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Show t V. p ., n ill W UtVil kC , Fu.iM.ii-r :-.ve::ly jvars ji.uo on faiiih. liopo and viitlos. the worKI- ' f uned Eitr'.or Tlu'Lilie of Virsini: will come to Driham Ytmnsr X'n-ivei-sity Campus Docembei- ?, ami 1 lor iour pen'ovmancos of Shake- i speare's ''The Merchant of Venire" America's older.! and largest Liu "'t!'ic;il company outside New Yo: i; City, the Earler Theatre is t'.e only state subsidized theatre in the nation. It was organized chiving the depths of the depres- ' s;on by Robert Forte; field, who ; gathei-ed 22 actors, veiy much "at liberty," and headed for the Vir-ginia Vir-ginia highlands. They landed in historical Abingdon with their total to-tal asset: some cast-off stage sets with which Mr. Porterfield rode tiie rails, and one precarious 19:2 dollar. Mr. Porterfield' s ' persuasiveness put the theatre in business and they opened in the old Town Hall erected in 1830, which is "the second sec-ond oldest house in the country still be'ng used for legitimate purposes." pur-poses." according to Mr. Porterfield. Porter-field. Food actually was bartered at the box office and at the end of i the first summer the actors gained an aggregate of 300 pounds and shewed a financial profit of $1.35. Since those days the theatre has parlayed the edible kind of box-office box-office cabbage into the more flexible flex-ible folding variety. In addition to his duties of man- I aging director of the famous theatre thea-tre company, Mr. Porterfield is active in National theatre groups, a cross-country lecturer, and a patron saint to many young hopefuls. hope-fuls. Such outstanding stars as Patriciia Neal, Hume Cronyn and Gregory Peck began their training train-ing at the Barter Theatre. The Shakespearean classic will be included on the BYU drama series. Individual tickets are now on sale at $2.50 per person for all performances. They may be obtained obtain-ed at Smith Ticket office. The Barter group comes to Provo under un-der the sponsorship of Dr. Harold I. Hansen and the BYU speech department. |