NATCHITOCHES – Northwestern State University Theatre and Dance will present “Eleemosynary” on Feb. 21-24 and Feb. 27 – March 2 in Theatre West. Performance time is 7:30 p.m. except for a 2 p.m. matinee performance on Sunday, Feb. 24. Dr. Vicki Parrish is the director.

Seating is limited and reservations are required. Tickets are $15 for adults, $12 for children and senior citizens. Northwestern State, BPCC@NSU and Louisiana School for Math, Science and the Arts students are admitted free with a current student I.D. Tickets can be purchased online at theatre.nsula.edu. For more information, call (318) 357-4483.

The cast is Lindsey Page of Houston, Sarah Roberts of Chattanooga, Tenn., and Ashley Webster of Bossier City.

“The play is a series of fragmented vignettes that jumps from one to another over a period of 15 to 20 years,” said Parrish. “It is a play that is at times funny. The play takes good actors and we have really good actors cast.”

“Eleemosynary” probes into the delicate relationship of three singular women: the grandmother, Dorothea, who has sought to assert her independence through strong-willed eccentricity; her brilliant daughter, Artie (Artemis), who has fled the stifling domination of her mother, and Artie’s daughter, Echo, a child of exceptional intellect and sensitivity who Artie has abandoned to an upbringing by Dorothea.

As the play begins, Dorothea has suffered a stroke, and while Echo has reestablished contact with her mother, it is only through extended telephone conversations. Real issues are avoided  and their talk is mostly about Echo’s single-minded domination of a national spelling contest.

In the end, after Dorothea’s death, both Artie and Echo come to accept their mutual need and find  the courage to try, at last, to build a life together-despite the risks and terrors that this holds for both of them after so many years of alienation.

Northwestern State University Theatre and Dance will present “Eleemosynary” on Feb. 21-24 and Feb. 27 – March 2 in Theatre West. Performance time is 7:30 p.m. except on a 2 p.m. matinee performance on Sunday, Feb. 24. Members of the cast of “Eleemosynary” are, from left, Lindsey Page of Houston, Sarah Roberts of Chattanooga, Tenn., and Ashley Webster of Bossier City.