by Henry Murray

Winner of the Woodward/Newman Drama Award

The world-premiere of this unique, innovative and moving play detailing three simultaneous views of an elderly couple in the twilight of their lives

$18 General Admission
$15 Students/Seniors
available at BCT Box Office
114 E Kirkwood Ave.
812.323.3020
11am - 6pm M - F
and 12 - 5pm Sat/Sun

Sponsored by

Three Views of the Same Object
by Henry Murray

Winner of the 11/12 Woodward/Newman Drama Award

Three Views of the Same Object touchingly tells the story of an elderly couple with a suicide pact... their agreement to end it all "before they lose control of their lives."  How do you know when the right moment presents itself?  What if one is ready to go and the other isn't.  Multiple actors portray the same husband and wife as we see three simultaneous views of how this pact will play out.

"I selected Three Views of the Same Object as the best of hundreds of dramas from all over the globe because it exemplifies both the current value of theatre and the art form’s future potential," explains Producing Artistic Director Chad Rabinovitz.

The world-premiere BPP production includes some of Bloomington’s finest acting talent including Gerard Pauwels, Francesca Sobrer, Kate Braun, Ken Farrell, Darrell Gamache Stone, Kate Braun, Gail Bray and Catharine DuBois.

Gerald Pauwels (left) and Kate Braun (right) star in Three Views of the Same Object
Photo, Ivona Hedin

Dina Epshteyn returns to the BPP to direct after previously helming Still The River Runs, a production that would go on to become the biggest selling drama in the BPP's 32 year history, last season.

"Its unique theatricality combined with masterful language brings two characters together (and apart) in such an engaging way that I’ve not seen in the countless plays that have come across my desk in the past few years.  Henry Murray brings an original look to an unquestionably powerful subject that is certain to move audiences of all kinds."

Three Views of the Same Object began with a real incident when Murray stopped to help an elderly woman who had fallen beside her curbside mailbox. As he walked her to her house, the front door opened and her husband appeared in a wheelchair, trapped by the threshold. She called out, "Honey, I fell down. And can you believe it, I'm not even drunk." Three Views is about aging in America, enduring love, and the choices we make that determine our fate.

Three Views of the Same Object was chosen as the best of the best from hundreds of submissions from around the world as part of its Woodward/Newman Drama Competition, named after two of the greatest actors of our time, Joanne Woodward & Paul Newman and sponsored by Newman’s Own Foundation.  The theatre receives hundreds of submissions of plays from around the globe and presents the best new drama in the world with a prize of $3,000 and a full production as part of the BPP’s Mainstage season.

Chosen out of 350 submissions from across the globe, this play stood out as the best of the best.  The BPP asked Murray about his reaction to winning the first ever Woodward/Newman Drama Award.

"I was both thrilled and humbled to learn I had won this award," says Murray. "I first saw Ms. Woodward's work in The Three Faces of Eve at a drive-in movie in rural Virginia and experienced my first case of being star-struck."

Three Views of the Same Object is presented as part of IU Arts Week Everywhere (AWE).  To celebrate AWE’s mission of student appreciation and participation in the arts, the BPP is opening its doors on three nights to various IU student organizations to host special pre-play events in its beautifully renovated lobby space.  These groups will utilize the BPP’s lobby stage to hold an open mic, talent show or other artistic programming on April 12, 13, & 19 from 6:30pm to 8pm.  Any IU student can attend the show for free. Tickets are available at the door 5 minutes before each performance with valid student ID.

Three Views of the Same Object is sponsored in part by Newman’s Own Foundation, Arts Week Everywhere & WFIU.

The 2011/2012 Season is sponsored by Holiday Inn, Indiana Arts Commission, Oliver Winery, World Arts Inc., Bloom Magazine & Papa John’s Pizza.

Henry Murray (Playwright) is the author of numerous poems and stories, a novel, four full-length plays and a number of short plays including Down for the Count and Dog Is Dead, both finalists for the Heideman Award at the Actors Theatre of Louisville.  Henry’s play, Treefall, was named one of the ten best plays of 2009 by the LA Weekly and is published and available from Dramatists Play Service.  Treefall was also a finalist for the Bloomington Playwrights Project’s 2010-2011 Woodward/ Newman Award.  Henry’s play Monkey Adored, which received a reading at the Kennedy Center’s Page to Stage Festival and a week-long workshop at DC’s The Inkwell, was produced at Rogue Machine Theatre in September of 2011 and was a Critic's Pick at Backstage Magazine.  Three Views of the Same Object has garnered a Holland New Voices Award and will be featured at The Great Plains Theatre Conference in May and is also slated to open in Los Angeles later this year at Rogue Machine Theatre.  Henry is a member of the Actors Studio West Playwrights Unit, The Dramatists Guild of America, and the Alliance of Los Angeles Playwrights.  He is also Dramaturge at Rogue Machine Theatre.