Change Of Plans: Town Players To Open Production Of

Pulitzer Prize-Winning ‘Buried Child’ November 11

On November 11, Town Players of Newtown will open Sam Shepard’s Pulitzer Prize-winning Buried Child, a family drama surrounding deep, dark secrets on a dying mid-western farm. This is a change of plans from the original opening date of November 4, brought on this week following the winter storm that left most of Newtown without electricity for much of the week. The production will now run weekends through November 27.

In Buried Child, 22-year-old Vince (being played by Chris Luongo) arrives at the squalid farmhouse of his hard-drinking grandparents for the first time in six years to introduce his girlfriend Shelly (Jacqueline Rowland) to his family – but no one at home seems to even know who Vince is, including Vince’s father Tilden (Gary Kline), a former All-American footballer but now a semi-idiot, or his uncle Bradley (Tim Huebenthal), who has lost one of his legs to a chainsaw accident. What can possibly hope to deliver this family from the madness that threatens to engulf them all?         

  “This is a tale of blood ties and family in crisis. It’s also a tale of love, shame, regret, and the hope of redemption. No family is perfect,” said director, set and sound designer, and Town Players President Pam Meister. “But if given the choice, how many of us would actually chuck it all out and start from scratch? Is blood really thicker than water? These are questions everyone must answer themselves, and it’s a central theme in Buried Child. And even though dark themes run through the show, there’s a lot of humor in it. Indeed, often we cannot make it through the bad times without a hearty dose of laughter.”

“The play is the dramatic equivalent of an optical illusion: it messes with your mind,” said Christopher Bird, the show’s producer. “You could say that it’s a simple depiction of the inescapability of one’s family ties, and in that regard it ranks right up there with works like The Subject Was Roses and Long Day’s Journey Into Night.

“But what really sets Buried Child apart as an epic play,” he continued, “is that unlike most conventional family dramas, it acts on an audience the same way the tensions of the play act on the characters. It becomes the very things the play is about: emotional violence and the mystery of the family bond.”

Rounding out the cast are Daryl Guberman, Penny Gosain, and Martin Ripchick. Besides Ms Meister and Mr Bird, the play’s crew consists of stage manager Lynn Alexander and lighting designer Nick Kaye.

Buried Child premiered at the Magic Theatre in San Francisco on June 27, 1978, making its New York City debut at Theater for The New City on October 19, 1978. The play went on to win the 1979 Pulitzer Prize for Drama. It was revived for Broadway in April 1996 and nominated for six Tony Awards.

Curtain time is 8 pm Fridays and Saturdays, and 2 pm Sunday afternoons. Tickets for all shows are $20 for adults and $10 for children under 10 years old. Please note that the November 12 show is a sold-out benefit performances.

Also, Buried Child contains adult themes and is recommended only for mature audiences.

Reservations can be made by calling the box office at 203-270-9144. For more information, visit the Town Players website at www.newtownplayers.org or send email to info@newtownplayers.org.

Town Players of Newtown is a non-Equity theatre company located at 18 Orchard Hill Road (off Route 25) in Newtown.