Brighton Beach Press Release

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Brighton Beach Memoirs

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Warm, Funny Family Portrait Comes to Life
at the Willows
Neil Simon’s award-winning “Brighton Beach Memoirs”
graces the Willows Theatre stage March 17-April 20, 2008

Concord, CA. February 19, 2008 – As the second offering of its 2008 main stage season, the Willows Theatre Company is pleased to present Neil Simon’s Brighton Beach Memoirs, the noted playwright’s hilarious semi-autobiographical portrait of an American family in the 1930s as seen through the eyes of a 15-year-old boy. Eugene Jerome is an aspiring writer and baseball player whose adolescent insights about his family, the Great Depression, and growing up are alternately hysterical and touching. Brighton Beach Memoirs opened on Broadway on March 27, 1983, at the Alvin Theatre (renamed after Simon three months later), where it ran for nearly two years before transferring to the 46th Street Theatre to complete its 1,299-performance run. The opening night cast included Matthew Broderick, Elizabeth Franz, Peter Michael Goetz, Željko Ivanek, and Joyce Van Patten. The production garnered Tony awards for Best Featured Actor (Broderick) and Best Direction (Gene Saks), and a New York Drama Critics' Circle Award for Best Play. Directed by Willows Theatre Producing Artistic Director Richard Elliott, Brighton Beach Memoirs begins previews on March 17, 2008, at Concord’s Willows Theatre, 1975 Diamond Blvd. Opening night is Friday, March 21, with performances continuing through April 20, 2008.

To Simon’s protagonist, the most pressing problems facing a 15-year-old boy in Depression-era Brooklyn circa 1937 are two-fold: baseball and girls. Living with six family members doesn’t afford young Eugene much privacy, but it does provide him with plenty of ammunition for his nascent career as a writer. In excerpts from his journal, he introduces his hard-working mother and father, his ambitious older brother, his cousins Nora (the star-in-training) and Laurie (the bookworm), and his Aunt Blanche. The resulting coming-of-age story is an affectionate, thoroughly entertaining lesson in overcoming hard times with grace, warmth, and humor.

Brighton Beach Memoirs is the first installment in Simon’s semi-autobiographical Eugene Jerome trilogy (which includes the plays Biloxi Blues and Broadway Bound) and one of America’s favorite plays. Variety called the show “[s]imultaneously poignant and funny …outstanding”. The New York Daily News called it “[i]n many respects Neil Simon’s funniest, richest, and consequently the most affecting of his plays.”

Scenic design for the Willows Theatre production is by Tom Benson, with costumes by Robin Speer, lighting by Robert Anderson, properties by Olga Vegvary, and sound by Sean McStravick. Allison Ward is stage manager.

[For PRODUCTION PHOTOS, visit http://www.willowstheatre.org/PressRoom/Press_Room.htm or contact Chris Butler at (925) 798-1824, chris@willowstheatre.org]

THE CAST

David Beal (Eugene Jerome) returns for his sixth show at the Willows Theatre. Previous roles include The Artful Dodger in Oliver!, Rudy in Over the Tavern (for which he received a Best Actor Shellie Award nomination) and ensemble roles in Children of Eden, Gypsy!, and The Night of the Hunter. He has also performed at the American Conservatory Theatre, Woodminster Amphitheatre, and Center REP. David is a freshman at Miramonte High School and enjoys film, piano, and cycling.

Cristina Anselmo* (Blanche) is making her Willows Theatre debut. Her Bay Area credits include Nickel & Dimed and Royal Hunt of the Sun at TheatreWorks, and The Mystery Plays at S.F. Playhouse. Los Angeles area credits include productions with A Noise Within, Grove Theatre Center, Theatre of NOTE, Actors Alley at the El Portal, and Pasadena Shakespeare.

Cindy Goldfield* (Kate) has appeared on the Willows stage numerous times, most recently in Woody Guthrie’s American Song, Over the Tavern (in which she also appeared as David Beal’s mother), Moon Over Buffalo, In The Beginning, and Brimstone. Ms. Goldfield has also performed with ACT, Center REP, TheatreWorks, Playhouse West, and Marin Theatre Company.

Olivia Hytha (Laurie) is making her Willows Theatre debut. She has performed locally with Town Hall Theater, Diablo Light Opera Company, Stage 1 Theater, and Pinole Community Players. She is in the fifth grade.

Shushig Derstepanian (Nora) recently graduated from the Claire Trevor School of the Arts at UC Irvine, receiving her degree in Drama with a focus on acting.

Aaron Wilton* (Stanley) is appearing with the Willows for the first time. He has performed on numerous stages in New York City and around the country, and locally with the B Street Theatre and Sacramento Theatre Company.

Val Hendrickson (Jack) returns to the Willows, having most recently appeared in The Kentucky Cycle. Other Bay Area theater credits include stints with Berkeley Rep, Magic Theatre, TheatreWorks, San Francisco Shakespeare Festival, Theatre Valentine, Shotgun Players, and the Willows, where he also appeared with us as E.K. Hornbeck in Inherit the Wind.

*Member, Actors’ Equity Association

Ticket and Schedule Information

Tickets are $30-$40 with discounts for students (6-18), seniors (65+), groups (10+), and Preview performances. To purchase tickets call (925) 798-1300 or visit the Willows Theatre web site at www.willowstheatre.org. Performances are Wednesdays and Thursdays at 7:30 p.m., and Fridays and Saturdays at 8:00 p.m., with matinees Wednesdays at 3:30 p.m., Saturdays at 2:00 p.m., and Sundays at 3:00 p.m.

The Willows Theatre is located at 1975 Diamond Blvd. next to REI in the Willows Shopping Center in Concord, across the street from the Concord Hilton and one block east of the Willow Pass Road exit off Highway 680.

Until March 3, 2008, the Willows Theatre Company Daytime Box Office will be located at 1425 Gasoline Alley, Concord, at the corner of Bisso Lane, one block north of Concord Avenue. After that the Box Office will be located at 636 Ward Street in Martinez, in the lobby of the Campbell Theatre. Box Office hours are Monday-Saturday 10 am-6 pm and Sunday Noon-5 pm. The theatre box office and will-call window, located in the Willows Theatre lobby, opens one hour prior to each performance. For more information call (925) 798-1300 or visit our web site at www.willowstheatre.org.

Recipient of the 2002 Cyril Award of the San Francisco Business Arts Council for Nonprofit Arts Excellence, the Willows Theatre Company is led by Producing Artistic Director Richard Elliott. The Willows Theatre Company 2008 Season Sponsors are Best Western John Muir Inn of Martinez, Rocco’s Pizzeria of Walnut Creek, Industrial Lumber of Martinez, Alphagraphics of Walnut Creek, the Concord Hilton, and US Bank (student/teacher discount ticket sponsor).

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