Theatre @ York presents The Soldier Dreams by Daniel MacIvor

TORONTO, January 7, 2000 -- Theatre @ York presents The Soldier Dreams, by award-winning Canadian dramatist Daniel MacIvor, directed by Stephen Seabrook, opening on January 25 at York University.

This is a darkly comic play about life, death and grief. As a young man, David, lies dying of AIDS, his family gathers around his bed trying to understand his delirious mutterings. While the living struggle to find the meaning in his dying words, MacIvor takes the audience inside David's imagination to recapture significant moments in his life.

Stephen Seabrook, in his second year of the MFA program in York's Department of Theatre, is a veteran actor, playwright, director and founder/artistic director of Xcess of This Theatre Company. He selected a MacIvor play because he feels that although the seven-time Dora Mavor Moore award-winning playwright is now a mainstream Canadian theatrical force, his roots remain in thought-provoking, small theatre aesthetics.

"The Soldier Dreams has a universal theme. Anyone who has ever had a loved one die will be touched by this play, " says Seabrook, who finds it a redemptive work. "As the family begins to understand David's despair, they all start to move towards an opening of their hearts. His death lifts away some of the mean, small-heartedness of his family."

This production is re-dedicated to the memory of Toronto actor Mark Shields to whom Daniel MacIvor dedicated the first mounting of The Soldier Dreams at Canadian Stage in 1997. Shields worked with both MacIvor and Seabrook. The premiere production of The Soldier Dreams won two Dora Mavor Moore awards for outstanding direction and outstanding production in the mid-size theatre division.

Theatre @ York productions showcase the performance, directing and production talents of students in the York University Theatre Department. The cast for The Soldier Dreams features performers from both the undergraduate and graduate acting ensembles. Set, lighting, costume and sound design are by students in the fourth-year production program.

The Soldier Dreams previews Jan. 23 and 24, opens Tues. Jan. 25 and runs nightly to Jan. 29 in the Joseph G. Green Studio Theatre, Centre for Film and Theatre at York University, 4700 Keele St. Showtime is 7:30 p.m. with matinees Wed. Jan. 26 and Fri. Jan. 28 at 1 p.m. Admission is $10, students/seniors $7, group rate $5. Previews are PWYC on Sun. Jan. 23 and $4 Mon. Jan. 24. For tickets and more information, phone 736-5172 ext. 3.

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For further information, please contact:

Carol Bishop
Communications, Faculty of Fine Arts
York University
(416) 736-2100 ext. 20421
email: cbishop@yorku.ca