Professor’s play ends Merced College series

The final installment of this year’s Merced College Performance and Lecture Series will feature “In Search of Hallman,” an original play written by one of the school’s professors.

The performance is set for 7:30 p.m. Saturday in the Merced College Theater. The play is free and open to the public.

“Hallman” was written by Lorraine Barnes, a philosophy professor. “This collective performance piece is an inquiry of what it means to be human, which is most profoundly addressed within the discipline of philosophy,” Barnes said in a press release.

The play presents various philosophical categories in the setting of a cafe. At each table are believers of different philosophical concepts – metaphysics, epistemology, ethics, politics and religion.

The audience gets to listen to the ongoing debate among the cafe-goers and decide who holds the true answer of what it means to be human.

“While humans, in the modern era, may well be ensconced in the affairs of practical life, the deeper questions of meaning serve as do the roots of a tree, rarely noticed but essentially important,” Barnes said.

As each group believes they know “the truth,” the debate highlights for the audience the ongoing struggle of human nature itself. With humor, music and action, “Hallman” attempts to take the audience members on an excursion of inquiry and mystery.

The Performance and Lecture series is supported by a grant from the Merced College Foundation.

For more information about the series, call (209) 381-6470.

This story was originally published April 16, 2015 at 4:58 PM with the headline "Professor’s play ends Merced College series."