TENNESSEE & JONES: AMERICAN ORIGINALS

Additional Information

The student productions will enjoy a six-show run during the weekends of November 13-15 and 20-22. Evening performances on Friday and Saturday, Nov. 13-14 and 20-21 will begin at 7:30 p.m. with Sunday matinees on Nov. 15 and 22 set for 3 p.m. There will be a “talk back” with actors and directors immediately following the Nov. 14 performance.

David Cohen directs four one-act plays written by Tennessee Williams. “The Case of the Crushed Petunias,” “In Our Profession,” “The Dark Room” and “Curtains For The Gentleman” range from well-written sketch comedies to thoughtful tales of caution. Williams was a master playwright of the 20th Century and his plays “A Streetcar Named Desire,” “The Glass Menagerie,” and “Cat On A Hot Tin Roof” are considered among the finest of the American stage. At their best, his 25 full-length plays combined lyrical intensity, haunting loneliness and hypnotic violence. He is widely considered the greatest Southern playwright and one of the greatest playwrights in the history of American drama. The casts of all four Williams plays include Christina Polichetti, Jeremy Rudick, Tyler Farnell, Sarah Marren, Marcella Martinez, Joe Colon, Jason Garfinkel, Michelle Conklin, Tavia Dean and John Vidunas.

“Tennessee & Jones: American Originals” also features “Dutchman” by LeRoi Jones (Amiri Baraka), directed by Cabot Parsons. Experimental, allegorical and angry, “Dutchman” is set on a New York City subway train, where Lula, a young white woman, strikes up a conversation with Clay, a young middle-class black man. As the play unspools, her manipulating quickly turns to browbeating as she needles Clay about his supposed complacency over race issues and tries to shock him into violent action. This controversial play was originally produced in 1964. The title “Dutchman” is an allusion to The Dutch East India Company, the most renowned slave ship company of the 17th Century, whose flagship for the voyages between West Africa and America, tradition says, was named Flying Dutchman. The literary legend is The Flying Dutchman in which the central character is ever in pursuit of prey that can never be caught. The cast of “Dutchman” includes Anwar George and Allyson Andryshak.

Ticket prices are $14, general admission; $10, senior citizens, faculty and alumni; $4, students; and free for active duty military personnel. Student tickets are only available at the box office. All other tickets may be purchased online at www.sunyorange.edu (click the events link on the home page and follow to online ticketing).  For Group prices (10 or more) call (845) 341-4790.  There is a $2.50 surcharge for each ticket purchased online. Tickets purchased online may be printed at home or picked up at the box office. The box office opens one hour before curtain time. All children must have a ticket to enter the theatre. Cash, check or credit cards accepted.

For more information, contact the Arts and Communication Department at (845) 341-4790. For updates on all cultural and artistic events at SUNY Orange, visit “The Arts at SUNY Orange” Facebook page at http://www.facebook.com/theartsatsunyorange. Orange Hall Theatre, located in Orange Hall, is universally accessible. Parking is available in the College parking lot at the intersection of Wawayanda and Grandview avenues.