News Release — September 27, 2007

Harry Ransom Center Hosts Actors From The London Stage for Poetry on the Plaza

EVENT: The Harry Ransom Center hosts a special Poetry on the Plaza event, "Don Juan in Hell," featuring Actors From the London Stage and local Austin actors.

WHEN: noon on Oct. 5.

WHERE: Harry Ransom Center, 21st and Guadalupe streets.

BACKGROUND: Actors From the London Stage and local Austin actors will read an excerpt of "Don Juan in Hell," a screenplay adapted from George Bernard Shaw's play "Man and Superman," which updates the classic Don Juan tale with a funny, modern twist.

A hilarious cocktail of comedy and romance, "Don Juan in Hell" inverts the myth of Don Juan to portray the love chase of the man by the woman. In previous incarnations, Don Juan ran away from women after possessing them. In this version, Jack Tanner, the modern Don Juan, runs away from women to prevent them from possessing him.

The screenplay was adapted by Andrew Shea, an assistant professor in The University of Texas at Austin's Department of Radio-Television-Film, and Mark Medoff, playwright of "Children of a Lesser God."

Actors From the London Stage, a troupe of five of England's most talented actors, will spend a week on the Austin campus conducting classes and workshops and giving public performances. The five actors are all veterans of the classical theater with experience in such companies as the Royal Shakespeare Company and the National Theatre.