EPAC to Stage Neil Simon's BRIGHTON BEACH MEMOIRS, 6/13-29

Brooklyn, New York, 1937. The head of the Jerome household is ill and out of work. Eighteen-year-old Stan, the eldest of his two teenage sons, has become the family's sole bread winner by default. Eugene, Stan's 15-year-old brother, is preoccupied by two obsessions - playing for the New York Yankees, and seeing a girl naked. Their mom has become a benevolent control freak. To make matters worse, Mom's newly widowed sister, Blanche, moves in with her two daughters, putting additional strain on both the Jeromes' Depression era budget and Eugene's raging hormones.

Welcome to the comically heartwarming hearth of the Broadway and Hollywood hit, Brighton Beach Memoirs, the first play in Neil Simon's famous semi-autobiographical trilogy and winner of the New York Drama Critics Circle Best Play of 1983.

Ephrata Performing Arts Center is staging this coming-of-age classic at the Sharadin Bigler Theatre June 13-29 as a follow-up to Simon's 2011 EPAC hit, Lost in Yonkers.

"As we watch Eugene and his family deal with the Great Depression, we'll be reminded of some similarities to our current Great Recession - family members losing and applying for jobs, for example," said guest director Michael Swanson, director of theater and dance at Elizabethtown College. "But we'll also laugh at Eugene's teenage activities and conflicts with parents and other family members, and be reminded of our own youthful agonies and joys," added Swanson, who previously helmed EPAC's stunning dramatic hit, Equus.

Eugene, the playwright's young alter ego whose colorful asides to the audience shamelessly editorialize the action, will be played by Brian Soutner. Quinn Corcoran portrays Stanley; Robin Payne and Rob Adams are cast as their parents. Cynthia Charles plays Aunt Blanche, with Morgan Konopelski and Olivia Brown as her daughters, Nora and Laurie.

Ally Ortiz is stage manager. Steve Schelling is technical director. Set and lighting design are by S. Benjamin Farrar; sound is by Brett Fahnestock, costumes are by Veronica Craig, and props are by Beth Lewis.

Brighton Beach Memoirs will be performed June 13-29 at the Sharadin Bigler Theatre, 320 Cocalico St., Ephrata, at 7:30 p.m. Wednesday-Thursday, and 8 p.m. Friday-Saturday, with a 2 p.m. pay-what-you-will matinee Saturday, June 29. Tickets are $15-$27.50 online atephrataperformingartscenter.com or by calling (717) 733-7966, Ext. 1.

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