April 13, 2011

HARRISBURG – Like an Aesop fable, “Wiley and the Hairy Man,” by Susan Zeder, is a play drawn from native folk wisdom. "Outwit the Hairy Man three times and he won't scare you ever again," says Wiley’s mammy.

Members of the HACC Theatre for Young People relate the story at 2 p.m. Saturday, April 30, in the Rose Lehrman Art Center theatre on the Harrisburg Campus of HACC, Central Pennsylvania’s Community College, One HACC Drive.

Brenda C. Eppley, professor of theatre and director of Theatre for Young People, directs the production that centers on a young boy who dreams of images of the Hairy Man, a mysterious creature that he fears more than anything. Wiley’s imagination creates lifelike characters in the swamp where he lives and become narrators of the story. It’s up to him to conquer his fears and defeat the Hairy Man.

The troupe will spend the week leading up to Saturday’s matinee performing for elementary school groups in a theatre outreach.

After the Saturday performance at HACC, the audience will have an opportunity to meet the costumed actors and ask questions related to the production, as well as take photographs and receive autographs.

Tickets are $8 and are available at HACC’s box office at 717-231-ROSE (7673) or online at www.hacc.edu/typ. The 55-minute production is not recommended for those under the age of 6.