The Brewster Theater Company, Inc.
presents
Come Back to the 5 & Dime,
Jimmy Dean, Jimmy Dean
By
Ed Graczyk
Confronting illusions about oneself is never easy but ultimately cathartic when done in the company of those that know and love us best. In Ed Gracyzk’s deeply affecting memory play, Come Back to the 5 & Dime, Jimmy Dean, Jimmy Dean, past collides with present as members of the Disciples of James Dean fan club come together for their 20th reunion. Presented by the Brewster Theater Company, show dates are October 16th, 17th, 23rd and 24th at 8 p.m. at The Melrose School, 120 Federal Road, Brewster, NY.
The time is 1975 and the locale is a dusty Texas town nearby the site where Dean filmed his last movie, Giant. Club president Mona, who clerks in the run-down Woolworth’s where the fan club gathers, has enjoyed a sort of celebrity status all these years as her (now teenage) son is alleged by her to be the illegitimate son of the late actor. As she and the others reminisce, however, they come to the realization that the paths their lives have taken were shaped by their past experiences. What also becomes painfully obvious is that memories can become clouded by things that we want to believe are true.
Produced and directed by Debbie Levin, this play features Rachel Benjamin (Brewster), Angela Bowman (Carmel), Matt Compo (Brewster), Barbara Disraeli (Brewster), Michele Dugan (Brewster), Laurel Lettieri (Mount Vernon), Suzanne Ochs (Dobbs Ferry), Karen Pope Olshansky (Putnam Valley), and Donna White (Putnam Valley).
Director Debbie Levin of Brewster says that this play is ultimately one of triumph, not despair as “fortunately, the ties that bind us in youth do persist....and forgiveness, acceptance, love and laughter see us through.”
Tickets for this show are $15 for adults and $13 for students and seniors. Go to www.brewstertheatercompany.org or call 845-598-1621 for reservations and additional information. Please note that this play has mature themes. This show has been presented with special arrangement with Samuel French, Inc.
This event has been made possible in part with public funds from the NYS Council on the Arts Decentralization Program administered in Putnam County by The Putnam Arts Council.
YouTube video courtesy of www.localputnam.com
Rehearsal Photos
Photographs courtesy of Deb Levin and Eric Luther