Pellissippi State stages Pulitzer Prize-winning “Kentucky Cycle”

Robert Schenkkan’s Pulitzer Prize-winning play spans the years 1775 to 1975, and the full-length version takes six to seven hours to perform. The Pellissippi State production will cover only the first 100 years—from colonial times to the onset of the Civil War.

“These are … short, taut, bloody actions that sparingly recreate the evil, mayhem, and retribution which permeates…,” wrote a TheaterWeek reviewer. Each play weaves its own tale—"The Courtship of Morning Star," for example, the integral story of an Indian girl who is kidnapped and bears the child of her kidnapper—but the parts together become the fabric of the epic.

This production of “The Kentucky Cycle” will be an entry in the Kennedy Center American College Theatre Festival and will be shown at the state-level competition at Austin Peay State University October 25.

Performances at Pellissippi State are scheduled for 8 p.m. Oct. 10, 11, 17 and 18. The October 12 presentation will begin at 2 p.m. All performances will take place in the Performing Arts Center.

Admission is $10 for adults and $8 for students and seniors. Cost is $6 for children, but because of the language and violence, the play is intended for mature audiences. For more information, call 694-6684.