Northwestern presents Talley's Folly

Talley’s Folly, by American playwright Lanford Wilson, will be presented by Northwestern College theatre Nov. 10–12 and 17–19 at 7:30 p.m. The Pulitzer Prize-winning romantic comedy will be presented in the England Theatre.

Northwestern theatre professor Jeff Taylor is directing the production, which is set in Missouri in the summer of 1944. The play is the story of Matthew Friedman, a Jewish-American accountant who has fallen in love with Sally Talley, a Sunday school teacher on the verge of spinsterhood.

After a year of daily letters, Matthew surprises Sally in her family’s rundown Victorian boathouse, an elaborate set designed by Jonathan Sabo, who also teaches in Northwestern’s theatre department. Hoping not to be discovered by the sheriff or Sally’s racist brother, Matt and Sally try to uncover the truth about the other’s feelings.

At times playful, snarky, comfortable and prickly, their wide-ranging conversation winds through the issues of the time, including the war, anti-Semitism, labor issues and union organizers. Matt and Sally also reveal personal tragedies and disappointments from their pasts.

Taylor has double-cast the show: Seniors Greta Floding, Holland, Mich., and Andrew Stam, Oskaloosa, Iowa, will play Sally and Matt during the first weekend of the show’s run. Junior Abby Bierly, Hull, Iowa, and sophomore Jack Nickolay, Hovland, Minn., will assume the roles the second weekend.

Tickets for Talley’s Folly are $7 for adults and $4 for students. The DeWitt Theatre box office opens Oct. 31 for Theatre Patrons; it is open Nov. 1–19 for the general public.

Tickets can be reserved by visiting the box office between 4 and 9 p.m. Monday through Friday or between noon and 5 p.m. on Saturday. The box office can also be reached by phone, 712-707-7098, or email, boxoffice@nwciowa.edu.