A mother's bitterness colors the lives of her two high school-aged daughters in Paul Zindel's 1971 Pulitzer Prize-winning "The Effect of Gamma Rays on Man-in-the-Moon Marigolds", coming to Catskill's Bridge Street Theatre for eight performances July 6-16. Called "the most compelling work of its kind since Tennessee Williams' 'The Glass Menagerie'", this poignant and lyrical drama will be performed by a cast of five brilliant female actors, led by Bridge Street favorite Roxanne Fay ("Home Fires Burning", "Dream Child", "Upon This Rock") in the role of Beatrice Hunsdorfer.
The original Off-Broadway production of the play opened in April of 1970 and ran for 819 performances, winning not just the Pulitzer, but also the New York Drama Critics' Circle and Obie Awards for Best Play of the Year. A film version was released in 1972, directed by Paul Newman and starring his wife JoAnne Woodward, who won the award for Best Actress at the 1973 Cannes Film Festival for her performance. In the following decade, the play was widely produced internationally, regionally, and in countless college and high school productions. Then it seemed to vanish. "It's a piece I've always loved and one which a great many people of my generation recall with enormous affection," says director Steven Patterson. "But after its heyday, it just seemed to fall off the radar. One of our missions here at Bridge Street is reviving great but unjustly neglected works and we're so excited to be bringing this one back to the stage where it belongs."
Roxanne Fay stars as Beatrice in the Bridge Street Theatre production of The Effect of Gamma Rays on Man-in-the-Moon Marigolds.
Kalia Lay as Ruth and Lindsay Cahill as Tillie
Lindsay Cahill as Tillie and Doris Seipel as Nanny
Alexa Powell as Janice Vickery.
The Effect of Gamma Rays on Man-in-the-Moon Marigolds.
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