Bainbridge Performing Arts (BPA) will open the 2001-2002 season with Molière’s classic comedy, Tartuffe. Directed by Joanne Keegan, this fall presentation was translated into the English verse by Richard Wilbur.

Responding to the nation’s tragedies of Sept. 11, BPA’s Board of Trustees made a program change in the first show of the season. Despite the shortened production schedule resulting from this shift, Tartuffe will feature blocking, costumes, and a full set in a reader’s theater format with a twist.

The story takes place in the home of the wealthy Orgon, where Tartuffe, a pious impostor has insinuated himself. He succeeds magnificently in winning the respect and devotion of the head of the house and then tries to marry his daughter, seduce his wife and scrounge the deed to the property. He nearly gets away with it, but an emissary from King Louis XIV arrives in time to recover the property, free Monsieur Orgon, and haul Tartuffe off to jail.

His duplicity is finally exposed and punished, but not before the author has mercilessly examined the evil which men can commit in the guise of religious fervor, and the dangers which imperil those who would believe only what they choose to believe despite a mountain of evidence to the contrary.

Tartuffe will be performed at The Playhouse, Oct. 19 to 27, with Friday and Saturday evening performances at 7:30 p.m., and a Sunday matinee at 3 p.m. A special pay-what-you-can performance will take place Thursday, Oct. 25, at 7:30 p.m. Tickets are $17 for students and seniors, $21 for adults. They are available at the box office, 200 Madison Ave. N., or may be charged by phone at (206) 842-8569. BPA box office hours are Tuesday through Saturday, 10 a.m. to 3 p.m.