Photo Flash: Taproot Theater Presents BROOKLYN BOY

Taproot Theatre continues its 34th season in March with the regional premiere of Brooklyn Boy by Pulitzer Prize?winning playwright Donald Margulies. As Margulies' newest play receives rave reviews on Broadway, Seattle audiences are in for a treat as his comedic and heartfelt play about middle?aged novelist Eric Weiss comes to the Northwest for the first time. In Brooklyn Boy, Eric finally starts to come of age-a couple decades too late. He's finally made it big with a best seller and
a shot at a Hollywood film, but then an inconvenient phone call brings him back to the Brooklyn neighborhood he grew up in and happily left behind. Witty and deeply touching, this story of growing up, coming home and making sense of it all is sure to warm your heart. Directed by associate artistic director Karen Lund, Brooklyn Boy opens on March 19 and runs through April 17, with low?price previews on March 17 and 18, plus a pay?what?you?can performance on March 24.

Margulies-who won the Pulitzer Prize for Drama for his play Dinner With Friends in 2000-was inspired to write Brooklyn Boy by his friend and fellow playwright Herb Gardner. Having incorporated his hometown of Brooklyn in past plays (Found a Peanut, 1984; What's Wrong With This Picture?, 1985; The Loman Family Picnic, 1989; Sight Unseen, 1992), Margulies went for over a decade without writing about it again.

However, when having trouble starting a new script, Margulies says in the introduction to Brooklyn Boy, "Gardner urged me to go back"-back to Brooklyn. "Comedy runs through the play, but it's also a heartfelt story about returning home and rediscovering one's roots, and realizing how much the past has shaped who you are today, whether you like it or not," said Lund. "And who can't relate to that? At the same time it's an examination of success and self?worth, acceptance-or lack thereof-and what defines all these things." Brooklyn Boy premiered in Costa Mesa, California, in September 2004 and in New York City in January 2005 in a production co?produced by South Coast Repertory and Manhattan Theatre Club. It was commissioned by South Coast Repertory. Margulies' newest work, Time Stands Still-directed by Daniel Sullivan-opened on Broadway in January in a Manhattan Theatre Club production at the Samuel J. Friedman Theatre, after receiving its world premiere at California's Geffen Playhouse.

Brooklyn Boy features Jeff Berryman as Eric Weiss, along with Nicholas Beach, Bob Gallaher, Jesse
Notehelfer, Lisa Peretti, Alex Robertson and Nikki Visel. The production team includes scenic and sound designer Mark Lund, costume designer Dana Friedli and lighting designer Richard Schaefer. Jenny Schmidt serves as stage manager, Kate Forster as dialect coach and Judy Naegeli as dramaturg.

After Brooklyn Boy, Taproot Theatre's 2010 Season continues with BranDon Thomas's Charley's
Aunt (May 12?June 12), Man of La Mancha (a musical play by Dale Wasserman with music by Mitch Leigh and lyrics by Joe Darion; original production staged by Albert Marre; originally produced by Albert W. Selden and Hal James; July 7?August 7), and the regional premiere of Wedding Belles by Alan Bailey and Ronnie Claire Edwards (September 22?October 23).

Photo credit: Erik Stuhaug

Jeff Berryman and Lisa Peretti

Jeff Berryman and Lisa Peretti

Jeff Berryman and Lisa Peretti

Jeff Berryman

Jeff Berryman and Alex Robertson