Last Night of Ballyhoo Home Page

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By Alfred Uhry

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May 3-13, 2001, Thurs.-Sats. at 8 p.m., Sundays at 2 p.m.
at 408 W. Washington, Ann Arbor (the old Perf Net space)
Directed by Chris Starkey

SYNOPSIS: The Freitags, a Jewish family living in 1939 Atlanta, are much more concerned with who is going to Ballyhoo, the social event of the season, than they are with the events that are taking place on the stage of world history. Living together in bachelor uncle Adolph's house are his widowed sister, Beulah (Boo) Levy, and his widowed sister-in-law, Reba. Boo is hoping to find a date to take her not-so-popular daughter, Lala, to Ballyhoo. Boo believes this may be Lala's last chance to find a good husband. One night Uncle Adolph brings home to dinner his new young assitant, Joe. Lala is impressed by Joe and hints broadly about being taken to Ballyhoo. Joe turns down Lala, which infuriates Boo. Things get even worse when Joe falls for Lala's cousin Sunny, Reba's daughter, who is home for Christmas vacation from Wellesley College. Events take several unexpected turns as the family gets pulled apart and then mended together again with plenty of comedy, romance, and revelations along the way. This comedy, winner of the 1997 Tony Award for best new play, was written by Alfred Uhry, who also won the Pulitzer Prize and an Oscar for "Driving Miss Daisy."

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	CAST LIST: Adolf Freitag - DAVID KEREN Beulah (Boo) Levy - CHRISTIE OBERG Reba Freitag - FRANCYN CHOMIC Sunny Freitag - MELISSA HENDERSON Lala Levy - DAYNA WOODHAMS Joe Farkas - SAM ZWETCHKENBAUM Peachy Weil - MICHAEL ROEHRIG
	PRODUCTION STAFF: Director - Chris Starkey Assistant Director - David Wright Producer - Ernie Terry Choreographer - Ann Chapman Set Design - Chris Starkey and Bob Seeman Set Builder - Bob Seeman Lighting Design - Thom Johnson Sound - Bob Farra
	DIRECTOR COMMENTS Theatre is about telling stories. The story can be funny, sad, touching, clever or mind-bending. The story of "The Last Night of Ballyhoo" has changed me a little as an observer of theatre and as an actor. It is my hope that you join the cast and crew and enjoy two hours of laughter, enlightenment and growth. We have all been "the other kind" at some point in our lives, whether we knew it or not. If it wasn't at school or in our community, it may have been within our own family. Many times being "the other kind" was because of some ascribed characteristic that we had no control over, such as race or gender. With so much pressure to be thin enough, pretty enough, rich enough, smart enough, masculine or feminine enough we can never be reminded often enough that we are fine just the way we are. I thank "The Last Night of Ballyhoo" for reminding me of that.
	LINKS: Alabama Shakespeare Festival - Click here and look at "Director's Notes"
	VIEW PRODUCTION STILLS
	THE PREVIEW: Printed in the Ann Arbor News, April 29, 2001 THE REVIEW: Printed in the Ann Arbor News, May 18, 2001

--2/22/00