FARMINGTON — The University of Maine at Farmington will present George Brant’s award-winning drama, “Elephant’s Graveyard,” as the spring 2011 Theatre UMF production.

Based on the true story of a traveling circus and its cultural collision with a small Southern town in Tennessee in September of 1916, the play combines historical fact and legend and exposes the public’s craving for spectacle, violence and revenge.

Brant’s drama won the 2008 Keene Prize for Literature andthe 2008 David Mark Cohen National Playwriting Award.

The Theatre UMF production surrounds the audience with the sights and sounds of the circus world, recreating the spirit of the big top in the university’s intimate black-box performance space.

Directed by Jayne Decker, UMF instructor and director of Sandy River Players, the drama features an ensemble, all-student cast and two musicians, drummer David Carr and guitarist Jonathan Gaither, who provide improvised music in the Piedmont blues style for each performance.

“Brant’s period play gives our student performers a remarkable opportunity to learn about history and culture, while sharing their abilities with the audience,” said Decker.

“Elephant’s Graveyard,” which contains adult language, will be staged at 7:30 p.m. on March 17-19; and at 2 p.m. on March 20 at the UMF Alumni Theater.

Tickets are $6 for adults, $5 for all students and $4 for seniors. They will be sold at the door and may be reserved by calling the Theatre UMF box office at 778-7465.