LAS CRUCES – Mayfield High School teacher Amy Carpenter returns to the Las Cruces Community Theatre stage as Eleanor of Aquitaine in “The Lion in Winter,” which opens Friday, March 28 and continues through Sunday, April 13, 2014. LCCT is located at 313 N. Downtown Mall.
“Comedic in tone, dramatic in action – the play tells the story of the Plantagenet family, who are locked in a free-for-all of competing ambitions to inherit a kingdom. The queen, and wealthiest woman in the world, Eleanor of Aquitaine, has been kept in prison since raising an army against her husband, King Henry II. Let out only for holidays, the play centers around the inner conflicts of the royal family as members fight over a kingdom and King Henry’s paramour during the Christmas of 1183.
The 1968 critically acclaimed film version of this play, starring Peter O’Toole, Katharine Hepburn, Anthony Hopkins and Timothy Dalton, won three Academy Awards, including a Best Actress award for Katharine Hepburn and a Best Adapted Screenplay award for playwright, James Goldman.
In addition to Carpenter, LCCT’s production of “The Lion in Winter” includes Sam Damon as King Henry; and Mike Dick, Grady Easterling, Rafael Medina, Laura Cadena and Ben Glicker.
“I have wanted to do ‘The Lion in Winter’ ever since I saw the movie back in the ‘60s,” said director Monte H. Wright, who has been active with LCCT for more than 50 years. “After I read the stage play, I decided I just had to play the part of Richard, but could not find a production to audition for or someone to direct it. Then, after a number of years, I realized that I was too old to play Richard, so set my sights on Henry and lived with that dream for years, but alas no one to direct it. This play became an obsession with me. I just HAD to do this play! So here it is some 40 years later and I am directing it myself. That is the only way to get it out of my system!”
“I think Las Cruces is going to love this play. If you have ever seen the movie with Peter O’Toole and Katharine Hepburn and loved it, you are going to really enjoy the stage play. James Goldman who wrote the play also did the screen play for the movie, so all of those wonderful lines of Eleanor’s are here in the play, as well,” said Wright.
“The Lion in Winter” opens Friday, March 28 and will run for nine performances through Sunday, April 13. Friday and Saturday evening performances will begin at 8:00 p.m. Sunday matinees will start at 2:00 p.m. Opening night, March 28, is Gala Night. Cake and beverages with the cast and other theatergoers are included in the price of the ticket.
Tickets are $10 for adults, $9 for students/seniors/military, $8 for groups of 10 or more and $7 for children six and under.
Tickets for “The Lion in Winter” can be pre-purchased online at http://lcctnm.org/ or reservations can be obtained online or by calling 575.523.1200.