School of Performing Arts Reader’s Theatre to Present “Trumpery”

Contact: Joe Carr at (207) 581-3571

ORONO — The University of Maine School of Arts will offer a reader’s theatre presentation of Peter Parnell’s “Trumpery: the Evolution of Charles Darwin’s Theory,” on Wednesday Oct. 28 at 7: 30 p.m. in Minsky Recital Hall.

Admission is free.

Charles Isherwood described the play in a December 2007 New York Times review.

“Mr. Parnell’s plot hinges on a joke of academic history,” Isherwood wrote.  “The writing of ‘The Origin of Species,’ the play argues, derived from a sudden surge of competitive instinct on the part of its author. Distracted by worry and illness, Darwin had been unable to finish the book until he felt his life’s work and livelihood were in danger of being trumped, as it were, by the discoveries of another fellow. (Mr. Parnell drew on various histories of the era for the basic facts of the play but has done some fictionalizing and telescoping in the pursuit of both cogency and dramatic potency.)”

The performance is part of UMaine’s semester-long Celebration of Darwin program.

A news release with details about the Celebration of Darwin program is here.