OTHER DESERT CITIES Begins Tonight at Chenango River Theatre

When Other Desert Cities closed on Broadway in June 2013, it had been showered with high praise for showcasing its creator's talents: a seven-month stint at Lincoln Center (following a transfer from off-Broadway), five Tony Award nominations, a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize and winner of the Outer Critics Circle Award for Outstanding New Play.

This searing drama, with banter that dazzles, was described by the New York Times as "one of the most satisfying grown-up plays of the decade."

If you were a fan of the hit TV series Brothers and Sisters, you should love Other Desert Cities. Jon Robin Baitz was the principal writer for that TV show and is the author of this play, and also wrote The Slap, another highly praised TV series from last year.

Other Desert Cities tells the story of the fictional Wyeth family - a clan led at the top by a mother and father highly regarded in old Hollywood circles and admired by Republicans for their service to and friendship with Ronald and Nancy Reagan in their heyday. The play ultimately reveals a dark secret with a potential to destroy both the family and their reputation.

Family drama is well-traversed territory, but Baitz has laced the story with humor and wit, as well as political commentary, sharp dialogue and an affecting premise: the grown daughter, Brooke, a writer who has suffered a nervous breakdown, has just written a memoir about her life, her parents and their role in the tragic loss of her brother. But she has not told her parents of her plans to publish the memoir. Now, at Christmas (the play is set in 2004 while the Iraq War is underway), while on her first visit back home in 6 years, Brooke must find a way to ask their blessing for what would be an explosive memoir that would open old wounds for her parents.

Among many other questions raised in the play, Baitz asks whether Brooke has a greater obligation to her family (who saved her during her darkest moments) or to the truth and to her work as a writer.

The show features a stellar cast of some of the best Binghamton area actors: Heidi Weeks, Michael Arcesi and DoriMay Ganisin - plus Roxanne Fay from Florida and Dan Mian from NYC (who just played Remnar in the big hit Escanaba in da Moonlight). Directing the show is Artistic Director Bill Lelbach, who also directed Escanaba.

Empire Toyota of Oneonta sponsors Chenango River Theatre's 2015 season, which is also made possible in part by the New York State Council on the Arts with the support of Governor Andrew Cuomo and the New York State Legislature. Other Desert Cities is co-produced by Davidson Fox & Co. and pressconnects.com.

Performances run tonight, September 25 - October 11, Thursday through Saturday at 7:30 p.m., plus Sunday matinees at 2 pm. Tickets can now be purchased online at www.chenangorivertheatre.org, or by email to: tickets@chenangorivertheatre.org. You can also make reservations 24 hours a day by voice mail at 607-656-8499.

Individual tickets are $22 Thursday, $23 Friday, $25 Saturday and $23 Sunday. All performances start on time - late seating is not available. The 24-Hour Reservation Line is 607-656-8499 (TIXX). All charge cards accepted.

Chenango River is just 15 minutes north of Binghamton at 991 State Highway 12, Greene, NY. CRT is the greater Binghamton area's only theatre company featuring professional actors in every production - the same actors you see on television, in film and at major theatres across the country.

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