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Tuesday, November 09, 2010

Finlandia to present second "Niskavuori" drama Nov. 11 - 14

HANCOCK, MI – Four performances of the Finlandia University fall play The Bread of Niskavuori, translated from the Finnish and directed by Melvin Kangas, will take place Nov. 11 to 14, 2010, at the Finnish American Heritage Center, Hancock.

The Thursday, Friday, and Saturday evening performances, Nov. 11, 12, and 13, begin at 7:30 p.m. The Sunday, Nov. 14, matinee begins at 2:30 p.m.

The Bread of Niskavuori, is the second in a series of plays written in the 1930s by Estonian Hella Wuolijoki (1886 to 1954). The dramas, set in Finland between the 1880s and the 1940s, depict a saga of power struggles, complicated love relations, and clashes between the traditional and the modern among the people who live and work at the country house Niskavuori.

Loviisa, one of the saga’s central characters, is the strong-minded matriarch who controls Niskavuori. In the first installment of the play series, presented at Finlandia in October 2009, Loviisa’s son, Aarne, left his wife Martta for the schoolteacher, Ilona, and fled Niskavuori.

In The Bread of Niskavuori, Arne has returned to help his mother take care of the farm, but ultimately Niskavuori’s fate rests on the power of its wise women.

Tickets are $5 per person and may be purchased at the door prior to each performance. Finlandia students with I.D. may attend free.

The Finnish American Heritage Center is located at 435 Quincy Street in downtown Hancock. For additional information, please contact Lynne Sweeney at 906-487-7204.

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