‘Hookman’

Playwright Lauren Yee’s "slasher comedy" opens at the Performing Arts Center

“Freshman year at college is hard when your roommate is weird, you’re feeling homesick, and a hook-handed serial killer is slashing girls’ throats. But if Lexi can discover what really happened to her high school best friend on that car ride to the movies, everything will be okay. In this existential slasher comedy, Lexi and her friends learn what it means to grow up – and it’s not pretty.”

So goes “Hookman,” the sometimes mysterious and often hilarious work by award-winning contemporary playwright Lauren Yee.

Yee’s story of teen angst and loss will take center stage at the campus’s Performing Arts Center beginning Saturday, Feb. 15. Presented by the Department of Theater and Dance and directed by theater and dance lecturer Michael Bernard, the play, has been described as a “slasher comedy.”

“I’m very excited about the way the play mixes comedy and horror,” said Bernard. “It’s full of surprises and is able to take on some pretty heavy issues in a way that is unexpected and refreshing. The tone can go from sill to serious before you even realize the shift has happened. That’s pretty remarkable in a play that includes alienation and dealing with grief.”

In addition to “Hookman,” Yee’s work includes “Cambodian Rock Band,” “The Great Leap,” “The Hatmaker’s wife” and “Song of Summer.” She is the recipient of numerous honors, including the Doris Duke Artist Award, the Steinberg Playwright Award, the Horton Foote Prize, the ATCA/Steinberg Award, the American Academy of Arts and Letters literature award and the Francesca Primus Prize.

“Hookman” continues through Sunday, Feb. 23. Tickets are $13-$19 and may be purchased online or at the Department of Theater and Dance Box Office.

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