The founding director of Penumbra Theatre of St. Paul will be the featured presenter Thursday, March 1, for UW-Stout’s Reading Across Campus program.
Lou Bellamy is scheduled to speak and answer questions from 4 to 5:30 p.m. in Harvey Hall Theatre, 721 Third St. E. The event is free and open to the public.
He will discuss Penumbra Theatre’s association with playwright August Wilson, whose 12-year collaboration with Bellamy underscores the 2016 film adaptation of Wilson’s play “Fences,” by actor and director Denzel Washington.
Bellamy also will discuss Wilson’s Pulitzer Prize-winning play and “its social perspectives and relevance today within the cultural context of African-American theater and literature,” said Peter Olson, UW-Stout English instructor.
Other topics will include directing and producing the play for the stage and the adaptation of the play to the screen, Olson said.
The film version of “Fences” was shown Feb. 21 at UW-Stout to kick off Reading Across Campus. Approximately 250 UW-Stout students are studying and doing research on “Fences” and related topics in their classes.
Reading Across Campus events are hosted by the university’s Literature Committee, part of the English and philosophy department. The program also is supported by Chancellor’s Office; Provost’s Office; Center for Applied Ethics; and the Dean’s Office from the College of Arts, Communication, Humanities and Social Sciences.
For more information, contact Olson, olsonpete@uwstout.edu.
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Lou Bellamy
