‘Judevine’ to open Oldcastle’s 33rd season12:00AM / Wednesday, June 02, 2004
BENNINGTON, Vt. — “Judevine,” the most requested production in Oldcastle Theatre Company’s 33 year history, will open its 2004 five-play season on June 11 at the Bennington Center for the Natural and Cultural Arts.
The season will also include “The Novelist” by Howard Fast, the Neil Simon comedy “I Oughta be in Pictures,” the world premiere of Jay Parini’s “An American Revolution” and the Arthur Miller classic “All My Sons.”
Parini’s play will also be performed by the company at Middlebury College, and “All My Sons” will be presented at the Paramount Theatre in Rutland.
“We are expanding our Vermont audience by bringing shows to Middlebury and Rutland,” Oldcastle Producing Artistic Director Eric Peterson said in a news release. “We expect the alliance with the Paramount to become a long-term residency.”
Oldcastle first performed “Judevine” in 1988. This will be the company’s fourth production of the play that sees Vermont as a Third World nation. David Budbill, a Vermont poet, has seen his play performed throughout the United States.
The cast will include three actors who have appeared in each of the Oldcastle productions of the play, Richard Howe, Joe Butler and Willy Jones, as well as three Oldcastle veterans who will be discovering the play for the first time, Mark Irish, Katrina Ferguson and Sophia Garder.
“Everytime I return to “Judevine,” I rediscover the heart and soul of David Budbill’s amazing cast of characters,” Jones said in the release. “I’m so proud to be part of, and to share, this touching, boisterous, heartbreaking and most satisfying theatrical experience with our audience.”
“The Novelist,” which premiered in 1991 at the Williamstown Theatre Festival, is a portrait of Jane Austen during the final year of her life. To her amazement, the reclusive English author is being courted by a retired sea captain who has read all her books and feels she is a kindred spirit. The cast will include Grace Kiley, making her Oldcastle debut, and Peterson, making a rare acting appearance.
“I Oughta be in Pictures” was called “a holiday of laughter” by NBC television when it opened on Broadway. It later became a hit movie starring Walter Matthau. The story concerns a once successful Hollywood screenwriter who is suddenly confronted with his distant and almost-forgotten daughter who has trekked from Brooklyn to Hollywood to meet him.
In “An American Revolution,” nationally acclaimed Vermont novelist, biographer, poet, screenwriter and playwright Parini has written a thought-provoking, sly comedy, according to Peterson. Parini has written acclaimed biographies of John Steinbeck and Robert Frost as well as such novels as “The Last Station” and “Benjamin’s Crossing.”
The play is set in the Green Mountain State and concerns political intrigue, romance, a dysfunctional family and a ghostly mother.
“We first did a reading of “An American Revolution three years ago and have been working with Jay ever since,” Peterson said. “This is a play that will make audiences think and, perhaps, argue a bit.” Peterson said.
“All My Sons” opened on Broadway following World War II, but is just as relevant today, Peterson said. The play is set during the war and concerns war profiteering. The cast will include Paul Falzone, a founding member of Oldcastle who played Eddie Carbone in its acclaimed production of Miller’s “A View From the Bridge.”
Information: Oldcastle’s new Web site, www.oldcastletheatreco.org, or 802-447-0564. Performances at the Bennington Center for the Arts will be Wednesday through Saturday at 8 p.m. and Wednesday, Saturday and Sunday at 2 p.m.
New this year at Oldcastle will be a planned series of special performances for children on Saturday mornings at the Art Center by the Bennington Actors‚ Express — Oldcastle’s second company, which has toured area elementary schools.
This is the theater company’s 10th anniversary season at the Bennington Center for the Arts. Founded in 1972, Oldcastle was in residence for many years at Southern Vermont College. It has toured in five states, performed before the Vermont Legislature and on Vermont Public Television, and been honored by the New England Theatre Conference. |
.JPG&width=225&height=300)
