Mercer Theatre Presents ‘An Enemy of the People’ In Conjunction with Caring for Creation Conference

882

MACON — Mercer Theatre is now presenting Henrik Ibsen’s play, “An Enemy of the People,” as adapted by Arthur Miller. The play will continue through Oct. 11 at the Back Door Theatre in Willingham Hall. Nightly performances run through Saturday, Oct. 10, and begin at 7 p.m. the final performance is 2 p.m. matinee on Oct. 11. The play is being presented in conjunction with Mercer’s conference “Caring for Creation: A Scientific and Theological Response,” which will take place Oct. 29-31 on the University’s Macon campus. To read more about the conference, go>.

Tickets are $5 and are available through Mercer’s Department of Communication Studies and Theatre.  Tickets may be purchased by telephone or email, at the office, or at the door 30 minutes prior to opening. Reservations are strongly encouraged. See more of Mercer University Theatre at its Web site, go>.  

Ibsen’s play deals with a number of issues particularly relevant to today’s world: environmental and health problems versus economic concerns, manipulation of the press, and the courage to stand up for truth in the face of adversity, said Mercer Theatre Director Scot Mann. Set in a small Norwegian town in 1880, “An Enemy of the People” tells the tale of an honest physician’s attempt to warn his community about a public hazard that politicians and investors want to hide.

“As we approach our own Caring for Creation Conference later this month, I am struck by how this play resonates with a variety of issues relevant to our lives,” Mann said. “For example, debate about global warming rages on while the polar ice caps visibly recede. Whether, as is argued, it is our constant industrial practice, or a normal cycle of the planet, the thought that one would argue that the condition does not exist seems quite daft given the evidence. Yet rational, educated scientists on both sides present opposing views on the issue.

“One need only spend a few minutes researching on the Internet to see that the issue has left the realm of science and is now a major political issue. Much of the political dilemma has to do with how much financial and personal sacrifice we might be willing to endure in order to address the environmental problem,” said Mann. “The characters inhabiting the world of Ibsen’s work wrestle with a similar issue.  In this play, one can hear shades of our public debate on health care, public finance, the sanctity of democracy, the distribution of wealth, trade, the environment and, somewhere underneath it all, a basic truth that will require one to make a moral decision based on principle or personal interest.”

About Mercer University
Founded in 1833, Mercer University is a dynamic and comprehensive center of undergraduate, graduate and professional education. The University enrolls more than 8,000 students in 11 schools and colleges – liberal arts, law, pharmacy, medicine, business, engineering, education, theology, music, nursing and continuing and professional studies – on major campuses in Macon, Atlanta and Savannah and at three regional academic centers across the state. Mercer is affiliated with two teaching hospitals — Memorial University Medical Center in Savannah and the Medical Center of Central Georgia in Macon, and has educational partnerships with Warner Robins Air Logistics Center in Warner Robins and Piedmont Healthcare in Atlanta. The University operates an academic press and a performing arts center in Macon and an engineering research center in Warner Robins. Mercer is the only private university in Georgia to field an NCAA Division I athletic program. For more information, visit www.mercer.edu.
— 30 —