CCRI Players to Stage TIGERS BE STILL This Spring

When Kim Rosenstock's play TIGERS BE STILL opened with little fanfare Off-Broadway at the Roundabout Underground in September, 2010, one critic described it as "a perfect blend of comedy and drama, as entertaining as it is moving."

This story about four characters, each afflicted by forms and stages of depression, will be presented for the first time in Rhode Island by the Community College of Rhode Island Players.

Performances will be given at the Bobby Hackett Theatre, Knight Campus in Warwick on Thursday, Friday and Saturday, March 3, 4, and 5, at 7:30 P.M., and on Saturday and Sunday, March 5 and 6, at 2 P.M.

TIGERS BE STILL tells the story of five people who, at the outset, appear to be incredibly pathetic.The central character, Sherry, age 24, has finally secured a teaching job after months of looking and a subsequent bout with depression that left her unable to leave her bedroom. Her recent master's degree wasn't getting her anywhere until her mom reached out to an old boyfriend, now a school principal. Steadily and anxiously addressing the audience directly about the developments and circumstances of her life, Sherry tells us she's been immobilized and doesn't have much confidence that she's on the mend. But she's taking steps.

Sherry is surrounded by people with dysfunction more profound than hers. The impending marriage of her older sister has crashed and burned; Grace now leads a semi-comatose existence curled up on the couch, watching and re-watching Top Gun and cozying up with a bottle of Jack Daniels. Their mother has withdrawn to her upstairs bedroom, embarrassed by a significant weight gain and unwilling to be seen even by her daughters - let alone the audience: She phones them to talk. Joseph Moore is the awkward, starchy principal who was Sherry's mom's prom date years earlier who has an ulterior motive for hiring Sherry. His slacker son Zack, age 19, has been having outbursts of anger since his mother's death. Joseph thinks Sherry might help Zack, not realizing his own issues.

That accounts for five depressed characters trying to cope (including the unseen mother). There's one more: a tiger on the loose from the local zoo that has the local citizenry - or at least the junior-high principal and his rifle - on 24-hour alert. But the tiger (another invisible character who shapes the action) is the embodiment of everyone's angst, in need of being stilled. Sherry's story of "how I stopped being a total disaster and got my life on track and did NOT let overwhelming feelings of anxiousness and loneliness and uselessness just like totally eat my brain" is a collection of wholly contemporary characters and events that makes for an entertaining slice of modern life.

The CCRI Players' production of TIGERS BE STILL is directed by Prof. Bert Silverberg. Set design is by Luke J. Sutherland, with costume design by Marilyn Salvatore, lighting design by Tyler Perry, sound design by Kaisey Caputo, and technical direction by Justin C. Carroll. The student cast includes: Chelsea Titchenell of Coventry; Jerry Middlemiss and Nicholas P. Menna of Warwick; and Julia Egan of Cranston. Understudies are Katie Westgate of Rumford, Michael Christian of Warwick; Destinée Mangum of Providence; and Yunus Quddus of Pawtucket. Brayam Renovales of Providence is the Stage Manager, assisted by Kat Brown of West Greenwich.

Tickets are $10.00 for the general public and $8.00 for students and senior citizens. Telephone reservations may be made by calling (401) 825-2219 at any time, or by sending an order by e-mail to CCRIPlayers@aol.com.

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