'The Curious Savage' enters the asylum

Havre Daily News/Nikki Carlson

Crysta Robinson, left, playing Mrs. Ethel P. Savage, and Oriah Pratt, playing Dr. Emmett, act out a scene from "The Curious Savage" during dress rehearsal Tuesday evening in the Montana State University-Northern Little Theatre. "The Curious Savage" is a Montana Actors' Theatre Youth production that will begin at 7:30 p.m. Thursday through Saturday in the Little Theatre. Tickets are $8 for adults, $5 for students and senior citizens and MSU-N students are admitted for free with a student ID.

After a couple of years off, Montana Actors' Theatre is bringing youths in the area back to the summer stage with its production of "The Curious Savage, " written by John Patrick and first produced in 1950.

The comedy, directed by Audrey Barger, tells the story of a woman, Ethel P. Savage, whose stepchildren place her in an asylum after she inherits millions from her husband, with the stepchildren trying to get their hands on the money.

Savage comes to know the other inhabitants of the asylum, each of whom has a mild disorder, and the play contrasts the people in the asylum with her "successful" stepchildren outside the asylum.

The production runs Thursday through Saturday in the Little Theatre on the west end of Cowan Hall on the Montana State University-Northern campus. Tickets are $8 for adults, $5 for students and senior citizens and free for Northern students with a valid student identification card.