Lycoming College theatre director Grechen Lynne Wingerter said that her favorite part of putting a play together is when the actors first read through their lines; it is a time when she can “finally hear the characters in the actors’ voices.”
And, while watching “Brighton Beach Memoirs,” the second of Lycoming’s main stage theatre productions of the year, those voices come out loud and clear, especially from the play’s central character, 15-year-old Eugene Morris Jerome, played with fantastic energy by freshman Taylor Anspach, as he narrates the goings-on of his family in their cramped home in the Brighton Beach section of Brooklyn, N.Y.
Set in 1937, “Memoirs” is the first of playwright Neil Simon’s semi-autobiographical play trilogy which features the many stages of Eugene’s coming-of-age (“Biloxi Blues” and “Broadway Bound” follow).
Eugene keeps company with his headstrong mother, Kate (Alyssa Allen) who is always hot on his heels, reprimanding him for misbehaving; his older brother, Stanley (Chase Mack), age 18, whose story finds him trying to help out his family while discovering the adult perspective of right and wrong (and who, despite his difficult transition, receives fierce admiration from Eugene); his aunt Blanche (Molly Collier) who came to live with them upon the passing of her husband; Blanche’s two daughters, the youngest (and sometimes sickly) Laurie (Elle Ingarra) and the trying-desperately-to-be-independent teenager, Nora (Hannah Eyler); and finally the beleaguered father, Jack (Jesse Shade) who tries to keep the family together and be a father figure for both his sons and his nieces.
While comedy/dramas about families are about a dime a dozen in films and on television, there is something inherently heartfelt about the Jerome saga because they prove that a family’s love for one another is steadfast, no matter what curve balls life throws them.
The hardships that befall the Jeromes are many. Father Jack is unable to keep his second job selling noisemakers because the party supply store he works for went out of business. Stanley, whom the family depends on as a second source of income, is nearly fired as he tried to stand up to his boss (albeit immaturely—he swept dirt onto the boss’s shoes) who had been treating a co-worker badly following a workplace accident. Blanche, who all along had been trying to build herself as a strong, capable single mother following her husband’s death, is beginning to lose herself again after she fears Nora, who wishes to leave home (and high school) to pursue a career on Broadway, will be gone someday for good. Finally, Kate, who seems to have shouldered much of the family’s responsibilities to keep themselves together, is letting her bottled-up frustrations from trying to keep her rambunctious sons in line, being a good second mother to her nieces, and trying to support her sister’s re-emergence as an independent woman, get the best of her by frequently by bursting angrily at any little (or big) mishap her family seems to encounter.
Despite these many tribulations, there are moments of hilarity as well. Mostly, it is from Eugene, who acts like a teenage boy to a T. While it is obvious by his under-the-breath grumblings that he doesn’t like helping his mother with housework or eating the liver she prepares for dinner, it is equally clear that he has a strong admiration for baseball and girls. Whether he is turning a package of food into a makeshift baseball, catching and throwing it to himself while he receives cheers from an imaginary crowd, or not-so-discreetly dropping his dinner napkin under the table so he can look up Nora’s skirt, Eugene comically builds upon these interests throughout the story.
Eugene is perhaps the biggest reason why the audience automatically wants to root for the Jeromes to stay tightly knit. Their story is told through his eyes, and they are certainly those of a young teenager with the world at his fingertips; he holds many hopes and aspirations of being a writer or a professional baseball player. And he can only prosper by having his family, the ones who encourage him to dream, right by his side.
What is also great about the way Simon wrote “Memoirs” is that while Eugene connects with the audience in his narrative asides, the family’s inner-workings and dealings are made between themselves; the audience is merely privy to watching their highs and lows, their tears and laughter. But the fact that they are able to come out happily in the end shows that they grew not only individuals but as a group, which makes the conclusion to this story all the more sweet.
While researching a prior article on the theatre department, Wingerter and many of the student actors agreed that working on a Lycoming College theatre production was like being together with family; all become very close and supportive of one another. Seeing this demonstrated so well on stage makes “Brighton Beach Memoirs” an altogether perfect choice for the College to produce.
“Brighton Beach Memoirs” will continue to run Nov. 18-20, beginning at 8 p.m. in the Mary L. Welch Theatre. For more information contact the box office at 570-321-4048 or visit www.lycoming.edu/theatre/tickets.html.
