LEWISTON – Bates College will present the play “Big Night,” a Depression-era satire by Dawn Powell May 17-20 in Gannett Theater at Pettigrew Hall.

Shows will begin at 7:30 p.m. Thursday through Saturday, and at 2 p.m. Sunday. Admission is $6, $3 for senior citizens and non-Bates students. For reservations, call 786-6161, or visit the online box office at https://transact.bates.edu/boxoffice.

Due to construction, entry to the theater will be through a rear door from the college parking lot adjacent to Lake Andrews, accessed from College Street.

“Big Night” is one of a handful of plays written by Powell, a keen social observer better known for such wry novels as “Dance Night,” “Turn, Magic Wheel” and “A Time to Be Born.” The play tells a biting tale of people driven by greed – for money, sex, fame – to change partners and try to change their lives.

Directing the all-student Bates cast is Alice Reagan. A New York resident and member of the college’s class of 1997, Reagan received the prestigious Princess Grace Award in Directing for the 2006-07 season. Her recent productions include “Women of Trachis,” part of Target Margin Theater’s “On the Greeks” season, and “A Small Hole” at the New York International Fringe Festival. She was a Dean’s Fellow in the master of fine arts theater-directing program at Columbia University, and holds a master’s degree in performance studies from NYU/Tisch School of the Arts.

Reagan selected “Big Night,” which premiered in 1932, for her Bates residency. “The characters are so bad and good, morally complex, they’re just very interesting for actors to dig into,” she said. “We’re constantly discovering new ideas about the characters and what they want, and that’s a great exercise for the actors.”

“I’m interested in the 1930s, when America was really becoming America as we know it,” she added. “It was this moment where people started to question the American dream. They wanted it, but it also destroyed people. That’s really present in this play.”

“And the actors get to wear great clothes, and there’s great music,” she noted.

Powell first began “Big Night” in 1928, and it was premiered by the famed Group Theater. But the theater company’s extensive reworking of the piece was a critical and popular flop. The Bates troupe will perform Powell’s original script with only slight revisions.