Coastal Carolina University's theater department will perform two staged readings of "Strom in Limbo," an original play about the late Senator Strom Thurmond, at 3 p.m. Sunday, March 7 and 7:30 p.m. Monday, March 8.

Performances will be in the Edwards Black Box Theater, in the Edwards Humanities Building. The public is invited and admission is free.

The play was written by David Zinman, a columnist for the Horry Independent and a member of New Works Group, a local playwrights' group. He is a former staff writer for the Associated Press and Long Island Newsday.

"Strom in Limbo," a dark comedy, tells the story of the life of Thumond, who served a record 48 years in the U.S. Senate and ran for president on the Dixiecrat ticket in 1948. He died at age 100 last December.

CCU Assistant Professor Greg London directs the reading. It stars Chuck Goings, a veteran of local productions, and student actors David Thomas and Sloan Huggins. Theatre of the Republic in Conway plans to do the play as a full stage production in January 2005.

CCU's theater company held staged readings two years ago of Zinman's play "Who Killed the Kingfish," a work about the controversial 1935 assassination of Senator Huey Long of Louisiana.

For further information or reservations, call 349-2502.