Naomi Wallace "One Flea Spare" Opens Oct. 10 in Westhoff

“One Flea Spare” by Naomi Wallace, a play set in 17th century England during the Black Plague, will be presented in Westhoff Theatre at Illinois State University Oct. 10 to 14.  Curtain is 7:30 p.m. Oct. 10 to 13 and 2 p.m. on Oct. 14.

Tickets are $10 for the general public, $9 for ISU faculty-staff, $8 for senior citizens and $6 for students.   Tickets are available at the Center for the Performing Arts box office from noon to 5 p.m. weekdays and by phone at (309) 438-2535.

“One Flea Spare” looks at five diverse characters trapped in a house during the Black Plague, quarantined together in a world where class, social and gender lines collide.  It is directed by master of fine arts candidate Rebekah Scallet, a native of Little Rock, Ark., and bachelor’s degree graduate in Theatre and English and American Literature from Brandeis University.  She also has been active in Chicago theatre.

Wallace was commissioned to write the play by the Bush Theatre in London, where it opened in 1995.  It had its American premiere at the Actors Theatre of Louisville and was awarded the 1996 Susan Smith Blackburn Prize, the 1996 Fellowship of Southern Writers Drama Award and the 1996 Kesselring Prize.  It was produced at the Joseph Papp Public Theatre/New York Shakespeare Festival.