The FSU/Asolo Conservatory for Actor Training Presents A VIEW FROM THE BRIDGE

The FSU/Asolo Conservatory for Actor Training continues its 2016-17 season with Arthur Miller's multi Tony Award®-winning drama A VIEW FROM THE BRIDGE. An icon of the American theater, Arthur Miller has enriched the world stage with numerous classics including Death of a Salesman, All My Sons, The Crucible, and A Streetcar Named Desire. Directed by FSU/Asolo Conservatory first-year acting professor, Andrei Malaev-Babel, A VIEW FROM THE BRIDGE previews in the Cook Theatre at the FSU Center for Performing Arts on Tuesday, December 27 at 7:30pm with a special "Pay What You Can Performance," officially opens on Wednesday, December 28 at 7:30pm, and runs through Sunday, January 15.

Longshoreman Eddie Carbone preserves a safe home for his sensible wife and charming niece in the heart of the Red Hook district of 1950s Brooklyn. Despite his uneasiness with outsiders, Eddie concedes to his wife's request to smuggle two of her relatives into the country. When romance sparks between one of the young men and Eddie's teenage niece, it kindles a dark jealousy in the uncle that erupts in an explosion of violence and unrestrained passion.

"The landscape of Miller's A VIEW FROM THE BRIDGE is deceiving," said director Andrei Malaev-Babel. "It is seemingly confined to New York City's Red Hook neighborhood. At the time of the play, it was 'a slum that faced the bay, seaward from Brooklyn Bridge' that housed longshoremen and their families. Narrow as it may seem, Miller's landscape unexpectedly opens a new, hidden dimension: the blood that boils in the veins of his 'common men' (Red Hook longshoremen, former Sicilian immigrants) is, apparently, the same blood that ran through the veins of their heroic ancestors. With that juxtaposition revealed, an entirely new dimension begins to emerge through the narrow landscape of Miller's play: 'the Roman rocks of Calabria, Syracusa on the cliff, where Carthaginian and Greek fought such bloody fights.' To capture that entirely different dimension, without losing the actual location of Miller's play, is a formidable task for any acting ensemble."

With eight Tony Awards, two Drama Desk Awards, a Pulitzer Prize, and countless additional nominations to his name, Arthur Miller is one of the greatest revered playwrights of the twentieth century. His work has dominated the Broadway stage with over 35 productions, and each year his plays are performed in theaters all across the globe.

"Arthur Miller is one of the great American Playwrights," said Greg Leaming, Director of the Conservatory. "His plays are a tremendous challenge for any acting ensemble. But this passionate, poetic play is a perfect vehicle in which our second year students can shine. It is great storytelling of huge dramatic depth - I can't imagine a more exciting opportunity for our students or a more thrilling event for our audience."