ENMU Theatre to Present One Flea Spare

Date: 9/11/2002
Contact: Wendel Sloan at 505.562.2253

PORTALES – Eastern New Mexico University's Department of Theatre and Dance will perform One Flea Spare at 8 p.m. on Sept. 19-21 in the Studio Theatre at the University Theatre Center. Tickets are $3 and can be purchased at the door.

Directed by Daryl Phillipy, One Flea Spare is a "powerful and beautifully written account of the black plague in London during the year 1665," according to the director.

This dark and erotic story was inspired by the 1992 L.A. riots and their warning of civic breakdown. One Flea Spare's strange, funny story of rich and poor trapped together during the Great Plague could be set in our society's current climate of class divisions.

Written by Naomi Wallace (this year's winner of a MacArthur Foundation genius grant), the story revolves around a married couple and two strangers who are sequestered together for a period of 28 days. They are forced into the sequestration because it was the law in London, at the time, to "lock-up" all houses where persons had died from the plague.

The play asks the question, "What is love and mercy?" Despite the time period represented in the play, "the issues are pertinent to today's society and audiences. This is truly one of the most beautifully and sensually plays written in the last one hundred years," says Phillipy.

For more information, call Phillipy at 505.562.2092.

ENMU students Joshua Aguirre (Kabe) and Ruth Browne (Morse) rehearse a scene from One Flea Spare. According to director Daryl Phillipy, the play is "one of the most beautifully and sensually written plays in the last 100 years."  (photo by Richard Salas)

ENMU students Ryan Cook (Bunce); seated, Solomon Romney (William Snelgrave); Ruth Browne (Morse) and Claire Rice (Darcy Snelgrave) rehearse a scene from One Flea Spare, a play which asks the question, "What is love and mercy?" (photo by Richard Salas)