Barefoot In The Park
By Neil Simon
Directed by Alan Barkan
January 18 through February 16, 2008
Precariously poised atop the highs of JFK's Camelot, Neil Simon's comic gem debuted on Broadway a month before Lee Harvey Oswald splashed cold water in this country's face.
Simon's wall of laughs glitters now as then and we are left breathless, marveling at the show's surprisingly dark underbelly. The overbelly (if such a word exists) concerns a couple, Corie and Paul Bratter, newly wed and freshly installed in their fifth-floor walk-up (six floors if you count the stoop).
Corie's free-spirited ways clash with her husband and his self-proclaimed practicality - he's "the man" in more than one sense. Add in Corie's lonely mom, an aging Lothario living upstairs, and you have a comedy for the ages - and not just for the Age of Aquarius.
The reviews are in:
"The entire cast is strong" — Contra Costa Times
"The Actors Ensemble bunch hits the mark" — The Berkeley Daily Planet
CAST
Ljuba Davis as Ethel Banks
Jose Garcia as the Delivery Man
David Irving as Paul Bratter
Jerome Solberg as the Telephone Man
David Spinner as Victor Velasco
Wendy Welch as Mrs. Corie Bratter
PRODUCTION
Alan Barkan • Director
Eric Carlson • Assistant Director
Jose Garcia • Stage Manager
Shu Ping Guan • Set Design
Bob Gudmundsson • Lighting Design
Helen Slomowitz • Costumes
Jerome Solberg • Producer
Eric Carlson, Christian Carter, Bob Gudmundsson, Jerome Solberg • Set ConstructionAnita
Akella Natasha Guber • Light & Sound Operators
