PARCEL PLAYERS PRESENT “THE PRIME OF MISS JEAN BRODIE”

WHEELING, W.Va. (June 29, 2009)- - Oglebay Institute’s Parcel Players continue their summer season with “The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie,” the well-known play about an attractive, unorthodox Scottish schoolteacher in the 1930s. It will be staged at 8 p.m. July 29 –August 1 at Towngate Theatre, 2118 Market Street, Wheeling.

Adapted by Jay Allen from Muriel Spark’s novel, this comedy-drama is well known through its numerous stage productions and its film adaptation, which produced Tony and Oscar awards for their leading ladies. To refresh the memory: it tells the story of an idealistic and sexually liberated teacher and how she molds her young and impressionable students.

Miss Brodie, the most popular teacher at an all-girls boarding school, eschews the official curriculum in favor of her own brand of education. She tells her students stories of her romantic adventures, talks to them freely about sex and political self-sacrifice, takes them off-campus for unauthorized trips to the museum and to parties at her lovers' country estates. Her very decided, sometimes dangerous opinions make an impression on everyone she meets. Why Brodie insists on teaching her progressive style at a conservative private school is bewildering to many, particularly the traditional headmistress Miss MacKay. As the action builds the audience comes to understand her words “…all my pupils are the crème de la crème. Give me a girl at an impressionable age, and she is mine for life. . .”

The growing popularity of fascism in the 1930s is an essential element of the play, and issues such as the power of education, loneliness, love and sex, rivalry, pride and betrayal are intertwined in this entertaining story.

Directed by David Henderson, “The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie” cast members include: Erin Jorden, Juan Dunlap, Nicki Mazzocca, Taylor Jorden, Stefanie LeMasters, Danielle Walter, Sarah Fowler, Erin Mazzocca, John Railing, Josh DeBeni, Crystal Bradly, Elizabeth Kaniecki, Holland Mattlock, Aspen Mattlock, Lauren West, Andrea Gump Jenna Daugherty, Kathleen Buch and Lindsey Wayne. Stage manager is Chelsea LaRue.

Oglebay Institute’s Parcel Players began more than 40 years ago and offers young people interested in theater a chance to perform, direct, work with costumes, lighting and more. The group stages three productions each summer. FOX Ohio Valley is the proud media sponsor of the 2009 season.

All Parcel Players shows take place at Towngate Theatre. Tickets are available at the door or by calling the Stifel Center at 304.242.7700. All performances are at 8 p.m., and seats for Parcel Players productions are just $7 each.

These programs are presented with financial assistance from the West Virginia Division of Culture and History and the National Endowment for the Arts, with approval from the West Virginia Commission on the Arts.