|
|
|
|
|
|
Press Release
|
For Immediate Release
|
|
Chester Theatre Company PresentsAllison McLemore &
Joel Ripka  |
Last Train To Nibroc
By Arlene Hutton
First Play of the
Nibroc Trilogy to Run July 14-25
THE NIBROC
TRILOGY by Arlene Hutton
Last Train to Nibroc - July 14-25
See Rock City - July 28- August 8
Gulf View Drive - August
11-22
|
CHESTER - It's Christmas 1940, A soldier and a
schoolteacher meet on a train in the middle of the night somewhere between Los
Angeles and Chicago, setting in motion a course of events neither can foresee.
This funny, touching portrait of two people searching for happiness was
nominated by the New York Drama League as Best Play 1999 and was a smash hit at
CTC in 2001. The Berkshire Eagle called Last Train To Nibroc:
"The surprise of the season; an irresistible love story. Warm, funny, and
unsentimental." This lively rhapsody to the power of love will be
performed from July 14-25.
Arlene Hutton's award-winning comedy tracks
May and Raleigh's romance through years of missed connections and introduces
the main characters for the next two plays in the Trilogy. CTC Artistic
Director Byam Stevens reminds patrons that, "While Last Train to
Nibroc is part of a trilogy, each of the three plays stands on its own.
If your busy summer schedule makes it impossible to see all three, you'll still
be well rewarded if you can only see one or two."
Last Train To Nibroc unfolds in threes
scenes that begin in December of 1940 and end in May of 1943. The first scene
is set on an east-bound train that carries the bodies of the great American
writers Nathanael West and F. Scott Fitzgerald. Also on board are May and
Raleigh, who discover they are from neighboring Kentucky towns. Scene Two, set
a year and a half later, finds May and Raleigh at the Nibroc festival, an
annual fair in May's hometown of Corbin, Kentucky, but the mood is anything but
festive. The following spring, as they sit on May's front porch, on the eve of
Raleigh's departure for New York, they discover the true depth of their
feelings.
This tale of two young Kentuckians wondrously
conveys a portrait of a changing America in mid-20th century.
Hutton's capacity for capturing the shifting cultural landscape and couching it
in intimate scale drama was praised by The New York Times: "She
seems to possess the ability to weave the epic and the incidental with the
lightest and least obtrusive thread."
THE CAST
The cast of Last Train To Nibroc features
Allison McLemore as May and Joel Ripka as Raleigh. Set Design by Charles
Corcoran, Lighting Design by Lara Dubin, Costume Design by Charles Schoonmaker,
Sound Design by Tom Shread.
Allison McLemore's credits include: The
Madras House at New York's Mint Theatre Company; The Underpants at
The Olney Theatre; Cyrano de Bergerac at Pennsylvania Shakespeare
Festival; Othello and Jane Eyre at Pittsburgh Irish and Classical
Theatre; Pygmalion (Denver Post Ovation Award) Antigone Now at
Cincinnati Playhouse in the Park; and Little Women at Peterborough
Players
Joel Ripka has performed extensively theatres
in the Pittsburgh area, including The Pittsburgh Public Theater, the Irish and
Classical Theater, Playhouse REP, City Theatre, and The Jewish Theatre of
Pittsburgh, appearing in Othello, the world premiere of Martin Giles' Beautiful
Dreamers; Ah, Wilderness; The Real Thing and Hamlet.
With Pittsburgh Public Theater, he understudied Mozart in Amadeus and
played John in the world premiere of Harry's Friendly Service, both
directed by Ted Pappas.
SPECIAL EVENT: THE TRILOGY IN A DAY
The Nibroc Trilogy will culminate on the final
two Saturdays of the season (August 14 & 21) with the presentation of the
complete cycle in one day. Special event tickets for those days will include an
afternoon ice cream social and a country style dinner.
SPECIAL EVENT: THE NIBROC TALKS
CTC will present a
series of Pre-Show talks by eminent professors from UMASS Amherst and Yale
University in conjunction with its production of the NIBROC TRILOGY. NIBROC
TALKS are set for Friday July 16, July 30 and August 13 at 7:00pm at CTC's Town
Hall Auditorium. There is no admission charge.
Hutton's funny,
romantic, touching tale of two young Kentuckians who meet, fall in love, get
married and create a unique family unit also explores life on the Home Front
during World War II, the plight of young men barred from service by medical
complications, the stigma of congenital diseases, the increasing role of
American women in the work force and the early days of the civil rights
movement. The NIBROC TALKS will address these and many other issues
raised by the plays.
Last Train to Nibroc Lecture at 7:00 PM, July 16 by Joyce Avrech Berkman
Ms. Berkman, a Professor of History and
Adjunct Professor of Women's Studies at the University of Massachusetts,
Amherst has extensive expertise in 20th century women's history,
feminism, and oral history. A former Woodrow Wilson Fellow and Fulbright Award
Winner, Professor Berkman edited Contemplating Edith Stein and
authored, The Healing Imagination of Olive Schreiner: Beyond South African
Colonialism. She was one of a team of editors for African American
Women and the Vote, 1837-1965.
TICKETS
Performances take place at the Chester Town Hall Auditorium, Wednesday
through Saturday at 8:00pm., with matinees Thursday and Sunday at 2:00pm.
Tickets are $28-$32; group rates are available. For tickets, call
1-800-595-4TIX or go to www.chestertheatre.org . To receive a brochure,
contact the CTC box office at 413-354-7771.
SPONSORS
CTC performances are supported, in part, by funds from Massachusetts Cultural
Council, a state agency, and the Local Cultural Councils of Blandford, Chester,
Huntington, Middlefield, Montgomery, Russell, Westfield and Worthington. The
Last Train to Nibroc is sponsored in part by Dorothy Benzian.
|
|
About Chester Theatre Company
Chester
Theatre Company was founded in 1990 by Vincent Dowling and H. Newman Marsh. CTC
produces 4-5 plays each summer and fall, performed by top-flight actors,
directors and designers from across the country. Performances take place in the
intimate setting of the Chester Town Hall. Over the years, The Miniature
Theatre of Chester, as it was then known, grew from "little
miracle of the Berkshires" (The Berkshire Eagle) to a company that "has produced a record that can rival the best
the area has to offer." (The Boston Globe) [More About CTC] |
|
|
Chester Theatre Company
Byam Stevens
Artistic Director
413-354-7770
|
|
|
Chester Theatre Company
Ingrid Flory
Marketing & Development Services
413-527-6157
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
