04/10/2012
“It’s a puzzle that I think the audience will enjoy solving,” said Bob Moss about “Speaking in Tongues,” the play he directs and which opens on Thursday, April 12, at SUNY Cortland.
“The play functions like a mystery,” said Moss about the Andrew Bovell drama the College’s Performing Arts Department will present from April 12 through April 15 in the Dowd Fine Arts Center Lab Theatre.
“But it is about the difficulty of speaking honestly with intimates, and the relative ease of speaking with strangers. Ergo, ‘speaking in tongues,’” Moss said.
“Speaking In Tongues” is slated for 8 p.m. on Thursday, April 12, Friday, April 13, and Saturday, April 14, and at 2 p.m. on Sunday, April 15. Admission is $12 for the general public; $10 for senior citizens and SUNY staff; and $5 for all students. Tickets will be on sale at the door prior to each performance. “Speaking In Tongues” is recommended for mature audiences.
“Speaking in Tongues” is about contracts being broken between intimates while deep bonds are forged between strangers.
“Intimacy can be hell,” said Moss, the former artistic director of Syracuse Stage and the Hangar Theatre in Ithaca. “The play is also about the power of stories to move us, to change us, to intrigue us. It asks the question, ‘Can we ever really know the whole truth about even the simplest thing?’”
Describing the play, Moss said, “There are 11 intimate or semi-intimate relationships in the story, and it ricochets between and among them. We hear about some, we witness some. The fun of this play is in the way the stories come along and we put them together in our own minds. What is really happening to these people and whom can we trust? I find the characters completely engrossing.”
The cast features Derek Mellor as Leon; Charles O’Connor as Pete; Katie Quigley as Sonja; Samantha Rey as Jane; Mike Meany as John; Catherine Skojek as Sarah; Kerry Maloney as Valerie; David Newman as Nick; and William Swenson as Neil.
More information about the play and this season’s other events can be found on the Performing Arts Department website or by calling (607) 753-2811.