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Side Man
By Warren Leight
Directed
by:
Asher Rapkin '04
Thurs. April 26, 8 P.M.
Sat. April 28, 8 P.M.
Sun. April 29, 2 P.M.
Main
Lounge Wilder Hall
140 W. Lorain St.
(Rt. 511)
Tickets--priced
at $3--
are available at the desk in the
lobby of Wilder Hall,
440/775-8102.
For
more information,
go to the Side Man web site http://www.oberlin.edu
/~osta/shows/sideman/
Sponsored
by Oberlin
Student Theater Association
Media
Contact:
Betty.Gabrielli@oberlin.edu
440/775-8474
TONY-AWARD WINNING DRAMA SIDE MAN TO BE PERFORMED APRIL 26, 28, AND 29 AT OBERLIN
April 19, 2001--The Oberlin Student Theater Association (OSTA) will bring the 1999 Tony Award-winning memory play Side Man to northern Ohio April 26, 28 and 29, when it stages Warren Leight's 1999 Broadway hit at Oberlin College.
"The memories dramatized here are those of a man recalling a treacherous childhood spent in the company of emotionally untrustworthy parents, and the itinerant jazz musicians whose world they all shared," said New York Times critic Peter Marks in June 1998, when the play moved Off Broadway for a short run in the Roundabout Theater.
"It's an enormously moving play about the pleasure of music making, but also about the end of music, music that defined a way of life and filled a boy's heart. What happens when the music stops is so sad, it may have you in tears."
A play with an unusual history, Side Man also was presented at the Classic Stage Company (CSC) theater before moving to Broadway in late 1998 for a successful run with Christian Slater in the central role of the play's conflicted son and narrator.
Shortly after viewing the drama at CSC, screenwriter William Goldman '52 in an interview in The New York Times said, "The best play I've seen in years is Warren Leight's Side Man.
The Oberlin production will be directed by Asher Rapkin '04, who has been involved in over 12 productions as actor, director, sound designer and production coordinator. He previously directed Death-Defying Acts, a program of one-act plays by Woody Allen, Elaine May, and David Mamet while a student at Trinity School in New York City. He currently is a production coordinator for OSTA.
"Side Man is an elegant play," says Rapkin. "The show creatively integrates narration and dialogue, weaving between settings and eras cleanly and gracefully. Warren Leight has created vibrant characters who could easily have been alive and playing jazz 40 years ago, making Side Man seem all that more real. Many of us can relate to them, either through the character's love of their music, or through the realities of their family life."
The cast includes Erik Talvitie '04 of Glenside, Pennsylvania; Jill Brianna Donnelly '04 of Penfield, New York; Gabe Graff '04 of Randolph, New Hampshire; Tom Taylor '04 of Washington, D.C.; Steve Prince '04 of Darien, Connecticut; Dan Keegan '04 of Alexandria, Virginia; and Margaret Troyer '03 of Hingham, Massachusetts.
The stage manager is Georgia Hollister-Isman '04 of Northhampton, Massachusetts. The assistant stage managers are Andy Campbell '04 of Austin, Texas and Rachel Weidenfeld of Buffalo Grove, Illinois. The lighting designer is Meg Morley '03 of Santa Fe, New Mexico, and the set designer is Keith Friedlander '01 of Middletown, Connecticut.
Side Man sound designers are Staab of Elsheim, Germany and Daniel Ronco '03 of Lexington, Massachusetts. The costume designer is Meg Dorman '03 of Chicago, Illinois, and the master electrician is Aaron Mucciolo '02 of Katonah, New York. The technical director is Caitlin Roush '03 of New York City, New York, and the jazz consultant is Steve Strohmeier '04 of New York City, New York.
One of the oldest student organizations on Oberlin's campus, OSTA serves to promote, coordinate and finance much of the college's student theater. It functions as a production agent, helping to find personnel and provide equipment, finances and performance spaces and dates and usually produces three full productions each semester and two during Winter Term, plus various special projects.
OSTA supports diverse modes of performance, and encourages the exploration of all styles of theater. Proposals for productions, submitted by prospective directors, are accepted at the beginning of each semester and before Winter Term. All Oberlin students are eligible to propose, act in, or work on an OSTA show.
Media Contact: Betty Gabrielli
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