News release Public Information Office   SLU 10880   Hammond, LA 70402   phone: 985-549-2341   fax: 985-549-2061 publicinfo@selu.edu     www.selu.edu/news Contact: Angey Saucier Date: 3/10/03   Click on image for publication quality photo DEARLY DEPARTING DIRECTOR - Southeastern Louisiana University Theatre faculty member Kay Files will make her last appearance as the theatre’s director March 11-15 with “Dearly Departed.” The comedy will run nightly at 7:30 p.m. “DEARLY DEPARTED” IS SWEET DEPARTURE FOR SLU THEATRE DIRECTOR       HAMMOND – Southeastern Louisiana University Theatre’s production of “Dearly Departed” March 11-15 will mark the last production at Southeastern for its award-winning director and Southeastern faculty member Kay Files.       A member of the theatre staff since 1993, Files began her career at Southeastern as she filled in for Kay Butler, a theatre professor who was moving her career path to Georgia. After teaching throughout the spring semester, Files applied for her position permanently.       Files says before obtaining the position, she had never worked full-time. She received her Master of Fine Arts degree in Theatre from the University of New Orleans in 1988, where she worked as a graduate assistant in teaching and costume design. From 1989-1992, she taught design and directed part-time at Loyola University. After receiving the position at Southeastern, Files told her husband she was going to take the position one year at a time.        “Each May, if I am still having fun, I will go back one more year,” she told him. That was 10 years ago.       “Don’t get me wrong--I’m still having fun, but I feel it’s time for me to be doing something else,” said Files, who admits she has no concrete plans after this week’s production. “I do know I will always work in theatre, whether as a performer, director or designer, and I would love to come back to Southeastern as a guest director some time.”       Files’s long list of Southeastern productions include “The Importance of Being Earnest,” “Cat On a Hot Tin Roof,” “What the Butler Saw,” “The House of Blues Leaves,” and “Dancing At Lughnasa,” which won the Critics’ Award at the Louisiana College Theatre Festival. Files’s other recognitions include four nominations for the Gambit/Big Easy Award for Excellence in Theatre, two of which turned into wins.       Files attributes her long and successful run at Southeastern to working with talented, committed and supportive colleagues and students.         “All of those wonderful, gifted students who have come to me with the desire, the drive, the need to make a life in the theatre have inspired me and kept me returning for ‘one more year,’” said Files. “Together we have all learned that good theatre can affect and change lives and even the world. Growing and learning with my students is the experience I will miss the most.”       Files’s last group of talented theatre students will take the stage at Vonnie Borden Theatre at 7:30 p.m. March 11-15 in “Dearly Departed.” The irreverent, satirical, dark comedy written by David Botrell and Jessie Jones follows the Turpin family, whose future looks bleak, with funeral arrangements, infidelity, threats of domestic violence, and a whole slew of family dysfunctions.       Tickets for the performances of “Dearly Departed” are currently available at the Vonnie Borden box office, located in the lobby of D Vickers Hall. Tickets are $5 general admission, $3 senior citizens and students, and free for all Southeastern students with a valid university ID.       For additional information, contact Files at 985-549-3546. Return to News Releases