Theater Book Edited
by
MC’s Elwell is Released
Release Date: February 14, 2002
 A book
edited by Monmouth College lecturer Don Elwell entitled “Greylight Theatre: Selected New Plays
from the First Three Seasons,” was recently released. The Greylight Theatre, a troupe that
Elwell helped found six years ago in Murphysboro, Ill., is one of America’s largest producers
of new works outside academia.
“The Greylight Theatre should not have
worked,” writes Elwell in the book’s introduction. “It is still a wonder to me that it does
and that it continues to. A theatre cooperative, funded only by ticket revenues, dedicated to
only produce new works of theatre and new theatre happenings, is a risky proposition at best …
that is to say, it’s a virtually suicidal proposition in New York, Chicago or any major city,
let alone in a small arts community in the middle of rural southern Illinois.”
The selected works that appear in the book
are both full-length and shorter works and include three of Elwell’s own pieces, “The Coyote
Trilogy,” which includes the plays “Coyote,” “Cyberpunk Opera,” and “Dub for Babylon.”
The 580-page work is available in paperback
for $31.95.
“It took a bit over a year to get the text
formatted, get the necessary permissions and to write the introductions to each piece,” said
Elwell, who began teaching at Monmouth last fall.
Other pieces written by Elwell will be
released this April in a book titled “The Coffeehouse Journals.” This book will be comprised
of essays and spoken word pieces that Elwell performed in various coffeehouses from 1984-98.
Elwell has experience in many facets of
theater, having been an instructor, playwright, actor, director, professor and a producer for
feature films and television. He grew up learning the art of performance as the son of
vaudeville dancer Don Elwell, Sr.
Released
by the Office of College Communications
Barry McNamara, Associate Director of College Communications
Phone: 309-457-2117
Fax: 309-457-2330
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