EAU CLAIRE — Four University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire students will perform in the University Theatre production of Martin McDonagh’s “The Beauty Queen of Leenane” at 7:30 p.m. Dec. 7-9 and 12-16 and at 1:30 p.m. Dec. 17 in Kjer Theatre.
          Dr. Terry Allen, professor of music and theatre arts, said McDonagh’s play will keep the audience guessing. “They will think they know one thing and then they will find out something else,” he said.
          The play, which was first produced in 1996, is set in Leenane, a city on the east coast of Ireland, and revolves around the Folan family.
          All is not well in the Folan household. Daughter Maureen hankers for romance before it’s too late, and her mam, Mag, is hanging onto life with her fingertips. Enter Pato, whose wayward smile and roving hands feel like divine intervention to Maureen but retribution for Mag.
          The Wall Street Journal said, “‘The Beauty Queen of Leenane’ is the cleverest, most cunningly constructed, most assured play in years — and it’s also one of the saddest and sweetest … an ebullient verbal jazz, part Samuel Beckett, part ‘Honeymooners.’”
          Allen is directing the play, and senior Sarah Anona Glader, Spring Lake Park, Minn., is the assistant director and stage manager.
          Starring in the play are seniors J. Renae Gross, Gleason, as Mag Folan, Ingrid Nordstrom, Wyoming, Minn., as Maureen Folan, and Tony Brown, Plymouth, as Pato Dooley; and junior Jordan R. Keller, Wisconsin Dells, as Ray Dooley.
          Senior Katherine Cance, Fall Creek, is doing the scenic design.
          Tickets, available at the University Service Center, (715) 836-3727, are $8 for adults, $6 for those age 62 and older and 17 and younger, or $5 for faculty, staff and students with a university ID.
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Updated: Nov. 22, 2000