Prince George's Little Theatre Set to Present LOST IN YONKERS

Prince George's Little Theatre will produce Neil Simon's dramatic comedy "Lost in Yonkers" at the Bowie Playhouse from August 12-27. All Friday performances and Saturday performances August 13 and 20 are at 8 p.m. The Sunday performances August 14 and 21 and the closing performance Saturday August 27 are 2 pm. matinees. The play is directed by Ken Kienas and produced by Malia Murray.

Set in Yonkers, New York, in 1942, the play shows a pivotal ten months in the lives of two wryly observant adolescent brothers, Jay (Jeremy Crawford) and Artie (Andrew Sharpe) when they are sent to live with their grandmother while their father works as a travelling salesman to earn the money he owes for their late mother's medical bills.

The domineering Grandma Kurnitz (Leah Mazade) is stern and forbidding, and each of her four children has paid the price. Eddie, the boys' father (Steve Feder) is a bit of a n'er do-well who has a loan shark on his heels, but he loves his sons and writes to them about his life on the road. Aunt Bella (Mary Rogers), who still lives with her mother at 35, has a child-like mentality but she longs for marriage and children of her own and is loving and protective toward the boys. The family is enlarged when Uncle Louie (Brian Binney), a charmingly deceitful bagman for the mob, decides to live with his mother to avoid his henchmen. The final family member is Aunt Gert (Jeanne louise), whose distress at her mother's harshness literally steals her breath away.

As the boys anxiously await rescue, they try to think of how to make money fast so that they can help their father and reunite. Meanwhile, the adults protect their secrets and also try to survive.

Despite some darker moments, the play is filled with Simon's trademark one-liners and quips. However, the playwright treats his characters with warmth and compassion, so that the comedy is never out of balance with the play's depth of feeling.

"Lost in Yonkers" opened on Broadway in 1991, receiving the Tony, Drama Desk, and Critic's Circle Award for best play along with three other Tony Awards for its leading actors. It also was awarded the Pulizer Prize for best drama that year. In 1993 it was made into a film. Many critics consider it Simon's best play, drawing both laughter and tears with its insights into the life of a dysfunctional Jewish family.

All performances take place at the Bowie Playhouse, 16500 White Marsh Park Drive, Bowie, Maryland. Regular-priced tickets ($22 for adults and $17 for students and seniors) can be purchased at www.pglt.org, by calling (301) 937-7458, or at the box office prior to each performance if tickets are remaining. Groups of ten or more can purchase tickets in advance for $15 a ticket. There are directions to The Playhouse and more details on ticket purchases at PGLT's website: www.pglt.org.

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