Park Square Sees Forgiveness and Love in its Midwest Premiere of CARDBOARD PIANO

Park Square begins the new year on the Andy Boss Thrust Stage with the Midwest premiere of Hansol Jung's timely drama Cardboard Piano. Signe V. Harriday directs the powerful play about romance and redemption against the backdrop of inexplicable violence. The Courier Journal called Cardboard Piano "deeply moving" and "haunting" upon its 2016 premiere at The Actors Theatre of Louisville's Humana Festival of New Plays.

Is our capacity for love greater than violence? In Northern Uganda, the daughter of an American missionary (Adeline Phelps) and a local teenage girl (Kiara Jackson) steal into a candlelit church to exchange vows in a secret wedding ceremony. But when an escalating civil war encroaches on their fragile union, they cannot escape its reach. Confronting the cost of intolerance, this powerful drama examines violence, the struggle to rebuild, as well as the human capacity for love and forgiveness.

Of her inspiration, Hansol Jung said in an interview last year, "There was a lot of media noise in 2013 about northern Uganda kidnappings by Joseph Kony of the Lord's Resistance Army... There also was a lot of coverage about gay marriage in the United States and Korea...There was a lot of violence associated with both issues, and many people also connected faith and God to both. That was disturbing to me. It went against the idea of faith and love and what they being so generous and beautiful, and a solution to problems."

Cardboard Piano also features Ansa Akyea* and Michael Jemison.

The production team for Cardboard Piano includes Annie Enneking (Fight Choreographer), Lyndsey R. Harter* (Stage Manager), and Michael Kittel (Lighting Designer).

Cardboard Piano Performance Schedule: Previews begin Friday, January 19, and continue through Thursday, January 25. January 26 is Opening Night, and the run continues through February 18. Showtimes are 7:30 p.m. except for Saturday and Sunday matinees, which begin at 2 p.m. All performances are on the company's Proscenium Stage in Saint Paul's historic Hamm Building, 20 W. Seventh Place.

Ticket prices: Previews: $20/$27/$37. Regular Run: $25/$40/$60. Discounts are available for seniors, members of the military, those age 30 and under, groups, and ASL/AD patrons. Tickets are on sale at the Park Square ticket office, 20 W. Seventh Place, or by phone: 651.291.7005, (12 noon to 5 p.m. Monday through Friday), or online at www.parksquaretheatre.org.

*Member, Actors Equity Association

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