USU Theatre Program Presents 'Candida' at the Caine Lyric Theatre
Candida, a play by playwright George Bernard Shaw, opens at Utah State University’s Caine Lyric Theatre in downtown Logan (28 W. Center) Feb. 4 with a 7:30 p.m. curtain. Performances continue Feb. 5-8 at 7:30, with an additional 2 p.m. matinee performance Feb 8.
In the play, originally written in 1894, Candida, a woman of many talents, is married to the successful Reverend Morell. However, their conventional existence is shaken when a young poet comes into their lives and professes his love for Candida.
Marchbanks, a visionary poet, tells Morell that he is in love with Candida and wants to take her away from what he sees as a plain, unhappy marriage. At first, Morell doesn’t take Marchbanks seriously, but soon realizes his confidence in the security of their marriage is badly shaken.
“Morell has always taught Candida to think for herself, but now that she is and her views don’t align with his, he is outraged,” said Adrianne Moore, the play’s director and associate professor in the Department of Theatre at the Caine College of the Arts (CCA) at USU.
Candida feels sorry that Marchbanks has never received the love her husband is accustomed to. As Morell gradually realizes he has been taking Candida’s love for granted, Marchbanks is busy wooing Candida with his poetry and artistic, ethereal views on life. When the two men finally tell Candida she has to choose between them, she is faced with not only a choice between men, but a choice of two profoundly different ways of viewing the world.
“Candida is a woman who knows her own mind,” said Moore. “Although she doesn’t reject her maternal or head of house role, her views on life and love are very unconventional for a Victorian woman.”
Tickets for Candida are $13 adults, $10 seniors and youth, $8 USU faculty and staff and free for USU students with ID. For more information or tickets, contact the CCA Box Office in room 139-B of the Chase Fine Arts Center on USU’s campus, call 435-797-8022, or see the college’s Production Services website.
Related links:
Writer: Whitney Schulte, 435-797-9203, whit.schulte@gmail.com
Contact: Denise Albiston, 435-797-1500, denise.albiston@usu.edu
Lance Rasmussen as Reverend Morell and Parker Burningham as the poet Marchbanks in a rehearsal photo from the USU production of "Candida," opening Feb. 4 at the Caine Lyric Theatre in downtown Logan.
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