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Mary Swander, English NEWS RELEASE Theatrical adaptation of Poet Laureate’s book to be performed at Iowa State AMES, Iowa – Driving the Body Back, a critically acclaimed book of poetry by Mary Swander, will be presented as a one-woman theatrical production on Sunday, Nov. 29, 2009, at 7 p.m. in the Maintenance Shop, Memorial Union. Swander is a distinguished professor in English at Iowa State University and serves as Iowa’s Poet Laureate. Karan Founds-Benton of Coon Rapids, Iowa, will perform the one-act play. Karan has performed in theatres across the nation in the Civil War remembrance: Honor and Glory, with The Americus Brass Band, as well as appeared in nationally award-winning regional theaters such as The Laguna Playhouse. Founds-Benton created the performance for the stage in collaboration with director Michael Sokoloff, an award-winning veteran of Broadway and of acclaimed regional theatres such as The Steppenwolf. “Driving The Body Back represents the power of family connectedness as it traverses the streams of life and death,” Founds-Benton said. “I believe it is an expressed connectedness whereby each audience member will find specific and personal moments they recognize for themselves.” The book follows the homesteading experience of Irish immigrants settling in the Midwest. Louise Erdrich of The New York Times Book Review said the book is “a marvelous collection of folk humor, wild ways and down-home storytelling. Driving the Body Back is a sometimes harsh but always deeply compassionate narrative…” Tickets for the play are $5 for ISU students and $7 for the general public. Tickets will be available at the door, but can also be reserved in advance by calling Founds-Benton at (712) 292-0318. The project is supported in part by the Iowa Arts Council and the National Endowment for the Arts. -30- |
