Opening December 1st — Educating Rita
In playwright Willy Russell's Educating Rita, Professor Frank Bryant discovers he has been assigned to tutor Rita, a thirty-something hairdresser who wants to escape her humdrum life by learning literary criticism. Bryant, a middle-aged alcoholic and failed poet who is trapped in a lifeless marriage has lost his capacity to feel anything about his world. Rita enters his life like the first warm breeze of spring. She believes learning is her way to a fuller life.
Frank knows all too well that education is no guarantee of fulfillment or happiness. Inevitably, they clash. While she sees a way out of her unhappiness, Frank, in grumpy resignation to his own shortcomings, is resigned to his. He fails, however, to discourage Rita. She wants that richer life and will not be denied. As the two progress together through the tutoring sessions, their relationship grows, and Rita, in her quest, comes to realize that being enabled with more choices does not make it easier for her to find her way. In a series of both profoundly moving, as well as hilarious, moments we watch as two people reach out to each other to find some meaning in a troubled world.
The play will be presented in The Mountcastle Forum, Milton Rhodes Center for the Arts, December 1st & 2nd and and December 8th & 9th at 7:30 pm with matinee performances on December 3rd & 10th at 2:00 pm. Tickets on sale November 1st.
40+ Stage Company: A Company for All Ages, Relevant, Challenging, and Intergenerational
40+ Stage Company believes in the transformative power of theater. Our play selection focuses on issues of intergenerational concern and relevance to our community today. We want to provide actors of all ages with opportunities to perform in meaningful, challenging roles. As an amateur company, we are committed to the highest standards of performance.
Our outreach program extends to organizations provide services and moral support to the aging. Acting, as a performance art form, requires engaging with others and practicing and honing listening skills, memory reliability, and introspection. A creative lifestyle in the afternoon years has a demonstrative positive effect in overcoming depression, isolation, addiction, and a host of conditions often associated with growing older.
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