Tamara Flannagan in 'The Syringa Tree'

NAPLES-BASED THE NEIGHBORHOOD THEATRE COMPANY MAKES EAST COAST DEBUT WITH "THE SYRINGA TREE"

Company formed by FAU alums brings Obie Award-winning drama to the Rose and Alfred Miniaci Performing Arts Center

The Neighborhood Theatre Company is making its Southeast Florida debut with its acclaimed production of The Syringa Tree from Thursday, January 4 - Saturday, February 3. Tamara Flannagan reprises her tour-de-force performance in the one-woman show playing 24 characters in a breathtakingly beautiful tale of love and loyalty in South Africa in the 1960s.

Naples-based The Neighborhood Theatre Company makes its Southeast Florida debut with its acclaimed production of the Obie Award-winning drama The Syringa Tree. The play examines the bonds of love and loyalty as two families, black and white, who attempt to raise daughters in1960s South Africa as the country is griped by apartheid. Performances are Thursday, January 4 - Saturday, February 3 at the Rose and Alfred Miniaci Performing Arts Center, located at the Nova Southeastern University campus, 3100 Ray Ferrero Jr. Boulevard, Davie. Tickets range from $32.50 - $37.50 with $20 tickets available for students who show I.D. Tickets and group discounts are available at 954/462-0222 or select your seat on-line at www.browardevents.com and at the theater an hour and a half prior to each performance. 

A winner of Off-Broadway's major award for best drama, the play examines the abiding love between a white family and the black family which cares for them as members of the household staff. Each family has a daughter in the shared household who attempt to grow up together as the nation begins to fall apart in the grip of apartheid.

The company's original production in Naples had three separate sold out runs in what the Naples Daily News called a stunning triumph. Nancy Stetson of the paper wrote, "Audience members, myself included, left the performance with tear-stained cheeks, stunned and amazed. This production of The Syringa Tree is superlative acting, and a theatrical experience well worth seeking out."

A Fort Lauderdale native, Flannagan attended Broward Community College and received her bachelor's degree in fine arts from FAU. She and her husband, Neighborhood Theatre artistic director and the play's director Steven Ditmyer, divide their time between Naples and New York City where Ditmyer is the director of the Off the Page reading series for Tony Randall's National Actors Theatre and the founding director of the ATrainPlays. 

The couple is joined in The Neighborhood Theatre Company by Executive Producer Domenic Costantini and wife, Michelle. Both actors, the couple performed in numerous Off-Broadway productions before relocating to Naples and founding the company.

Performances begin Thursday, January 4 and continue through Saturday, February 3 with performance times of Thursday and Friday at 8 p.m., Saturday at 3 and 8 p.m. and Sunday at 3 p.m. There will be Wednesday matinee performances on January 24 and 31 at 3 p.m. There will be no Sunday matinee on January 28.

The Rose and Alfred Miniaci Performing Arts Center is located at the Nova Southeastern University campus, 3100 Ray Ferrero Jr. Boulevard in Davie.

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