FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE --3/16/09
Morgan Arts Council • Berkeley Springs, WV
Press contact only: Gary McDaniel - 304-676-2949
 
PLAYWRITE SPEAKS AFTER PERFORMANCES AT ICE HOUSE
 
BERKELEY SPRINGS, WV ---- Told that opening weekend audiences at the 
Ice House production were happily laughing and crying, playwrite Don 
Fidler is looking forward to talking and answering questions after the 
Saturday night and Sunday afternoon performances. "Nothing is more 
gratifying for a writer than watching people respond to their work," 
says Fidler, "and hearing how the experience touched them."
 
The final weekend of Fidler's "Voices in the Woods" has four 
performances at the Ice House: Thursday, March 19 at 7pm; Friday and 
Saturday, March 20 and 21 at 7:30pm; and Sunday, March 22 at 3pm.
 
Fidler drew on observations of people in North Carolina and West 
Virginia for his play which was initially created as a single scene 
for a friend to perform in Morgantown. "Everyone liked the story so 
I expanded it into a three-act play," he says. Fidler straddles the 
world of psychiatry and theater as a professor in both West Virginia 
University's School and Medicine and Division of Theater and Dance. 
He has been involved in theater as an actor, playwrite and composer 
since the age of ten.
 
Although "Voices" explores the family relationships in the Appalachian 
mountains of West Virginia where Fidler has long roots, he also draws 
on tribal customs from less familiar cultures. Over the years, Fidler 
has lived for extended periods in cultures as diverse as the Eskimos, 
Maori of New Zealand and Beduoin in the Middle East. "The most 
remarkable aspect of this work is how similar human connections with 
the family are regardless of how foreign a culture may seem to our 
own," says Fidler.
 
"Voices" is one of six plays Fidler has written and staged in West 
Virginia; two more are scheduled to be released soon. It has been 
performed several times in Morgantown, and had a successful three-week 
run in Los Angeles with cast members from the TV shows: 90210, 
Frazier, Dr. Quinn, and Star Trek.
 
Oasis Cafe in Berkeley Springs, is the play's exclusive sponsor. To 
make reservations, call the theater hotline at 304-258-2300, option 
2. Visitwww.macicehouse.org for complete details and a calendar of 
future "Back To Our Roots" activities.
 
The Ice House is located on Independence and Mercer streets in 
downtown Berkeley Springs.