CONTACT: Melissa Gurholt, Manager of Public Events, 920-832-6589
For Immediate Release			February 18, 1999

Lawrence University Theatre Department Presents Chekhov¹s "The Seagull"

          APPLETON, WI  The Lawrence University Theatre Department will
present Anton Chekhov¹s bittersweet comedy, "The Seagull," Thursday,
March 4, 5 and 6 at 8 p.m. and Sunday, March 7 at 3 p.m. in Stansbury 
Theatre of the Music-Drama Center. The play is directed by Mark 
Dintenfass, with a new translation by Tom Stoppard, who wrote the 
screenplay for the Oscar-nominated film "Shakespeare in Love."  
For tickets call 832-6749.
     The play, in typical Chekhov fashion, follows the stories of
several main characters, exploring the relationship between a young man
and his mother, by drawing parallels to the relationship between true
art and the appearance of art.  It explores the concepts of love and
death within the context of theatre and literature. One of the four main
characters of Chekhov¹s play, Konstantin, searches for his own identity
through his writing and believes himself insignificant in comparison to
his mother, a renowned actress and her lover, Trigorin, a successful
novelist.
     In the opening of the play, Masha, a character later revealed to be
in love with Konstantin, explains, ³I am mourning for my life,² when
asked why she wears only black clothing.  She is one of the most
appealing characters of the play, because unlike the others, she is
aware of the spiritless state in which they function.  Despite her
intuitiveness, she consciously chooses to conform to the appearance of
being alive, to which the others in the play so eagerly cling.
     In one scene, Nina (a young actress), enamored with Trigorin, shows
him a seagull Konstantin has killed to prove his love for her, a love
she no longer wishes to return.  For Nina, the seagull represents a
symbol of the sacrificing of her youth and freedom in pursuit of the
fame she so envies in Trigorin.  Trigorin has the seagull stuffed and it
is left on a shelf, as forgotten by him as Nina is by the end of the
play.
     In the first scene, the audience is immersed in the emotions of
loneliness, longing and desire. For the remainder of the play, the
audience lives with Chekhov's sharply drawn characters as they follow
their fates to the play's sad and funny conclusion.
     Tickets, at $10 for adults and $5 for senior citizens and
students, are available through the Lawrence Box Office, 115 S. Drew
St., Monday-Saturday, 12:30 - 5:30 p.m.  For more information, or to
charge tickets to Visa, MasterCard or American Express, call 832-6749.