[img_inline align=”right” src=”http://padnws01.mcmaster.ca/images/trojan2.jpg” caption=”A dress rehearsal of The Trojan Women takes place in Faculty Hollow. Pictured from left are McMaster students Kristen Pearson, Alexandra Holbrook, Anita Shokar and Sopheap Khuon. Photo credit: Ken Baker”]As sunlight dims in Faculty Hollow this Friday, the curtains will rise on McMaster Summer Drama Festival's 15th season.

This year, more than 75 students and community members will bring a mixture of classic dramas and contemporary Canadian works to the McMaster campus and downtown Hamilton. Last year, more than 1,100 people attended performances of the McMaster Summer Drama Festival.

The Festival opens on the evening of July 22 with an innovative approach to the presentation of outdoor theatre. Shakespeare's comedic The Taming of the Shrew is a classic drama that explores how people interact with one another. Directed by Jared Lenover, the play itself will interact with the audience by surrounding the audience with the action on multiple stages, dubbed a “reverse theatre-in-the-round.”

The following evening will present the ancient Greek tragedy The Trojan Women (director: Angela Schwartz), an examination of the effects of the Trojan War on the women of Troy. In a unique addition to this production, the chorus will present individual stories of war experiences in lieu of the traditional choral interludes. Each of the personal stories presented by chorus members were researched and written by the actors themselves.

Opening Tuesday night at HTI Studio Theatre (140 MacNab Street North) is My Father's House (director/playwright: Brian Morton), the brutally honest account of the childhood experiences of Hamilton author Sylvia Fraser. The play explores her childhood in the 1940s and 50s and her later experiences as a survivor of incest. First published in 1987, her book was honored with the Canadian Author's Associated Award for Non-Fiction.

Two hilarious and outrageous Canadian one-act favourites will be presented in a double-billing at HTI: Rafe MacPherson's The Terrible False Deception: A Four Act Play in Forty Minutes (Or Forty-Two With Laughs) (director: Jaclyn Scobie) and Daniel MacIvor's This is A Play (director: Amit Sharma). Both plays explore the humour of theatrical production itself, often turning the normal practices of theatre inside out.

Admission to each show is $5 per performance, or $15 for a full Festival pass.

For further information, ticket reservations and a full schedule of the 2005 McMaster Summer Drama Festival, browse the Festival website at www.summerdramafestival.com or call 905-525-9140 ext. 24102 or e-mail mcmaster_sdf@yahoo.ca. Rain venues for outdoor performances are available.

Festival times/dates:

The Taming of the Shrew – July 22, 25, 28, 30 at 7 p.m., July 23, 30 at 12 noon, July 24 at 3 p.m., Faculty Hollow (Rain: Togo Salmon Hall Room 118) at McMaster University.

The Trojan Women – July 23, 24, 26, 27, 29 at 7 p.m., July 24 at 12 noon, July 30 at 3 p.m., Faculty Hollow (Rain: Togo Salmon Hall Room 118) at McMaster University.

My Father's House – July 26, 28, 29 at 8 p.m., July 30 at 4 p.m., July 31 at 1 p.m., HTI Studio Theatre (140 MacNab Street North, Hamilton)

This is A Play & The Terrible False Deception& – July 27, 30 at 8 p.m., July 29, 31 at 4 p.m., July 30 at 1 p.m., HTI Studio Theatre (140 MacNab Street North, Hamilton)