PATCHOGUE, NY – OCTOBER XX, 2007 – The Clare Rose Playhouse, a community theatre located on the Long Island campus of St. Joseph’s College, will begin its 2007-08 season with The Poetry Theatre Ensemble and Friends. The show will run October 6 and 7, 2007. The Poetry Theatre Ensemble and Friends show will include a group of talented poets and musicians, including special guest, Suffolk County Poet Laureate and Fulbright Scholar Dr. David B. Axelrod.

The only American to receive two back-to-back Fulbright Awards in separate areas, as poet-in-residence in Yugoslavia and then professor of American Literature in Macedonia, Dr. Axelrod became the first poet to be formally acknowledged as an American Poet in Residence in the People’s Republic of China with his third Fulbright. A speaker of ten languages, he has taught writing and performed his poetry in countries throughout Asia and Europe, and appeared at hundreds of venues throughout the United States, including radio and television. Author of seventeen books and dozens of articles, Dr. Axelrod was named the Suffolk County Poet Laureate in 2007, in which he will coordinate the Young Poets Mentoring Program.

Founder and director of Writers Unlimited Agency, Inc., a not-for-profit organization dedicated to helping poets and writers grow and prosper, Dr. Axelrod continues to provide information to writers and artists by offering a wide range of programs that build goodwill and provide a public service to the writing arts. He received his M.A. in Poetry from Johns Hopkins University, his M.F.A. in Poetry from the University of Iowa and a Ph.D. from the Union Institute in Academic Program Design and Administration.

Individual tickets for this show are priced at $14; $12 for students and seniors. Show times are 8:00 p.m. on October 6 and 3:00 p.m. on October 7, both followed by a wine and cheese reception with the poets. For reservations or further information, please call the box office at (631) 654-0199.

The Clare Rose Playhouse, which serves as a major teaching facility for the College’s theatre courses, is accessible via the South Service Road of Sunrise Highway, just east of Exit 52 (Waverly Avenue) in Patchogue, on the northeast corner of the campus of St. Joseph’s College. A former cottage converted in 1985 through the generosity and guidance of the man for whom it is named, the Playhouse serves as a major teaching facility for the college’s theater courses and is a training ground for young actors. The Playhouse is the site of community theater productions of musicals, dramas, comedies, cabaret acts, musical performances, dance troupes and comedians.

About St. Joseph's College

St. Joseph’s College has been dedicated to providing a diverse population of students in the New York metropolitan area with an affordable education rooted in the liberal arts tradition since 1916. Independent and coeducational, the College provides a strong academic and value-oriented education at the undergraduate and graduate levels, aiming to prepare each student for a life characterized by integrity, intellectual and spiritual values, social responsibility, and service. With campuses located in the Clinton Hill area of Brooklyn and in Patchogue, Suffolk, Long Island, the College offers degrees in over 22 majors, special course offerings and certificates, affiliated and pre-professional programs through its School of Arts and Sciences and its School of Professional and Graduate Studies.