FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

March 14, 2006

SAINT JOHN THEATRE COMPANY'S SECOND STAGE AND THE NEW BRUNSWICK MUSEUM PROUDLY PRESENT

THE AWARD-WINNING PLAY "MOONCHILDREN"

The Saint John Theatre Company: Second Stage will be mounting its third full-length production next month at the New Brunswick Museum. "Moonchildren", by Michael Weller, is set in the mid-sixties in a large American city and against a backdrop of all the social and political turmoil of that time.

"I saw this play in the 1970's when it first appeared and enjoyed it immensely," says Bob Doherty, who will be directing the production. "It is both incredibly funny and deeply moving. Although set in the sixties, it also seems to be a particularly relevant play for 2006."

"Moonchildren" follows seven university students throughout their senior year who struggle with their uncertainty about who they are and what they want to do with their lives. This timeless theme resonates with many members of the cast.

"At first glance it may seem that this is a play set in a time very different from our own," says Kristi Neilsen, who will be playing the bright fourth year student Kathy, "yet it really is so similar. The questions we ask are the same: Where do I fit? How do I cope? What is my purpose? What does it all mean?"

Written in 1971, productions of the play have recently been on the rise across North America because of the parallels between the Vietnam war and the current war in Iraq.

Doherty says he finds it ironic, "and not a little disturbing that the play was written about a time when Americans and other nationalities were struggling with an unpopular war in the Far East and the future of young people lacked the security and guarantees that education and employment had brought to their parents.

"Here we are, forty years later, and America and other nations face a controversial war in the Mid-East and the instability of education and employment still faces young people."

Some of the members of the cast can recall both of these conflicts: Vietnam as well as Iraq.

"I was in my twenties and living in Halifax during the mid-sixties and I met a lot of guys from the United States who were going to university to try to avoid the draft," says Victor Kindred, who will be playing the unhappy but clueless landlord, Willis. "So this play brings back a lot of memories from that time... especially having hair on my head!"

Another reason the SJTC: Second Stage planning committee decided to stage "Moonchildren" was to provide some of the actors within the company, who may have played smaller roles in the past, the chance to strut their stuff.

"This is the first really beefy part I've had and I must say I am enjoying the challenge," admits Nathan Spavold, who plays Mike, a 'joker to the core'. "The experience of working on 'Moonchildren' has been very exhausting but rewarding."

Doherty, a retired teacher who has been heavily involved in many aspects of local theatre for some time now, has enjoyed the opportunity to pass along some of his acquired knowledge to the cast of fifteen.

"The rehearsals have been very hard work but they have been going well," Doherty says. "Weller's characters are very real people with real dreams, joys and sorrows. They are not your typical television sitcom stereotypes so the cast has to work very hard to dig into the roles they are playing and bring these people to life in a believable way."

The show marks Second Stage's fifth play produced in 2006, including four locally written one-act plays mounted in February (Script Happens). Second Stage's two previous full-length productions were "The Attic, The Pearls & Three Fine Girls" and Thornton Wilder's "Our Town".

"Moonchildren" is presented by the Saint John Theatre Company: Second Stage and the New Brunswick Museum. It will be staged Friday, April 7th at 8:00 p.m., Saturday, April 8th at 2:00 p.m. and again on Saturday, April 8th at 8:00 p.m in the Mary H. Oland Theatre at the New Brunswick Museum in Market Square. Tickets are $10.00 and are available beginning Thursday, March 23 at the New Brunswick Museum reception or at the door.

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