Arms and the Man by George Bernard Shaw
November 15-17 & November 29-December 2, 2006

	One Act Play Festival

Skewering the follies of love and war, the U.Va. Drama Department presents George Bernard Shaw’s timeless comedy Arms and the Man.  Directed by Guest Artist Edward Morgan, Arms and the Man runs November 15-17 & 29-30 and December 1-2 at 8 p.m. in the U.Va. Drama Building’s Culbreth Theatre.   

The proud daughter of a military officer, Raina (Autumn Shiley) is startled when an exhausted enemy soldier sneaks into her room, fleeing a battle in which her fiancé Sergius (Joshua Rachford) has led his troops to glorious victory. When the soldier, Bluntschli (Joel Grothe), opens Raina’s eyes to differences between her idealized picture of war and the grim realities of the battle just fought, her world is rocked.  In the play’s best known example Raina is shocked to meet a soldier who values comforting chocolates more than bullets, earning Bluntschli the nickname “The Chocolate Crème Soldier.”  In interactions with her candy-eating soldier Raina begins to question not only her romanticized notions of war and heroism but also of love.

First produced in 1894, Shaw dubbed this play an “anti-romantic comedy.”   Director Morgan calls the play “a charming satire” and “surprisingly relevant to the world today.”  Morgan, an Associate Artistic Director at Milwaukee Repertory Theatre, who has also directed at The Kennedy Center, Circle Rep, and Studio Theatre, is especially pleased to direct this play in the year of George Bernard Shaw’s 150th birthday.  

Tickets for Arms and the Man are $14 for adults, $12 for seniors and $8 for students; full-time U.Va. students can use their ART$ Dollars to purchase tickets.  For more information, visit www.virginia.edu/drama or call the Drama Department Box Office at 434-924-3376.   The box office is open from 1 p.m. to 6 p.m. Monday through Friday. 

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