Banyan Theater Company Announces 13th Season
SARASOTA, FL – The Banyan Theater Company will produce its 13th season of summer entertainment from June 26 to August 24, 2014. “The Price” by Arthur Miller opens the season on June 26 and closes July 13; “The Sty of the Blind Pig,” by Phillip Hayes Dean, runs from July 17 to August 3; and “Collected Stories” by Donald Margulies takes the stage from August 7 to 24.
The Banyan Theater Company performs in the Jane B. Cook Theatre at the FSU Center for the Performing Arts, 5555 N. Tamiami Trail, Sarasota. A three-show subscription costs $70, a two-show package is $52 and single tickets are $28.50. To purchase tickets, visit www.banyantheatercompany.com.
“The Price” by Arthur Miller, June 26-July 13
The Price, which will be directed by Don Walker, is the story of two brothers: one a successful surgeon who walked out on his family demands to pursue personal success, the other a policeman who sacrificed his education and career as a scientist to care for his invalid father. The brothers harbor a lifetime of jealousy and anger toward each other. They reunite after an estrangement of 16 years to dispose of their deceased father’s belongings. The furniture, which is highly desired by a comic 89-year-old antiques dealer, comes to represent the brothers’ past and provide the occasion for them to confront their feelings about each other, their father, the family and their own lives. The Price was produced by Banyan in 2003 to great public response.
2:00 pm June 28, 29; July 5, 6, 12, 13
8:00 pm June 26, 27, 28; July 2, 3, 5, 9, 10, 11, 12
“The Sty of the Blind Pig” by Phillip Hayes Dean, July 17-August 3
The place is Chicago’s south side and the time the 1950s, just before the civil rights movement began to burgeon. Alberta, unmarried and in her 30s, shares an apartment with her mother Weedy, an old-fashioned black woman who finds solace for her troubles in religion. Their constant visitor is Weedy’s brother, a down-on-his-luck gambling man who is the despair of his straight-laced sister. Blind Jordan, a wandering street singer, shows up at their door searching for a woman he once knew. Alberta offers to help him in his quest, and when they are alone, all the emotional and sexual frustrations struggling within her bursts forth. Out of the unsettling nature of their encounter comes estrangement between mother and daughter, which subsides to an uneasy truce when Blind Jordan departs – leaving behind a disturbing awareness of much that has been lost or changed, and of much greater change still to come. The Sty of the Blind Pig, which will be directed by Jim Wise, won the Drama Desk Award when first produced in 1971.
2:00 pm July 19, 20, 26, 27; August 2, 3
8:00 pm July 17, 18, 19, 23, 24, 25, 26, 30, 31; August 1, 2
“Collected Stories” by Donald Margulies, August 7-August 24
Ruth Steiner is a celebrated writer having burst on to the literary scene with a book of short stories when she was in her early 20s. Her fame and promise were short lived as she quickly faded as a published writer. She has maintained her place in the literary society of New York as a teacher of writing and a nurturer of writing talent. Lisa Morrison is Ruth’s student turned confidante turned competitor – for her first novel, Lisa has cannibalized Ruth’s experiences, most specifically her youthful, shattering affair with the poet Delmore Schwartz. This story will keep you engaged to the surprising conclusion. Howard Millman will direct.
2:00 pm August 9, 10, 16, 17, 23, 24
8:00 pm August 7, 8, 9, 13, 14, 15, 16, 20, 21, 22, 23
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Banyan Theater Company Announces 13th Season; “The Price” by Arthur Miller, “The Sty of the Blind Pig” by Phillip Hayes Dean, “Collected Stories” by Donald Margulies
