[NEohioPAL] "Crumbs from the Table of Joy" Jan. 13 -29

[Jan Harcar]

Weathervane Playhouse's
'Crumbs from the Table of Joy'
a 'Memory Play' that Looks Back at a Blended Family in Transition on the Eve of the Civil Rights Era
 
Drama by Pulitzer Prize-Winner Lynn Nottage' to be Staged
in Weathervane's Intimate John L. Dietz Theater
 
A family copes with grief and prejudice but perseveres through love in Weathervane Playhouse's production of Crumbs from the Table of Joy, the celebrated drama by Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright Lynn Nottage - live on stage in Weathervane's intimate Dietz Theater from Jan. 13 to 29, 2011.
 
The play is set in Brooklyn, New York, in 1950, and is narrated chiefly by 17-year-old Ernestine Crump, a young woman dealing with grief and displacement. Ernestine and her family - stern father, Godfrey, and sassy younger sister, Ermina - have recently moved to Brooklyn from Florida after the death of their mother. As a black family in Brooklyn, the transplanted Crumps find themselves strangers in a strange land.
 
Faced with grief and prejudice, each of the Crumps finds solace in his or her own way. The strict-but-loving Godfrey gravitates to a charismatic religious leader named Father Divine, whose dictums against "almost everything fun" confound the young girls. Ermina discovers boys while older-sister Ernestine revels in the alluring escape of movie stars, knowing that "something better is always on the horizon." Added into the household chaos is the free-thinking and free-wheeling Aunt Lily, the sister of the late Mrs. Crump, who loves to antagonize her brother-in-law. With her avowed Communist leanings and "fast ways," Lily poses a threat to Godfrey's church-directed efforts to protect his young girls.
 
But even Godfrey finds himself open to new ideas when one day he meets a woman on the train and decides almost immediately to marry her. Not only is she white, but Gerte is also a German immigrant. Tenderhearted and desperate for approval, Gerte challenges the Crumps to confront their own prejudices and beliefs. 
 
Crumbs from the Table of Joy is directed by Yvonne Oliver. The production is sponsored by Margaret J. Dietz.
 
The Crumbs from the Table of Joy Cast and their Ohio Hometowns
 
VICTORIA CARTHORN of Clinton . Ernestine Crump
 
SHAMARA COSTA of Akron . Ermina Crump
 
MICHAEL HEAD of Stow . Godfrey Crump
 
DR. GINA GLENN of Akron . Lily Ann Green
 
ROBYN COOPER of Uniontown . Gerte Schulte
 
About the Director of Crumbs from the Table of Joy
 
YVONNE OLIVER most recently appeared on stage as Mrs. Jefferson in Weathervane Playhouse's 2010 production of The Great White Hope. Elsewhere, her last stage role was in Jar the Floor. Yvonne's other performances include Coming Home and Legacy (African Community Theatre) and Weaving Rainbows (Cleveland Public Theatre). Yvonne has appeared in infomercials and instructional training videos. She played Sharon Morgan in a television show, Such Is Life, and appeared in the movie And the Winner Is with Jerry Springer. Yvonne graduated from Kent State University and the University of Akron with degrees in communication. She has been training and performing for the past five years. She lives in Akron with her husband, Nathan. They have two sons, Nicholas and Nelson, and a granddaughter, Nia.


The Crumbs from the Table of Joy Backstage Team
and their Ohio Hometowns
 
Stage Manager - John S. Catlos (of Akron)
 
Dialect and Acting Coach - Katherine Burke (of Kent)
 
Costume Designer - Jasen J. Smith (of Akron)
 
Sound Designer - David Ruggles (of Cuyahoga Falls)
 
Properties Designer - Joel Kirk (of Uniontown)
 
Lighting Designer - Bob Schaefer  (of Cuyahoga Falls)
 
Costume Co-Designer - Suzanne Abernathy (of Akron)
 
Costume Co-Designer - Jasen J. Smith (of Akron)
 
Scenic Designer and Technical Director - Alan Scott Ferrall (of Cuyahoga Falls)
 
Assistant Technical Director - Kathy Kohl (of Akron)
 
Ticket and Performance Information
 
Crumbs from the Table of Joy plays in Weathervane Playhouse's John L. Dietz Theater between Jan. 13 and 29, 2011. (The Dietz Theater is Weathervane Playhouse's intimate, 50-seat "second stage" within its Weathervane Lane facility.)
 
