BRIGHTON BEACH MEMOIRS Set for Canton Town Hall, Beg. Tonight

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, which is being produced by Farmington Valley Stage Company this February. 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 focuses, thru the eyes of its narrator, 15-year old Eugene Morris Jerome (Ian Galligan), writer-to-be and alternately perplexed and perceptive observer and guide, on life with the Jerome family. 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 (Dawn Maselli) and Jack (Roy Donnelly), and his brother Stanley (Ian Kaminski) have shared their home for the last three years with Kate's sister Blanche (Virginia Wolf) and her two daughters Nora (Emily Nyerick) and Laurie (McKari Dauch) 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 or 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 Bloomfield's Chris Bushey, BRIGHTON BEACH MEMOIRS will be performed tonight, February 7, 8, 14, 15, 21 & 22 at 8:00pm, and February 9 & 16 at 2:00pm, at the Canton Town Hall (4 Market Street, Collinsville, CT). Tickets are $25, and may be purchased online at www.FVStage.org.

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