Beck Center For The Arts Produces Political Thriller Cat's-Paw FINAL WEEKEND Theater Reviewer Howard Gollop wrote, "It's particularly important that a play receives the kind of solid professionalism offered by Beck Center. The audience is placed squarely into the beating heart of this terrifying ambience, assiduously rendered by designer Cheri Prough DeVol. With dynamic performances by Chris Richards as the overwrought but stoic head terrorist, Lara Mielcarek as the strategizing TV reporter, Michael Dempsey as the confused sycophantic head of the EPA and Grace Favarro as the head terrorist's cultish henchman/girlfriend, the production captures the audience in the immediacy of the moment." Get your tickets at beckcenter.org<https://www.beckcenter.org/shows/catspaw> Beck Center for the Arts<http://www.beckcenter.org/> is pleased to produce masterful political thriller, Cat's-Paw as the opener to the historic 90th season in the intimate Studio Theater. The 90th season will start in the same space the Lakewood Little Theatre began years ago. Written by award-winning playwright William Mastrosimone <https://www.concordtheatricals.com/a/1890/william-mastrosimone> , and directed by Beck Center alum and NYC professional William Roudebush<https://williamroudebush.com/about.html>, this play will have patrons on the very edge of their theater seats during the run now until October 22, 2023. In this tight drama, with intel reminiscent a Tom Clancy novel, an unusual terrorist (who is brilliant....and oh, so correct) is the head of a group responsible for a bomb attack at the White House. When a reporter asks if he feels any guilt about the death of innocent people, he replies that hundreds of innocent people die every hour because of what Mankind is doing to its water supply and do the people responsible feel guilt for this? The cat-and mouse-game between the young reporter and the terrorist leads to a shocking conclusion. Playwright William Mastrosimone, winner of a Los Angeles Drama Critics' Circle Award in 1982, the John Gassner Award from Outer Critics' Circle, and two Daytime Emmy Awards in 2003, stated, "In the early 80s I was shocked by the questionable methods of some activists who called themselves environmentalists. At a protest in the Northwest, so-called environmentalists drove 12 inch nails in trees scheduled to be felled so that a logger's chainsaw would be snagged and the logger injured. That nasty tactic cost a man his arm. A good cause was vitiated. When a car bomb exploded by mistake under misguided activists in California, I saw a clear demarcation between passionate activism and criminality. That was the inspiration for the play. The ends never justify the means- or do they?" Director Bill Roudebush stated, "Cat's-Paw, written in 1984, is a play conceived forty years ahead of its time. We weren't listening back then. Today, even with the most recent events in Flint, Michigan, and East Palestine, Ohio, surrounding our consciousness, so many are still denying the reality of pumping poisons into our environment. This play, unnoticed in its own time, predicts, in a most dramatic and entertaining manner, our present dilemma, as well as the toxic politics, threats and media that engulf and amplify our continued lack of action to address the problems we still continue to ignore...Of course I want to direct one of the most impactful plays I have ever read!!" Cast includes local talents, Chris Richards<https://www.imdb.com/name/nm8971392/bio/> (member of Actors' Equity Association) playing Victor, and Lara Mielcarek (also a member of Actors' Equity Association) whom many saw in Meteor Shower at Beck Center, plays Jessica. Youngstown performer, Michael Dempsey<https://www.linkedin.com/in/demzer/> will play David Darling, and Baldwin Wallace alum Grace Favaro<https://www.imdb.com/name/nm10656531/> will play Cathy. Presented through special arrangement with Concord Theatricals. Recommended for ages 16 and older due to subject matter, onstage violence, and substantial adult language. "Entertaining, informative, thoughtful and scary." - The Weekly, Seattle Individual tickets may be purchased at beckcenter.org<https://www.beckcenter.org/shows/catspaw> with ticket prices from $38 (adults), $34 (for seniors 65 and older) and $17 for high school and college students with valid ID. A $3 service fee per single ticket will be applied at time of purchase. Patrons who use promo code FELINE by September 20, 2023 save $5 off adult and senior theater tickets. Curtain times are 7:30 p.m. Fridays and Saturdays and 2:30 p.m. Sundays. Preview performances are at 7:30 p.m. the Thursday before opening night, with general-admission seating for $10. $10 Smart Seats(r) are available for each performance. For more information on the 2023-2024 Professional Theater Season please visit beckcenter.org<https://www.beckcenter.org/professional-theater>. To purchase a subscription for season tickets please call 216-521-2540. Season ticket packages run $120 to $168. Flex passes run $120 to $336. All performances are at theaters inside Beck Center for the Arts<http://www.beckcenter.org/> located at 17801 Detroit Avenue in Lakewood, just ten minutes west of downtown Cleveland. Free onsite parking is available. For more information visit beckcenter.org<http://www.beckcenter.org/>. Beck Center for the Arts is proud to be a part of Northeast Ohio's professional theater landscape, operating under a letter of agreement with Actors' Equity Association. We are a Small Professional Theater (SPT) based on the number of seats, number of our performances, and the maximum weekly hours of work we provide to actors. We produce every show on our stages, by choosing the play, casting and rehearsing it, building the sets, props, and costumes, directing and performing the live music, and designing lights and sound. We proudly utilize regional resources and talent. Beck Center for the Arts also offers arts education for all ages, all skill levels, and all abilities with classes and lessons in music, dance, visual arts, and theater, as well as creative arts therapies. Financial assistance is offered to qualified applicants so that these programs can be enjoyed by all.