News Releases
News from Student Productions Association at Lane Community College
For release September 8, 2011
LCC Student Productions opens "Brighton Beach Memoirs" Sept. 30
EUGENE, Or - The Lane Community College Student Productions Association opens Neil Simon's "Brighton Beach Memoirs" on Friday, September 30 in the Ragozzino Performance Hall, building 6, main campus, 4000 E. 30th Avenue, Eugene.
Show dates are Friday, September 30 at 7:30 p.m., Saturday, October 1 at 7:30 p.m., Thursday, October 6 at 7:30 p.m., Friday, October 7 at 7:30 p.m., Saturday, October 8 at 7:30 p.m., Sunday matinee October 9 at 2:00 p.m., Thursday, October 13 at 7:30 p.m., Thursday, October 14 at 7:30 p.m., and Saturday October 15 at 7:30 p.m.
Tickets are $12 general admission, or $10 for seniors, staff and students. For ticket information call (541) 463-5761 or purchase online at 2011sitearchive.lanecc.edu/tickets
Opening on Broadway in 1983 to rave reviews, "Brighton Beach Memoirs" is considered by some to be Neil Simon's finest work. Originally directed by Gene Saks in 1983, it received two Tony Awards for best performance by a featured actor in a play, given to Matthew Broderick for his portrayal of the title character Eugene, and the Tony Award for best direction of a play.
The first part of Simon's semi-autobiographical "Eugene" trilogy, it is a portrait of the writer as a young teen in 1937 living with his family in a crowded, lower middle-class Brooklyn walk-up. Dreaming of baseball and girls, Eugene must cope with the mundane existence of his family life including a formidable mother, overworked father, and a worldly older brother, Stanley. Throw into the mix his widowed aunt Blanche and her two young (but rapidly aging) daughters and Grandpa the Socialist and you have a recipe for hilarity, served up Simon-style. This bittersweet memoir captures the life of a struggling Jewish household where, as his father states, "If you didn't have a problem, you wouldn't be living here."
SPA Director Chris Pinto has cast Paul Rhoden as Jack, Elizabeth Peterson as Kate, Johnny Rogers as Stanley, Joseph Tanner Paul as Eugene, Darlene Morton as Blanche, Kate Kimball as Nora and Sarah Glidden as Laurie.
Student Productions Association, a non-profit organization, provides a unique opportunity for theatre students at Lane Community College to work as part of a legitimate theatre company. Students have an opportunity to learn all aspects of running a theatre, providing them with valuable tools that will serve them well in life and prepare them to pursue a career in professional theatre.
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Contacts: Joseph Tanner Paul (541) 913-4733 jtannerpaul@gmail.com
Matthew Woodward (541) 912-8465 mateotothemax@yahoo.com
Media contact: Joan Aschim, PIO, aschimj@lanecc.edu