The preview performance is Thursday, Jan. 13 at 7:30 p.m.; the official opening-night performance is Friday, Jan. 14 at 8 p.m. 
 
Between Jan. 13 and 29, 2011, performance days and times are Thursdays at 7:30 p.m., Fridays and Saturdays at 8 p.m. and Sundays at 2:30 p.m. with one Saturday matinee at 2:30 p.m. on Jan. 29 only.
 
Tickets for all performances of the play are $18 each. The 50-seat Dietz Theater features general-admission seating only.
 
Crumbs from the Table of Joy is recommended for ages 13 and older. For tickets, call the Weathervane Box Office at (330) 836-2626 or connect online to www.weathervaneplayhouse.com.
 
About the Play and the Playwright
 
About the Play's Production History
 
Crumbs from the Table of Joy received its world premiere at Second Stage Theatre in New York City, where it opened on May 9, 1995 and played through July 1, 1995. It was directed by Joe Morton. The show received its West Coast premiere at South Coast Repertory in Costa Mesa, California, in a production that opened Sept. 17, 1996, under the direction of Seret Scott. Since then, Crumbs from the Table of Joy has been staged by dozens of regional theaters as well as many colleges and amateur-theater organizations.
 
About the Playwright
 
LYNN NOTTAGE was born in Brooklyn, New York, in 1964. She began writing plays as a child and furthered her education by attending Fiorello H. LaGuardia High School of Music & Art and Performing Arts in Harlem, from which she graduated in 1982. She spent her undergraduate years at Brown University, graduating with a bachelor's degree in 1986, and went on to earn an M.F.A. in playwriting in 1989 from the Yale School of Drama. Her first job after completing her pursuit of higher education was in the press office of Amnesty International, where she worked for nearly four years. After her stint with the human-rights organization, Nottage then turned to playwriting as a full-time pursuit. In addition to Crumbs from the Table of Joy, her plays include Poof; Mud, River, Stone; Por'Knockers; Las Meninas; Intimate Apparel (which Weathervane Playhouse staged in 2009); and Fabulation, or the Re-Education of Undine. In 2009, she received the Pulitzer Prize for Drama for her play Ruined, which examines the impact of the crimes of rape and violence against women in the civil war-torn Democratic Republic of Congo in central Africa. Among her other awards, she received a Guggenheim Fellowship in 2005, the National Black Theatre Festival's August Wilson Playwriting Award, the 2004 PEN/Laura Pels Award for Drama and a MacArthur Fellowship (commonly known as a "Genius Award") in 2007. Her next play - By the Way, Meet Vera Stark - will receive its world premiere at Second Stage Theatre in New York City in April.
 
* * *
 
Weathervane Playhouse and its dedicated volunteers offer vital performing arts resources for the people of Northeastern Ohio. We create exciting and thought-provoking shows with impressive production values. Through educational programs and volunteer opportunities for people of all ages and backgrounds, Weathervane serves the theater community, our patrons and our volunteers.
 
The Ohio Arts Council helped fund this program with state tax dollars to encourage economic growth, education excellence and cultural enrichment for all Ohioans.
 
Additional 2010-2011 season sponsors
89.7 WSKU-FM
The Goodyear Tire and Rubber Company
OMNOVA Solutions Foundation
Sisler McFawn Foundation
Akron Community Foundation
Kenneth L. Calhoun Charitable Trust
The Margaret Clark Morgan Foundation
Mary S. and David C. Corbin Foundation
Janis Harcar
Director of Advancement
Weathervane Playhouse
330-836-2323 X16
www.weathervaneplayhouse.com
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://lists.neohiopal.org/pipermail/neohiopal-neohiopal.org/attachments/20101229/359f22b7/attachment-0003.htm>