The Fine Arts Center Theatre Company will open its 2009-2010 season with Broadway Bound, the third and final play in the Neil Simon autobiographical trilogy. The FAC Theatre Company has opened the past two seasons with Brighton Beach Memoirs and Biloxi Blues.
Broadway Bound will open Oct. 9 and run for three weekends through Oct. 25.
The FAC Theatre Company mounts this final installment of the “Eugene Trilogy” just as two of the plays are being prepared for a Broadway revival. Both Brighton Beach and Broadway Bound will open in November in New York City and will be performed in repertory.
The play is set in the late 1940s in Brighton Beach, N.Y. Eugene Morris Jerome, and his older brother Stanley, have started their careers as professional comedy writers. But when the brothers use their home life in Brighton Beach as inspiration for a radio comedy skit, the Jerome family may never be the same. While the brothers did find the success that ultimately launches their careers in New York City as television comedy writers, they also have to deal with the break up of their family.
Marco Robinson, a 2009 Pine Creek High School graduate currently attending Pikes Peak Community College, reprises the role of Eugene one more time after playing the lead character in the first two plays. The Gazette called Robinson a “phenomenon” for his performance in Brighton Beach, adding, “Robinson plays it as though he's been Eugene his entire life, irritatingly smart and smart-alecky yet overflowing with pubescent anxiety.”
In fact, the original cast from Brighton Beach will be reunited for Broadway Bound, including Steve Emily (Jack), Amy Brooks (Kate), Jane Fromme (Blanche), and Marco’s brother, Oscar Robinson (Stanley).
The one addition is Broadway veteran
Louis Schaefer, who plays Kate’s father,
Ben Jerome. Schaefer earned a 2008 Denver Post Ovation Award nomination for his work in the Arvada Center's "Of Mice and Men." He has appeared in several productions at the Denver Center Theatre Company.
Broadway Bound is directed by
Alan Osburn, the Producing Artistic Director of the FAC Theatre Company. Osburn has worked as a producer, director, teacher, and actor for over 30 years. His acting credits include being seen both on Broadway and in the National Touring Companies of Les Misérables as Inspector Javert. At the FAC, he directed Anything Goes, Brighton Beach Memoirs, Biloxi Blues, The Full Monty and Into the Woods, nominated for the Best Musical Ovation Award by the Denver Post.
“Each installment in the trilogy stands alone as a great play,” said Osburn. “If this is your first taste of the Jeromes of Brighton Beach, you will not miss a thing. However, if you are familiar with the other two plays, you can’t help but recall the 14-year-old boy banging a baseball on the neighbor’s fence or the young soldier who was responsible for making his entire company go on a 20-mile hike at midnight.”
More information concerning tickets sales for individuals or groups, and the Curtain Call Society can be found at csfineartscenter.org or by calling the FAC Box Office at 719.634.5583.
Broadway Bound is sponsored by the El Pomar Foundation (FAC Annual Sponsor) and the Gay and Lesbian Fund for Colorado.
FAC Theatre Company Season
Broadway Bound | Oct. 9-25
A Christmas Survival Guide | Nov. 27 – Dec. 23
Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street | Jan. 22 – Feb. 14
All My Sons | March 19 – April 4
Crazy for You | May 7 - 30
