Theatre Westminster will present Premium, written, directed, and produced by Westminster senior English major Amanda Ehrhardt, Nov. 12-15 in Beeghly Theater.

Curtain time Thursday-Saturday is 7:30 p.m.; Sunday's matinee is at 2:30 p.m. Admission is free and open to the public.

The play is a re-imagining of classic American noir set amid the corporate machinery of the 21st-century free market economy. Robert Fischer, a claims adjuster at leading health insurance company Assured Living, is bored with his stagnant life and craves upward mobility and the excitement of competition. Nicole Kline, an office supervisor, is a ferociously intelligent woman who utilizes her ability to navigate the corporate system and her powerful sexuality to get exactly what she wants. When their desires become entwined, the pair is embroiled in a complex plot from which no one can expect to escape unscathed.

Premium was written as the creative portion of Ehrhardt's senior Honors thesis. Dr. Scott Mackenzie, Westminster associate professor of theater, is on Ehrhardt's Honors committee.

"Amanda was considering writing either a short story or a play for the creative portion of her Honors project," Mackenzie said. "I have been trying to encourage our students to start producing more, so I told her if she wrote a play, we would put it on the schedule."

"Prior to this, I'd only experienced theatre as an actress, but this endeavor has educated me on all the different aspects of theatre-acting, directing, writing, designing, producing," Ehrhardt said. "I've been able to see my play transformed from an idea with words on a page to something visually alive. I couldn't be more proud of all the work the various students have put in to help achieve my vision."

"At a certain point during the directing process, I began to forget that I had actually written those words," Ehrhardt explained. "I was beginning to see the play more through a director's eyes and was focusing not on how to show my own work to its best advantage, but how to help the actors give the best performance they could."

Contact Mackenzie at (724) 946-6238 or e-mail mackensa@westminster.edu for additional information.

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