Take two families, put them in cramped conditions under one roof during the Great Depression and what do you get'
BRIGHTON BEACH MEMOIRS, Neil Simon’s award-winning blend of comedy and conflict.
Winner of the New York Drama Critic’s Circle Award for Best Play 1983, it has been hailed as: “Simon’s funniest, richest and, consequently, the most affecting of his plays” -New York Daily News
Set in the Brighton Beach section of Brooklyn, New York in September 1937, this coming of age comedy is told through the eyes of its narrator, 15-year old Eugene Morris Jerome (Jack Miller). Eugene is a Polish Jewish American teenager who experiences puberty, sexual awakening and a search for identity as he tries to deal with his Depression-era family.
Eugene, his parents, Kate ( Kelly Herbert James) and Jack (Nick Englesson), and his brother Stanley (Kristian Henrickson Shea) have shared their home for the last three years with Kate’s sister Blanche (Rachel Williams) and her two daughters Nora (Adriana Sfara) and Laurie (Alexa McFillin) since the death of their father.
This extended family is troubled by illness, unemployment, poverty, deep resentments and foreboding signs of World War II, but as portrayed by Neil Simon, their lives are neither miserable nor pitiful.
The family meets their challenges with innocence, dignity, warmth, vigor and spirit, showing that life, at once humorous and poignant, is something to celebrate by all.
Under the direction of Rody Gilkeson, Brighton Beach Memoirs opens at The Pennsylvania Playhouse on Friday April 6th and will be performed on April 7,13,14 19,20 and 21 at 7:30PM and April 15, 22 at 3:00PM.
To purchase tickets call 610-865-6665 or visit www.paplayhouse.org/tickets/