“Our Country’s Good” hits LU stage

Students performing "Our Country's Good" Credit: DFPA

Living  in the basement of CFSU three nights each week at the Phoenix office means a lot of encounters with theater students in their rehearsal area down the hall. Plus, I often hear about all the time these kids put into their shows from a close friend of mine who stars in almost every theater production on campus. Yet in all my college career I have yet to go see those peers of mine perform in a Loyola play.

Oh wait, you too? Surprise.

Well, your last chance to mark off going to a Loyola play from your college bucket list is this weekend with four performances of  playwright Timberlake Wertenbaker “Our Country’s Good,” the story of a journey made by British convicts who are sent to Australia to begin the settlement of a new colony in the 1780’s.

In the production, a military officer casts the convicts in a play, and the theme of the importance of being educated in the liberal arts shines through.

In a recent article by the Phoenix, Ann Shanahan, director and assistant professor of theatre at Loyola, said, “What I hope gets communicated is how [the play] reinforces the Loyolan mission of the importance of education.”

The show, presented by Loyola’s Department of Fine and Performing Arts, will start up it’s second weekend today, with a 7:30 p.m. show tonight, and on Friday and Saturday, Oct. 22 and 23. A matinee on Sunday, Oct. 24 will begin at 2:30 p.m. All performances are in the Kathleen Mullady Memorial Theatre in CFSU.

To order your tickets you can call the box office at 773-508-3847 or email them at boxoffice@luc.edu