The University at Albany Department of Theatre is pleased to present Harold Pinter’s The Birthday Party as its first offering of the 2006-07 season. The production will run for nine performances in the Studio Theatre at the University at Albany Performing Arts Center from November 10 through 18, 2006.

The work was chosen by the Theatre Department as a way of recognizing and honoring Pinter for his 2005 Nobel Prize in Literature. One of his earliest works and his first full-length play, The Birthday Party has been labeled a "comedy of menace" for the devastating spirit found just below the surface of everyday encounters. Set at a shabby beachside guest house, life is turned upside down when two visitors of unknown intentions take a keen interest in the doings of a long-standing boarder. Fun and games, initiated as part of an impromptu birthday party, turn sordid and violent.

The production is directed by guest artist Jeff Mousseau, a freelance director, producer and program curator. He recently collaborated with NYC choreographers Ellis Wood and Richard Rivera to conceive and direct an original dance-theater piece for young people entitled Dance Soup that premiered at Tribeca Performing Arts Center. As the former program director at that facility, Mousseau also launched a dance residency for students of PS150, oversaw and expanded Tribeca’s Artist-in-Residence program and produced the Schooltime and Family performance series. Prior to joining Tribeca PAC, Mousseau was the founder and artistic director of The Coyote Theatre, an award-winning professional theatre company based in Boston. Of his many directorial credits with Coyote, highlights include productions of Neil Labute’s Bash, Sam Shepard’s Fool for Love and a contemporary adaptation of Uncle Tom’s Cabin. In addition to Coyote’s mainstage season, Mousseau produced an after-school program that encouraged young people to write short plays that were then performed by professional actors. Other projects include directing the Pulitzer prize-winning play, I Am My Own Wife, recently for Stageworks and curating/producing a new international performance series for young audiences at HERE Arts Center in lower Manhattan.

The production features a student cast along with faculty design work – Ken Goldstein (scenic design) and Janet Sussman (costume design). Adjunct faculty member Paul Ricciardi is acting as the vocal/dialect coach for the production and guest artist David Bunce provides the fight choreography.

The schedule for The Birthday Party includes performances on Friday and Saturday, November 10 & 11 at 8pm; Sunday, November 12 at 3pm and Wednesday through Saturday, November 15-18 at 8pm. There will be a panel discussion about Pinter following the performance on November 12.

Tickets are $12 for the general public and $8 for students, seniors and UAlbany faculty/staff and may be purchased through the Performing Arts Center Box Office. For further information, contact the Box Office at (518) 442-3997 or visit the Performing Arts Center website at www.albany.edu/pac.

There will also be two special morning matinee performances of the production for high school groups. Those performances are scheduled for Tuesday, November 14 at 9:30am and Wednesday, November 15 at 10am. Information and reservations for these matinees are available by calling the Performing Arts Center office at (518) 442-5738.

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