An elderly couple losing their mental faculties cause their adult children to lose their minds in the Actors' NET of Bucks County encore production of Joe Doyle's comic drama, The Last Days of the Dinosaurs.
Performing Feb. 27 to March 15 at the Heritage Center in Morrisville, the work by Doyle, the nonprofit theatre company's co-founder and playwright in residence, premiered at The NET in 2001 and has been brought back at the urging of patrons who missed it the first time around.
"Some of our long-time regulars told newer ones about my play," Doyle explained. "With so many baby boomers now in situations similar to the ones in my script, we decided it was time to return this show. Bleak as the subject matter is -- deteriorating mental faculties -- it actually has a lot of comic elements to it. While inspired by events in my family, it is a work of fiction. In fact, the play's resolution is not the way it actually resolved, but it was one of the fears that lurked in the back of my mind.
"My parents were self-sufficient well into their eighties," Doyle recalled, "and then it all started falling apart. My mother was in the early stages of Alzheimer's disease, my father had lost his short-term memory after a series of small strokes. Mom couldn't remember what she'd just said. Dad couldn't remember what he'd just heard. Their conversations sounded like classic Abbott and Costello routines! Adding to our angst was the fact that my brother, sister and I really didn't get along. Putting it all together, I knew I had a script that could put the ‘fun' in ‘dysfunctional.'"
Doyle directs NET veterans Virginia Barrie of Ewing, NJ and Marco Newton of Yardley as the elderly parents clinging to their home and houseful of cats. Newton repeats the role he created in the original production. Costarring as the feuding grown children are C. Jameson Bradley of Quakertown, Kyla Marie Mostello of Levittown and Chuck Donnelly of Levittown. Stacy Ann Danka of Allentown, NJ is featured as a visiting healthcare worker.
The Last Days of the Dinosaurs runs Feb. 27 to March 15 at the Heritage Center,
635 N. Delmorr Avenue (Route 32), Morrisville, PA - near the Calhoun Street Bridge.
Show times are Fridays and Saturdays at 8 p.m. and Sundays at 6 p.m. Admission is $20 for adults, $17 for seniors (over age 62) and $10 for children under age 13. Due to
mature themes and mild adult language, The NET has rated this production PG-13. To reserve, call 215-295-3694 or email actorsnet@aol.com
Tickets may be pre-purchased on-line with credit card at www.brownpapertickets.com - at site, search for "actorsnet."
Virginia Barrie, Marco Newton, and Jamie Bradley
Chuck Donnelly, Kyla Marie Mostello, and Virginia Barrie
Jamie Bradley and Marco Newton of Yardley
Chuck Donnelly, Jamie Bradley, and Kyla Marie Mostello
