Student Production presents the Broadway hit, The Shape of Things

WHAT: Student Production in the Herberger College of Fine Arts at ASU presents The Shape of Things, a new work by Neil LaBute which challenges society’s ideas about art, manipulation and love. Directed by Kelly Eisen.

Student Production is a student-driven organization within the department of theatre that is committed to providing opportunity, resources and support to ASU students who are ready for the challenge of bringing their artistic vision to life.

WHEN: March 30-31, April 1, 2003 7:30 p.m.

WHERE: The Student Laboratory Theatre at the Prism, 851 E. Tyler Street in the Ritter Building on the ASU campus (northwest corner of Terrace and Rural, just south of University Drive).

TICKETS: $3 available at the door only.

INFORMATION, TICKETS: 480-727-7877; student_production@hotmail.com

Neil LaBute, author of The Shape of Things, has been a popular writer for the screen and the stage for more than two decades. He has gained notoriety for such hit films and plays as In the Company of Men (1997), Your Friends and Neighbors (1998), Nurse Betty(2000) and The Shape of Things (2003). With his recent Broadway piece The Shape of Things, LaBute looks at his entire career as an artist and explores what it means to create art and what power that creation can hold.

The story begins in an art museum with the chance meeting of Evelyn, an analytical and perhaps amoral art student, and Adam, a clumsy introvert. They begin an intense relationship that causes shy and principled Adam to go to extraordinary lengths to become the man that he thinks Evelyn wants him to be. Through Evelyn's subtle persuasion and coaching, Adam's character is reconstructed and eventually deconstructed. In Adam, LaBute shows the frightening lengths that people will go to become what they believe others want them to be.

Director Kelly Eisen was captured by this play because of its provocative view of the power of art. “I think too many of us call ourselves artists without even thinking about what that means,” states Eisen. “Everyone who sees this play, or even reads this play, starts to question themselves and that is exactly what I want people to do.”

The Shape of Things is the next show of the Student Production Spring 2003 Season following the wide success of Blush: Memoirs of a Young Showgirl. It will be followed by the theatre department fundraiser and popular hit show The Most Fabulous Story Ever Told that will taking the Prism stage April 16-19.

Media Contact:
Megan Krause
480-965-8795
megan.krause@asu.edu