November 2, 2009 — The Allied Arts and Humanities Council of Bartlesville will spotlight the rich literary heritage of the Midwest at a special performance and lecture about the cultural impact of the works of playwright William Inge. The event, being held in cooperation with the Oklahoma Arts Council and the National Endowment for the Arts, is scheduled for Monday, November 23, at 7:00 p.m. in the Bartlesville High School Fine Arts Center. Admission is free.

The lecture is titled "Front Porches and Unspoken Desires: William Inge as a Midwestern Writer" and the featured guest speakers are from the William Inge Center for the Arts at Independence Community College. Inge Center speakers have been announced as Marcel LaFlamme and Peter Ellenstein. The lecture will include video and audio presentations about Inge and selected performances from some of his plays.

The late William Inge is the Oscar and Pulitzer Prize winning writer from Independence and ICC alumnus. Much of Inge's work portrays small-town life and is rooted in the American heartland. Inge won the 1953 Pulitzer Prize for Drama for "Picnic" and the 1961 Oscar for Best Screenplay for "Splendor in the Grass." In the 1950s, Inge wrote four hit Broadway plays, each of which were made into a movie with the major film stars of the era.

Marcel LaFlamme, graduate of Harvard University, is the Director of Learning Resources and curator of the William Inge Collection at Independence Community College. The Inge Collection is the most extensive compilation on William Inge in existence and comprises 400 manuscripts, films, correspondence, theater programs and other items related to Inge's work.

LaFlamme has a deep-seated interest in the literature and culture of the Great Plains, and has recently given conference papers on Kansas novelist Scott Heim and on the Lake Wobegon monologues of Garrison Keillor.

Also conducting the lecture is Peter Ellenstein, Artistic Director of the William Inge Center for the Arts. For over 30 years, he has worked extensively in professional theatre, film, and television. Since coming to Independence in 2001, Ellenstein's leadership of the Inge Center has expanded the center's educational and cultural goals and it is now recognized as a leading rural arts center in the Midwest.

For more information on the William Inge Center for the Arts, visit www.ingecenter.org or call (620) 332-5492.