me a Tenor and Moon Over Buffalo. Ludwig's comedic genius in Leading Ladies, which premiered in 2004, impressed Sutch even more. He recalled, "It was the only play I read that just had me laughing out loud from the first page, which is a rare thing."

Three senior class veteran student actors play the lead roles in Davidson's production of Leading Ladies. Maret Seitz '10 plays Meg, Matt Baum '10 is Leo and Josh Tobin '10 is Jack. Both men will spend the majority of the play in drag. Sutch explained, "The only things their characters have with them are costumes from Shakespearean plays, so not only are they in drag, but they're in period drag!"

Despite the complicated plots to deceive, Sutch said higher powers of love and theatre lead the three main characters to self-realization.

"The play really is about earnest love for the arts and for the theatre," said Sutch. "It explores how theatre can change people's lives and bring them out of less than happy circumstances. These two characters eventually learn that not everything in our lives should revolve around ambition, wealth and fame."

The cast also includes Ian Bond '10 as Duncan, Audrey Gyurgyik '12 as Audrey, Will Ames '11 as Doc, Brandon Smalls '12 as Butch, Stephen Pierce '10 as the Conductor, and outside actress Jamie Anne Sharpe as Florence.

Davidson is a highly selective independent liberal arts college for 1,800 students located 20 minutes north of Charlotte in Davidson, N.C. Since its establishment in 1837 by Presbyterians, the college has graduated 23 Rhodes Scholars and is consistently regarded as one of the top liberal arts colleges in the country. Through The Davidson Trust, the college became the first liberal arts institution in the nation to replace loans with grants in all financial aid packages, giving all students the opportunity to graduate debt-free. Davidson competes in NCAA athletics at the Division I level, and a longstanding Honor Code is central to student life at the college.
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