The third production in the TRU Actors Workshop Theatre 2005/2006 season is Sam Shepard’s A Lie of the Mind, winner of the New York Drama Critics Award as the best play of 1986.

Considered by many to be one of his most accessible and romantic works, A Lie of the Mind is described by Shepard as a “love ballad…a little legend about love.”

Told in three acts set in the gritty American West, the story alternates between two families after a severe incident of spousal abuse leaves all their lives altered. The play opens with a desperate phone call from an empty highway. Like a howling coyote, Jake cries out his pain to his brother, Frankie. His wife, Beth, wakes up in a hospital wrapped like a mummy. Beth’s family emerges from the wilds of Montana and Jake’s from the Mojave Desert to protect these wild lovers from each other.

“Jealousy, rage, and obsession are present as well as plenty of zesty humour and intense drama. Laughter and passion are the magnets that keep us glued to their story,” said Robin Nichol, an assistant professor in TRU’s Theatre Arts program, adding that 37 Theatre Arts students are involved in the production on-stage and behind the scenes.

The play opens March 9th, continuing through March 10th and 11th and staged again the next week, March 16th to 18th. Shows start at 8:00 pm in the Actors Workshop Theatre located on Student Street in TRU’s Old Main building.

Tickets are $10, available at the Actors Workshop box office February 27th to March 18th from 11:00 to 2:00 pm, or by reservation by phone to 250-377-6100.

For more information, please contact Robin Nichol at 250-377-6136 or by email.