Riley Auditorium will be transformed into the wide-open plains for Otterbein College Opera Theatre's presentation of Aaron Copland's The Tender Land, which runs from Feb. 27-March 1.

Performances will take place on February 27 at 8:00 p.m., Saturday, February 28 at 8:00 p.m. and Sunday, March 1 at 2:00 p.m. in the Battelle Fine Arts Center's Riley Auditorium, located at 170 W. Park Street in Westerville. Tickets are $5 for students; $8 for faculty, staff and seniors; and $10 for the general public. Tickets will be available for purchase at the door prior to each performance. For more information or to purchase tickets in advance, please call Conni Birri at 614-823-1508.

Based on James Agee's book Let Us Now Praise Famous Men, the story takes place in the spring, in the front yard of the Moss family Farm. Laurie Moss (Erica Gelhaus, Friday and Sunday; Natalee McReynolds, Saturday) is about to graduate from High School and the family is throwing a big party in celebration. Two drifters, Martin (Daniel Lopez-Matthews) and Top (Travis Matson), arrive on the scene looking for work. They ask Grandpa Moss (Alex Almeida) to hire them to help bring in the harvest. He agrees, not knowing that Ma Moss (Julie Alton, Friday and Sunday; Abigail Berger, Saturday) suspects them of being the two men who molested a neighbor girl a few months ago. A story of suspicion, love and heartbreak unfolds.

Stage direction for the Otterbein College production is by Karen Eckenroth, with music direction by Craig Johnson. James Bates will conduct the performances. Commissioned in 1952 by the League of Composers and Rodgers and Hammerstein, The Tender Land was originally intended for television, but Copland also wanted to create something appropriate for college music programs. The work premiered on April 1, 1954, by the New York City Opera.