"Savage/Love" at York U.

TORONTO, March 24, 1999 -- Theatre @ York presents Savage/Love by Sam Shepard and Joseph Chaikin, directed by Rosanna Saracino, opening on April 6 at York University.

Savage/Love explores the sometimes chaotic, always passionate states of romantic love. The play follows four women through a collection of poetic moments, set against a background of live, jazz-influenced music. Love is their common ground, though between them they speak out from different, sometimes foreign voices.

Instead of a set, formal script, the performers play out a series of of texts.

"It puts almost total freedom in the hands of the director and cast so that in each production you will have a radically different show," explains Saracino.

In fact, Saracino has adapted the script from a monologue by one middle-aged, angst-ridden man to the observations of four young women. Life in their world is fraught with a emotional conflict between the need for love and the need for identity, independence and freedom.

"We are taking the audience on a roller coaster ride through all the stages of passionate love," says Saracino. "The audience becomes the lover."

Co-founder of Splinter Productions, Saracino has worked in Montreal as a director, translator and dramaturg. She is committed to the development of new works and has spent several years translating and producing new plays by Quebecois playwrights. She is currently pursuing a graduate degree in directing in York University's Theatre Department.

Theatre @ York productions showcases the performance, directing and production talents of students in the Theatre Department. The cast for Savage/Love is drawn from members of the second-year Graduate Acting Ensemble and from the fourth-year undergraduate ensemble. Sets and costumes are designed by Diane Hogg, with lighting by Jenn Jansen and stage management by Daniela Misetic.

Savage/Love previews April 4 and 5, opens April 6 and runs nightly to April 10 in the Joseph G. Green Studio Theatre, Centre for Film and Theatre at York University, 4700 Keele St. at Steeles Ave. Showtime is 7:30 p.m. with matinees April 7 and 9 at 1:00 p.m. Admission is $10, $7 for students and seniors, $5 for groups. Previews are PWYC on Sun. April 4 and $4 Mon. April 5. For more information call (416) 736-5172. For tickets call the Theatre @ York box office at (416) 736-5157.

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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