Pittsburg Theatre Company Presents AH, WILDERNESS! Next Month

Pittsburg Theatre Company presents Ah, Wilderness! by Eugene O'Neill, America's only Nobel Prize winning playwright. This timeless story of love, family and youthful discovery will be performed at the California Theatre from April 21st to April 30th.

Although Eugene O'Neill is best known for his many tragic plays, Ah, Wilderness! is a refreshing and humorous view of life as it might have been. Set in 1906 Connecticut in a town patterned on O'Neill's childhood home, the play follows Richard Miller (played by Elijah Waller), a young man whose values are tested as he searches for truth and love. Richard's character is an anti-type of O'Neill's own youth. Where O'Neill's experience with absent and addicted parents led to a life of pain, Richard maintains love and loyalty with the help of a caring and understanding family. Eugene O'Neill said of the play, "That's the way I would have liked my boyhood to have been. It was a sort of wishing out loud."

Director Michael Wilson says, "Ah, Wilderness! is a beautiful and timeless play that recalls the struggle of every young person to reconcile childhood values with new ideas from the world. It's about growing up, falling in love, and discovering who you are and who you choose to be. Though it is set in a particular time and place, the themes are common to all people. We must all decide how our family values (good or bad) and experience of the world will affect who we will become."

The cast includes talented local actors Gregory Brown (Nat Miller), Gwendolyn Sampson Brown (Essie Miller), David Ghilardi (Sid), Maya Rath (Lily), Ava Duran (Belle), Josie Rapolas (Muriel), Robert Marcus (David/Salesman), Makayla Rhine (Mildred), Jordan Ramey (Arthur), Simon Rapolas (Tommy), Jordan Pauline (Norah), Alex Schepers (Wint), and John Wilson (Bartender). The production also features period costumes by Florenda Buchanan.