FSU/Asolo Conservatory for Actor Training Presents A View from the Bridge; By Arthur Miller, DECEMBER 27 – 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.”

CAST

Eddie………………….……………………..…….………….Wes Tolman

Beatrice…………..…………..………..……………..Amber Lageman

Catherine………………..…………………………..…..……Amy Helms

Alfieri……….……………………….…………………..Andrew Bosworth

Marco…………………………..………………..…Aleksandr Krapivkin

Rodolpho………………………………….………..………Dustin Babin

Louis / 2nd Immigration Officer………….…….…………Dylan Crow

Mike / Submarine……………………………..………Matthew Kresch

Tony / Submarine…………………….…….………Andrew Hardaway

1st Immigration Officer………………….……………Lawrence James

ABOUT THE DIRECTOR

ANDREI MALAEV-BABEL (Director) is the Head of Acting at the FSU/Asolo Conservatory. He co-founded and served as an Artistic Director for the Chamber Forms Theatre (Moscow, Russia) and the Stanislavsky Theater Studio (Washington, DC.). He is on the board of the Michael Chekhov Association in NYC, and on the advisory board of Stanislavski Centre (UK). Andrei’s performances have been presented by the United Nations, the World Bank, the Kennedy Center and the National Theatre (Washington, DC). He enjoyed engagements at prestigious national institutions, such as the Smithsonian, The Kennan Institute of The Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars and Stanford University. Andrei is also in demand internationally, conducting workshops, presenting and performing at venues, such as St. Petersburg Institute of Stage Arts (Russia), The Latin American Film Institute (São Paulo, Brazil), The Giorgio Cini Foundation (Venice, Italy) and The Odessa Philharmonic (Ukraine). Andrei was nominated for a Helen Hayes Award as an Outstanding Director for his production of Dostoyevsky’s The Idiot. His film documentary Finding Babel received recognition within the international festival circuit, including the first prize of the Moscow Jewish Film Festival, and it is currently enjoying its theatrical release in the US, to critical acclaim. His two groundbreaking volumes on the Russian theatrical innovator Yevgeny Vakhtangov recently came out from Routledge. He has co-edited and co-translated an English-language release of Nikolai Demidov’s theatrical heritage, also published by Routledge, in the summer of 2016. Andrei is a graduate of the renowned Vakhtangov Theatre Institute in Moscow, Russia, where he worked and trained with Alexandra Remizova – one of Russia’s leading directors, Stanislavsky’s student and Vakhtangov’s protégée.

ABOUT THE CONSERVATORY

The FSU/Asolo Conservatory for Actor Training is a celebrated three-year graduate program culminating in a master of fine arts degree. For more than 35 years, tens of thousands of actors from across the continent have auditioned for admission. A maximum of 12 students are admitted each year. In their second year, the students perform in the Cook Theatre, a 161-seat space designed to create an intimate experience for the audience and actors. Third-year students are seen on the Mertz Stage working with the Asolo Rep’s professional actors in exciting and significant roles.

For more information, visit http://www.asolorep.org/conservatory/welcome.

TICKETS

Tickets for A VIEW FROM THE BRIDGE are on sale now at $28 for matinee performances and $29 for evening performances. To purchase tickets, call 941.351.8000 or 800.361.8388, visit www.asolorep.org, or visit the Asolo Repertory Theatre Box Office, located at 5555 North Tamiami Trail in the FSU Center for the Performing Arts. Box Office hours are Monday 10am–5pm, Tuesday–Thursday 10am–7:30pm, Friday–Saturday 10am–8pm, and Sunday 10am–2pm. The box office closes at 5pm when there are no evening performances, and phone lines close one hour prior to the start of any performance.