South Bend Civic Theatre Presents THE PIANO TEACHER 4/1-10

South Bend Civic Theatre will present the psychological thriller The Piano Teacher by Julia Cho, April 1st through April 10th in the Firehouse Theatre, 701 Portage Avenue, South Bend.

Everybody knows someone like Mrs. K. The kind but firm instructor, leading students through Mozart, Bach, Beethoven, and even Billy Joel; handing out cookies and scratch and sniff stickers for a job well done. What secrets could such a person have buried deep in memory? Now retired from teaching, a widow with no company or comforts save TV like Dancing with the Stars, Mrs. K suddenly finds the urge to reconnect with some of her old students. As she engages in recollections with two former pupils, layers of illusion are peeled away and frightening truths are unlocked. Could a setting as innocent and innocuous as a piano lesson have been the scene for darker lessons, both horrible and terrifying?

Director Doug Streich, whose sensitivity and sure hand brought to life last season's Rabbit Hole, guides three skilled actors into the memories, real and maybe imagined, of The Piano Teacher. Mary Toll portrays Mrs. K, a woman dealing with age, infirmity, loss, and the possibility that the nostalgia that serves as her only comfort may not be truth. Crystal Ryan and Steve Cole are the former students, now all grown up, who stir up echoes and reminders of a past far more complex and gray than the black and white keys of the piano.

Most appropriately for this production, South Bend Civic reaches into its own past by staging The Piano Teacher in the intimate confines of its former longtime home, The Firehouse, located at 701 Portage Ave. This unique setting invites the audience into the cozy home of Mrs. K, on a trip down memory lane at turns provocative and painful.

The New York Times described The Piano Teacher as "deftly wrought ... a cozy little thriller;" The New Yorker called it "well-written ... [it] triumphs in dramatizing the unknown;" and the New York Sun proclaimed the play "cunningly-crafted with aching weight and mystery ... a piece that fully captures the imagination."

Performance times are 8 pm on Fridays and Saturdays, 7:30 pm on Wednesdays and Thursdays and 3 pm on Sundays. Seating at South Bend Civic Theatre's Firehouse Theatre is general admission and doors will open half an hour before curtain time. Tickets are $14 Wednesdays and Thursdays, $17 Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays and can be purchased either by calling the Box Office 574-234-1112 or in person Monday through Friday from 12-6 at 403 North Main St. or online by visiting www.sbct.org. South Bend Civic Theatre would like to thank sponsors Villing and Company and Ameriprise Financial.

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