The Heights Players To Present Alfred Uhry's THE LAST NIGHT OF BALLYHOO

Alfred Uhry's The Last Night of Ballyhoo will be the first play of The Heights Player's 64th Season with performances October 4-13th at The John Bourne Theatre: 26 Willow Place, Brooklyn, NY.

The second of Uhry's "Atlanta Trilogy," the show takes place in Atlanta, Georgia, in December of 1939. Gone with the Wind is having its world premiere, and Hitler is invading Poland, but Atlanta's elitist German Jews are much more concerned with who is going to Ballyhoo, the social event of the season. Especially concerned is the Freitag family: bachelor Adolph; his widowed sister, Beulah (Boo) Levy; and their also widowed sister-in-law, Reba. Boo is determined to have her dreamy, unpopular daughter, Lala, attend Ballyhoo, believing it will be Lala's last chance to find a socially acceptable husband. Adolph brings his new assistant, Joe Farkas, home for dinner. Joe is Brooklyn born and bred, and furthermore is of Eastern European heritage and several social rungs below the Freitags, in Beulah's opinion. Lala, however, is charmed by Joe and she hints broadly about being taken to Ballyhoo, but he turns her down. This enrages Boo, and matters get worse when Joe falls for Lala's cousin, Reba's daughter, Sunny, home from Wellesley for Christmas vacation. Will Boo succeed in snaring Peachy Weil, a member of one of the finest Jewish families in the South? Will Sunny and Joe avoid the land mines of prejudice that stand in their way? Will Lala ever get to Ballyhoo? The family gets pulled apart and then mended together with plenty of comedy, romance, and revelations along the way. Events take several unexpected turns as the characters face where they come from and are forced to deal with who they really are.

Featured in the cast are Lauren Fanger (Lala), Heather Violanti (Reba), Michelle Maccarone (Boo), Joe Pacifico (Adolph), Joshua Lopez (Joe), Jordyn Morgan (Sunny) and Jordan Yarwood (Peachy). The creative team includes Director Ed Healy, Stage Manager Corrine Contrino, Set Design by Gary VanderPutten, Lighting Design by Leo J. Contrino, Costume Design by James Martinelli, Properties by Jan VanderPutten, and Sound Design by Marc A. Hermann.

Tickets are $20 ($18 for students and seniors) and can be reserved online at hpballyhoo.bpt.me or via phone at 718-237-2752. Performances are at 8pm on October 4,5 11 and 12th with matinees at 2pm on October 6 and 13th. Additional information can be found at heightsplayers.org.