SEASCAPE Opens at TheatreWorks New Milford, 5/3

On Friday, May 3, TheatreWorks New Milford will debut legendary playwright Edward Albee's Pulitzer Prize-winning comedy-drama, SEASCAPE. The curtain goes up at 8:00 p.m. for a four week-run.

In SEASCAPE, on a deserted beach, a couple talks idly about home, family, and their life together as they near retirement. Then, suddenly, they are joined by two sea creatures who have risked leaving the ocean depths to come ashore. Initial fears and suspicions are soon replaced by curiosity. Before long, the humans and the creatures are engaged in a funny, fascinating dialogue. As the creatures face the terrifying prospect of life ashore, the humans are forced to contemplate their own emotional and mortal realities. Albee's play is filled with warmth, humor, poetic eloquence, along with emotional and intellectual reverberations that will linger in the heart and mind long after the play has ended.

"SEASCAPE focuses on the longevity of relationships, the sum of one's life, and the sunrise of others," said director Chesley Plemmons of Sherman. "At one point in the play, the character Nancy says to her husband Charlie: 'we've done all we ought to - and isn't it splendid we've enjoyed so much of it.' I hope this play will reconfirm to audiences that sometimes tenuous, but essential philosophy."

"SEASCAPE is not strictly a drama. It also has lots of elements of comedy, fantasy, and satire," said co-producer Richard Pettibone of New Milford. "The fact that [playwright Edward] Albee has two human-sized walking, talking, lizard-creatures rising from the sea is proof of that. And it's here that, among many other themes, Albee suggests that the way animals adapt to change is really not that much different from how humans do it. We can all learn from each other. It's an allegory that's unusual, miraculous, and completely life-affirming."

The production features four of the region's finest actors: Noel Desiato (Sherman), J. Scott Williams (Brookfield), James Hipp (Danbury), and Desirae Carle (New Milford).

Besides Plemmons and Pettibone, the play's production team consists of co-producer Glenn R. Couture, costumer Lesley Neilson-Bowman, creature constructor Mary Hildebrand Nagler, lighting design by Scott Wyshynski and Pettibone, set design by Pettibone and Couture, and stage management by Kristi Petersen Schoonover.

SEASCAPE made its Broadway Debut at the Shubert Theatre on January 26, 1975 and went on to win the Pulitzer Prize for Drama. New York Newsday said of the play, "Not only does this brilliantly original play stimulate you, it also entertains you."

SEASCAPE runs May 3,4 10,11 17,18,19 24,25. Curtain time is 8:00 p.m. Fridays & Saturdays, with a 2:00 p.m. Sunday matinee on May 19. Tickets for all shows are $23 for reserved seating.

On Thursday, May 2, senior citizens are invited to a free dress rehearsal at 8:00 p.m. Thursday, May 9 at 8:00 p.m. is TheatreWorks' Pay-What-You-Want night. At this performance, you name the price for your ticket.

Reservations can be made online at WWW.THEATREWORKS.US or by calling the box office at (860) 350-6863.

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