NEWS RELEASE

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

November 2, 2010

CONTACT: ERIKA MARZORATI
517/432-6848, marzorat@law.msu.edu

MSU Law Presents New Play by Writer in Residence & Related Symposium

East Lansing, MI — Michigan State University College of Law Writer in Residence Sandra Seaton will premiere her new play, Music History, at the MSU Auditorium’s Arena Theatre on Thursday, November 11. The play focuses on African American students near the University of Illinois at Champaign-Urbana during the civil rights movement of the early 1960s.

Performances of Music History will be held at 7:30 p.m. on Thursday, November 11; 8 p.m. on Friday, November 12; 2 p.m. and 8 p.m. on Saturday, November 13; and 2 p.m. on Sunday, November 14. A reception with light refreshments and desserts will be held prior to the Thursday night performance, beginning at 6 p.m. in the Auditorium lobby.

Music History is co-sponsored by MSU College of Law, The Michigan Humanities Council, the MSU Department of Theatre, and James Madison College. Additional sponsors made the production of Music History possible. Tickets are available through the Wharton Center Box Office. Prices are $12 for general admission, $10 for seniors, and $8 for students.

Gabriel Dotto, director of the MSU Press, organized a symposium titled “Dramatization and Context” to coincide with the play’s premier. Speakers will address legal, historical, and cultural questions on the dramatic representation of problematic societal issues, followed by a roundtable in which the playwright, director, and experts from several disciplines will discuss issues raised by the play. The symposium, which is free of charge and open to the public, will be held at the MSU Museum auditorium from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. on Friday, November 12.

The play and symposium are supported by a $15,000 grant from the Michigan Humanities Council (MHC), an affiliate of the National Endowment for the Humanities. MSU College of Law is the first law school to receive a major MHC grant since 1978.

Sandra Seaton, the inaugural writer in residence at MSU College of Law, is a playwright and librettist. Her other plays include The Will, The Bridge Party, and A Chance Meeting. In a collaboration with Pulitzer Prize–winning composer William Bolcom, Seaton wrote a libretto exploring the relationship between Thomas Jefferson and Sally Hemings for the solo opera From the Diary of Sally Hemings, which has been performed at venues including the Library of Congress, the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, and Carnegie Hall. Formerly a Professor of English at Central Michigan University, she has been awarded artists’ residencies at Hedgebrook, Ragdale, and Yaddo.

For more information, see law.msu.edu/musichistory.

Michigan State University College of Law is a leading institution of legal education with a long history of educating practice-ready attorneys. As one of only a few private law schools affiliated with a major research university, MSU Law offers comprehensive interdisciplinary opportunities combined with a personalized legal education. After 100 years as a private and independent institution, the affiliation with MSU has put the Law College on an upward trajectory of national and international reputation and reach. MSU Law professors are gifted teachers and distinguished scholars, its curriculum is rigorous and challenging, and its facility is equipped with the latest resources—all affirming MSU Law's commitment to educating 21st-century lawyers.

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