Holy Cross Theatre Department to Perform 'Picnic' by William Inge

The department of theatre at the College of the Holy Cross will present an American classic “Picnic,” written by William Inge and directed by Steve Vineberg, professor of theatre at the College. The performances will be held in Fenwick Theatre, located on the second floor of O’Kane Hall, on April 16-18 and April 23-25 at 8 p.m. Tickets are $7 for members of the Holy Cross community and $10 for the general public and can be reserved by calling the box office at 508-793-2496.

Inge’s tender, lyrical play takes place in 1953, early in the conservative Eisenhower era – just before Elvis Presley and James Dean burst through the tamped-down surface of American culture.

“For today's audiences, Inge's play is very much about the era in which it was written, the early 50s.  But it's also a coming-of-age story that focuses on two young people, a 20 year-old drifter named Hal Carter played by Nick Jorgensen '16, and Madge Owens played by Rebekah Dowdell '16, who has just graduated from high school,” explains Vineberg. “Madge works at the dime store in her small Kansas town and she's been dating the richest boy in town, Alan Seymour played by Patrick O'Konis '16. But she doesn't love him and she feels trapped by her lack of choices. Hal is frustrated because he feels that young men like him, without money or an education (he dropped out of college), don't have a place in the world. These two characters are drawn to each other.”

The cast features Nick Jorgensen '16, Rebekah Dowdell '16, Cecilia Wolfe '15, Rose Weiss '18, Julia McCarthy '15, Patrick O'Konis '16, Nicole Williams '15, Brian Ott '16, Emma O'Leary '18, Emma Callahan '18, and Phil Losquadro '18.