And, while watching “Brighton Beach Memoirs,” the second of Lycoming’s main stage theatre productions of the year, those voices come out loud and clear, especially from the play’s central character, 15-year-old Eugene Morris Jerome, played with fantastic energy by freshman Taylor Anspach, as he narrates the goings-on of his family in their cramped home in the Brighton Beach section of Brooklyn, N.Y.
Set in 1937, “Memoirs” is the first of playwright Neil Simon’s semi-autobiographical play trilogy which features the many stages of Eugene’s coming-of-age (“Biloxi Blues” and “Broadway Bound” follow).
Eugene keeps company with his headstrong mother, Kate (Alyssa Allen) who is always hot on his heels, reprimanding him for misbehaving; his older brother, Stanley (Chase Mack), age 18, whose story finds him trying to help out his family while discovering the adult perspective of right and wrong (and who, despite his difficult transition, receives fierce admiration from Eugene); his aunt Blanche (Molly Collier) who came to live with them upon the passing of her husband; Blanche’s two daughters, the youngest (and sometimes sickly) Laurie (Elle Ingarra) and the trying-desperately-to-be-independent teenager, Nora (Hannah Eyler); and finally the beleaguered father, Jack (Jesse Shade) who tries to keep the family together and be a father figure for both his sons and his nieces.
While comedy/dramas about families are about a dime a dozen in films and on television, there is something inherently heartfelt about the Jerome saga because they prove that a family’s love for one another is steadfast, no matter what curve balls life throws them.
The hardships that befall the Jeromes are many. Father Jack is unable to keep his second job selling noisemakers because the party supply store he works for went out of business. Stanley, whom the family depends on as a second source of income, is nearly fired as he tried to stand up to his boss (albeit immaturely—he swept dirt onto the boss’s shoes) who had been treating a co-worker badly following a workplace accident. Blanche, who all along had been trying to build herself as a strong, capable single mother following her husband’s death, is beginning to lose herself again after she fears Nora, who wishes to leave home (and high school) to pursue a career on Broadway, will be gone someday for good. Finally, Kate, who seems to have shouldered much of the family’s responsibilities to keep themselves together, is letting her bottled-up frustrations from trying to keep her rambunctious sons in line, being a good second mother to her nieces, and trying to support her sister’s re-emergence as an independent woman, get the best of her by frequently by bursting angrily at any little (or big) mishap her family seems to encounter.
Despite these many tribulations, there are moments of hilarity as well. Mostly, it is from Eugene, who acts like a teenage boy to a T. While it is obvious by his under-the-breath grumblings that he doesn’t like helping his mother with housework or eating the liver she prepares for dinner, it is equally clear that he has a strong admiration for baseball and girls. Whether he is turning a package of food into a makeshift baseball, catching and throwing it to himself while he receives cheers from an imaginary crowd, or not-so-discreetly dropping his dinner napkin under the table so he can look up Nora’s skirt, Eugene comically builds upon these interests throughout the story.
Eugene is perhaps the biggest reason why the audience automatically wants to root for the Jeromes to stay tightly knit. Their story is told through his eyes, and they are certainly those of a young teenager with the world at his fingertips; he holds many hopes and aspirations of being a writer or a professional baseball player. And he can only prosper by having his family, the ones who encourage him to dream, right by his side.
What is also great about the way Simon wrote “Memoirs” is that while Eugene connects with the audience in his narrative asides, the family’s inner-workings and dealings are made between themselves; the audience is merely privy to watching their highs and lows, their tears and laughter. But the fact that they are able to come out happily in the end shows that they grew not only individuals but as a group, which makes the conclusion to this story all the more sweet.
While researching a prior article on the theatre department, Wingerter and many of the student actors agreed that working on a Lycoming College theatre production was like being together with family; all become very close and supportive of one another. Seeing this demonstrated so well on stage makes “Brighton Beach Memoirs” an altogether perfect choice for the College to produce.
“Brighton Beach Memoirs” will continue to run Nov. 18-20, beginning at 8 p.m. in the Mary L. Welch Theatre. For more information contact the box office at 570-321-4048 or visit www.lycoming.edu/theatre/tickets.html.
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