Bessieplay

April 11, 2005
  
Black and gold graphic bar
 
 Apr. 11, 2005

CONTACTS:
Paul Stuart Graham Theatre Department (323) 343-3044

Carol Selkin
Media Relations Director 
(323) 343-3044

 

 

 

Cal State L.A. 
Office of Public Affairs 
(323) 343-3050 
Fax: (323) 343-6405

For immediate release:

Cal State L.A. Presents Albee'’s
The Death of Bessie Smith
Legendary Blues Singer'’s Death Sparked Major Racial Controversy

What:
The Death of Bessie Smith by Edward Albee

When:     
April 28, 29 & 30: Thursday, 8 p.m.; Friday and Saturday, 3 p.m. & 8 p.m.

Where:
THE ARENA THEATRE, CAL STATE L.A. – Eastern Avenue exit of the San Bernardino (10) Freeway, at the intersection of the 10 and 710 freeways.

Tickets:
General admission, $15; students and senior citizens, $10

Parking:
Public permit dispenser parking is available at 50 cents per hour in Lots C, F and G or upper level of Parking Structure II.

Info:
Reservations—call the Cal State L.A. Box Office, (323) 343-4118.

Could Bessie have been saved? Several stories have developed around the questionable facts of what happened the night of blues legend Bessie Smith’s fateful car crash. Award-winning playwright Edward Albee’s play spotlights his version where discrimination at an all-white hospital led to Bessie Smith’s death.

The Department of Theatre Arts and Dance at California State University, Los Angeles brings Albee’s tale, The Death of Bessie Smith, to its Arena Theatre, April 28-30, 2005. CSULA graduate student Henry Livingston directs this production set amidst a racially contentious 1930’s Tennessee society.

The performances will run Thursday at 8 p.m. and Friday and Saturday at 3 p.m. and 8 p.m.

Working for California since 1947: The 175-acre hilltop campus of California State University, Los Angeles is at the heart of a major metropolitan city, just five miles from Los Angeles’ civic and cultural center. More than 20,000 students and 170,000 alumni—with a wide variety of interests, ages and backgrounds--reflect the city’s dynamic mix of populations. Six colleges offer nationally recognized science, arts, business, criminal justice, engineering, nursing, education and humanities programs, among others, led by an award-winning faculty. Cal State L.A. is home to the critically-acclaimed Luckman Jazz Orchestra and to a unique university center for gifted students as young as 12. Among programs that provide exciting enrichment opportunities to students and community include a noted alternative energy technology initiative; an NEH- and Rockefeller-supported humanities center; a NASA-funded center for space research; and a growing forensic science program, to be housed in the Los Angeles Regional Crime Lab now under construction. www.calstatela.edu

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