Awake And Sing!

by Clifford Odets
directed by Fred Sullivan, Jr.

Jan 15-Feb 15, 2009

Living together in a cramped Bronx tenement and laid low by the Great Depression, a working-class Jewish family copes with financial hardship and dreams of a brighter future. Indomitable Bessie Berger rules her family with an iron hand including her nebbish husband Myron, her children Ralph and Hennie, her Marxist-leaning father Jacob and the boarder Moe Axelrod, a small-time bookie embittered over losing a leg in World War I. Bent on forcing her daughter into a marriage of convenience and her son out of a relationship that she considers beneath him, Bessie tirelessly wages war against the idealism of the family she is trying to protect. Gritty, passionate, funny and heartbreaking, Odets’ 1935 multi-generational masterpiece beautifully captures the hopes and struggles of an unforgettable American family.

Cast & Crew

About this Production of Awake and Sing!

By Clifford Odets
Directed by Fred Sullivan, Jr.
 
Set Design William P. Wieters
Costume Design by Marilyn Salvatore
Lighting Design by Richard Van Voris
Sound & Music Design by Kerry Callery
Technical Direction by Dade Veron
Stage Management by Stef Work*
 
 
Assistant Director, Steve Kidd; Dialect Coach, Wendy Overly; Props Master, Katryne Hecht; Dramaturge, Jennifer Madden; Assistant Stage Manager, Nicholas Thibeault; Production Assistant, Rachel Pontbriand
 
CAST
Marc Dante Mancini, Ralphie Berger
Chuck Reifler, Myron Berger
Diana Buirski,* Hennie Berger
Wendy Overly,* Bessie Berger
Sam Babbitt,* Jacob
Tom O’Mahoney, Schlosser
Tony Estrella,* Moe Axelrod
Tom Gleadow, Uncle Morty
Stephen Abrams, Sam Feinshreiber
 
 
*Member of Actors’ Equity Association, the Union of Professional Actors and Stage Managers in the United States.