Hudson Theatre Ensemble Presents Tony Winning LAST NIGHT OF BALLYHOO, Opens 4/8

The award-winning Hudson Theatre Ensemble presents "The Last Night of Ballyhoo," the wildly popular, humorous, and poignant examination of Southern Jewish culture that won the Tony Award for Best Play by Alfred Uhry (winner of the Pulitzer Prize for his hugely successful "Driving Miss Daisy").

The year is 1939 and the place is Atlanta, where the film "Gone with the Wind" is having its premiere, while Hitler has begun his rampages in Europe. The well-to-do Freitag and Levy families are part of an ingrained culture so assimilated they barely know what being Jewish is, other than to chafe at the bigotry of the gentiles who keep them from mixing in the South's highest society. So they create their own, the annual Ballyhoo cotillion at their exclusive country club in turn manifesting their own anti-Semitism because they have found a group against which they themselves can discriminate - "the other kind" - a code phrase meaning Jews of Eastern European extraction, more recently arrived, more religious, and more obviously ethnic. But when a handsome stranger from Brooklyn, New York arrives, comic drama, sweet romance and unexpected turns lie just around the corner. So to learn a little about the nature of prejudice and the power of love to conquer it, get thee to this heartwarming, yet stirring and intelligent romantic-comedy-drama. "The Last Night of Ballyhoo" proves that a play can cause us to think and explore profound themes while also making us laugh often and laugh heartily.

Location & Directions:
Hudson School Performance Space 601 Park Avenue (6th & Park) Hoboken, NJ 07030
http://www.hudsontheatreensemble.com/directions.html
Our beautiful ground-floor theater is completely barrier-free & accessible to persons with disabilities.

Tickets & Reservations:
$18 General Admission; $15 Seniors/Students
Info/Reservations: 201-377-7014 or reservations@hudsontheatreensemble.com

Dates & Times:
Fridays @ 8PM: April 8 & April 15, 2011
Saturdays @ 8PM: April 9 & April 16, 2011
Sunday Matinee @ 3PM: April 10, 2011

CAST: Mark Bogdanos, Anneli Curnock, D. A. Gravel, Lauren Hayden, Florence Pape,
Ross Weinberg, Steve Yates

Production Staff:
Producer/Artistic Director: Diana London
Director of Development/Publicity: Florence Pape
Technical Director: Justin McCormick
Production Manager: Donna Gearhardt Healey
Stage Manager: Alison J. Graeffe
Production Assistants: Sharon Gamboa, Toava Ferdinand
Sound & Light Technician: Alison J. Graeffe
Graphics/Webmaster: Susan Newman Design, Inc.
Photographer: John Crittenden/Show Me Your Faces
Videographer: Fred Pflantzer
House Manager: Alan Welner
Assistant House Manager: Peg Finnerty

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