International Artistic and Cultural Exchange Program to Offer Free Performance by Belgian Theater Group

BUFFALO, N.Y. -- The International Artistic and Cultural Exchange Program of the University at Buffalo Department of Theatre and Dance (IACE) will present a free performance from Belgium's Theatre Universitaire Royal de Liege on Monday, April 18, at 5:30 p.m. The performance will be held in the Katharine Cornell Theatre, located in the Ellicott Complex on the UB North (Amherst) Campus.

Theatre Universitaire Royal de Liege will be performing Le Dernier Godot, a 55 minute, one-act play by Matei Visniec. This witty and funny play explores the unlikely encounter between Samuel Beckett, the playwright, and Godot, Beckett's title character of his groundbreaking Waiting for Godot masterpiece. It will be followed by a Q&A session with actors Vincent Canueto Rea and David Zapico Fernandez as well as director Robert Germay.

The play will be performed in French, with some English, media and visuals. This interdisciplinary international event is presented by IACE under the auspices of the International University Theatre Association and is co-sponsored by the Office of the Provost of International Education, the Center for the Arts and the Melodia Jones Chair in French of the Department of Romance Languages and Literatures.

TURLg has a long standing relationship with the University at Buffalo and its IACE program. TURLg organizes the world famous University Theatre Meeting (RITU) in Liege annually. Since 1983, about 150 groups from more than 30 countries have been featured, including the University at Buffalo on two occasions (Chimes at Midnight starring Saul Elkin and directed by Maria S. Horne in 1999 and Spinning into Butter in 2005 also directed by Horne.) In 2000, at the invitation of IACE, TURLg visited UB for their first time and presented Kafka's Communication a une Academie. Godot will mark TURLg's second visit to UB.

Founded in 1941, The Royal University Theatre of Liege (TURLg) is one of the world's oldest and best known university theatre companies. TURLg has a rich and wide repertoire of more than 130 plays and has toured in more than 30 countries on four continents. Its visual and dynamic performances cross language barriers with success -- more than 100 active members perform principally in French, but also in German, English and Walloon. TURLg also organizes a yearly symposium in international theatrical research and it is the official seat of the International University Theatre Association, IUTA/AITU.