HAMMOND -- Tickets for the 17th  season of Fanfare, Southeastern Louisiana University’s annual October arts festival, go on sale Sept. 16 when the Fanfare box office opens at the Columbia Theatre for the Performing Arts, 220 E. Thomas St., in downtown Hammond.
      Box office hours are noon-5 p.m., weekdays, and the telephone number is 985-543-4371. On days when performances are scheduled at the Columbia Theatre, box office hours will be extended until curtain time, said Columbia/Fanfare Artistic Director Donna Gay Anderson.
      “The opening of the Columbia Theatre for the Performing Arts last January has given us an exciting new venue for Fanfare events,” Anderson said. “While we will still stage wonderful events on campus, many Fanfare 2002 events will take place in this beautifully renovated performance hall. If you haven’t already attended an event at the Columbia, we invited you to do so during Fanfare. Fanfare, as always, has something for everyone!” 
      Ticket prices, a schedule of events, and information and photographs on individual events are available on Fanfare’s web site, www.selu.edu/ fanfare.
      The 17th season of Fanfare features as its headliner acclaimed author Sylvia Nasar, whose biography of mathematician John Nash inspired the Oscar-winning film, “A Beautiful Mind.” Also in the 2002 spotlight are the Celtic rock group Ceili Rain, the chamber music ensemble Turtle Island String Quartet; “A Midsummer Night’s Dream” by the Aquila Theatre Company; “A Streetcar Named Desire” presented by the North Carolina Dance Theatre; the Missoula Children’s Theatre’s “The Adventures of Hans Christian Andersen; the Jordanaires, featuring 2002 “Images of Elvis” winner Brandon Bennett; and Tales & Scales, a troupe that presents “musictelling” performances for children.
      Fanfare’s more than 60 events are scheduled from Sept.27-Nov. 1.
-SLU-
Press release available online at www.selu.edu/news/fall02.html