WPA will be christening their professional company with the Sam Shepard’s classic True West, March 17-19 at the Greensburg Garden and Civic Center. The show features Kevin O’Leary (Saint Vincent Summer Theatre, PMT, Point Park) as Lee, Anthony Marino Jr. (PMT, MTAP, Stella Adler) as Austin, Ryan Jordan (Seton Hill) as Saul, and Renata Marino (AEA, Saint Vincent Summer Theatre, PMT, City Theatre, Point Park) as the Mom. True West is directed by Tony Marino, with a scenic design by Mark Kissner.
True West is a character study that examines the relationship between Austin, a screenwriter, and his older brother Lee. It is set in the kitchen of their mother’s home 40 miles east of Los Angeles. Austin is house-sitting while their mother is in Alaska, and there he is confronted by his brother, who proceeds to bully his way into staying at the house and using Austin’s car. In addition, the screenplay which Austin is pitching to his connection in Hollywood somehow gets taken over by the pushy con-man tactics of Lee, and the brothers find themselves forced to cooperate in the creation of a story that will make or break both their lives. In the process, the conflict between the brothers creates a heated situation in which their roles as successful family man and nomadic drifter are somehow reversed, and each man finds himself admitting that he had somehow always wished he were in the other’s shoes. Sam Shepard said of his play, “I wanted to write a play about double nature, one that wouldn’t be symbolic or metaphorical or any of that stuff. I just wanted to give a taste of what it feels like to be two-sided. It’s a real thing, double nature. I think we’re split in a much more devastating way than psychology can ever reveal. It’s not so cute. Not some little thing we can get over. It’s something we’ve got to live with.”
Kevin O’Leary: It’s a power struggle: a story of two brothers who grew up together, but life took them their separate ways, and now they’ve been brought back together. Anthony has been like a little brother to me for years, so it’s a really interesting dynamic to take this tense, estranged relationship and explore it with someone I know so well. There’s a darkness to these characters – a frustration, a failure to become what each of us want to be – that colors the action of the show. And it’s both incredibly fun and terrifying to tackle this kind of material.
Anthony Marino Jr.: Austin is dealing with so much going on in his life, that has nothing to do with what we get to see in the play. The life he leads, has, in many ways, replaced the trauma of what he came from, and then it all comes crashing down on him when Lee arrives and he completely loses who he’s become. Doing it with Kevin is fantastic because we have history and are friends, which makes it a safe place to take the risks you need to make as an actor.
Director Tony Marino: “ It has always been an ambition of Renata and I to produce a mixed season of musicals and plays. With WPA we have that opportunity. We are incredibly excited to kick off our company’s theatre program with two titles we love “True West” and “Jesus Christ Superstar” following during Easter weekend. We look forward to being a part of a thriving theatre community here in Southwestern PA!
True West will be performed Thursday March 17, Friday March 18, and Saturday March 19 at 8pm at the Greensburg Garden and Civic Center. Tickets are general admission and available at http://dancestudio-pro.com/tickets/wpa or, by calling 724.462.9771. Tickets are also available at the door starting 30 minutes before each show.
Categories: Show Previews
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