An author once said a family is a lot like fudge: mostly sweet with a few nuts. All those emotional ingredients will come together on the stage next month when Auburn University’s Department of Theatre presents the three-time Tony and New York Drama Critics Award-winning play “Brighton Beach Memoirs.”
The 1983 semi-autobiographical play, written by Neil Simon, captures a Brooklyn family’s struggle to hold things together both emotionally and financially in 1937 amidst the Great Depression.
The play focuses on Eugene Morris Jerome, a teenager who is coming of age and the dynamic relationships he has with his older brother Stan and his parents Kate and Jack, as well as Kate’s sister Blanche and her two daughters, Nora and Laurie. The role of Eugene in the AU production will be portrayed by Richard Davis, a senior BFA musical theatre major.
In the play, the boss Eugene’s dad works for goes bankrupt and his brother Stan loses his job.
“He’s the youngest child who sometimes gets taken for granted by a family that loves him, but is sometimes preoccupied with other more pressing matters,” said Scott Phillips, associate professor in the AU Department of Theatre and director of the AU production.
While the economic climate is much different today, Phillips said the concept of a family working hard despite not knowing where their next paycheck will come from is something he thinks people will be able to identify with.
But beyond finances, Phillips said the resounding theme of “Brighton Beach Memoirs” is family.
“The play is about how, as families, we lean on each other to get through the difficult times in life,” Phillips said. “The play is ultimately a light-hearted, nostalgic reflection of playwright Simon’s own humble beginnings.”
If You Go
What: AU Theatre presents Neil Simon’s “Brighton Beach Memoirs”
When: Nov. 13,14 and Nov. 17-20 at 7:30 p.m. and Nov. 15 at 2:30 p.m.
Where: 211 Telfair B. Peet Theatre
Admission: Free to AU students with valid ID; $15 general public, faculty, staff and seniors $10, grade and high school students $10. Tickets available online at www.auburn.edu/outreach/opo/. For information, call 334-844-4154.
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