Elmira College Theatre Opens Season October 25

The Elmira College Theatre Program begins its 2019-2020 season with Darcy Parker Bruce's, Poet Soldier. Performances are scheduled October 25 and 26 at 8:00 p.m., with a matinee October 27 at 2:00 p.m. in Gibson Theatre at Elmira College.

In Aleppo, two American Army Rangers rescue an injured Syrian woman about to give birth. At a nearby hospital, a neonatal nurse with an unwavering sense of duty struggles to save the lives of infants as her hospital is bombed. In 2018 Soldier Poet received the Judith Royer Award For Excellence in Theater from The Association for Theatre in Higher Education and was the Connecticut State Recipient of Portland Stage's Clauder Prize. The play recently premiered in Washington, D.C. with Theatre Prometheus.

Darcy Parker Bruce is a playwright and sound designer from New Haven, CT, and a graduate of the MFA Playwriting program at Smith College. She's currently part of the faculty at several Connecticut colleges, where she teaches playwriting and theater activism. Her work has traveled across the U.S. from New York to Hawaii. She was the recipient of a 2017 Tennessee Williams Scholarship through the Sewanee Writers' Conference.

The Elmira College Theatre production of Soldier Poet features Emma Faunce as Frances Benjamin Franklin, Julissa Garcia as Qamar Alabed, David Field as Brett Connor, Kevin Silfee as The Journalist, Taylor Kibbler as Fatemah, and Cohen Root as Samir. The production is directed and designed by Professor George de Falussy, with costume design by Sadie Kennett. Jadde Didonato-White is the Stage Manager.

All Elmira College Theatre productions are free and open to the public. Seating is first-come, first-served. Friday and Saturday performances begin at 8:00 p.m., with matinees at 2:00 p.m. on Sunday.