CHESTER THEATRE COMPANY
Presents
Last Train To Nibroc
By Arlene Hutton
First Play of the Nibroc Trilogy to Run July 14-25
THE NIBROC TRILOGY by Arlene Hutton
Last Train to Nibroc - July 14-25
See Rock City - July 28- August 8
Gulf View Drive - August 11-22
For press pictures click here or scroll down
CHESTER - It's Christmas 1940, A soldier and a schoolteacher meet on a train in the middle of the night somewhere between Los Angeles and Chicago, setting in motion a course of events neither can foresee. This funny, touching portrait of two people searching for happiness was nominated by the New York Drama League as Best Play 1999 and was a smash hit at CTC in 2001. The Berkshire Eagle called Last Train To Nibroc: "The surprise of the season; an irresistible love story. Warm, funny, and unsentimental." This lively rhapsody to the power of love will be performed from July 14-25.
Arlene Hutton's award-winning comedy tracks May and Raleigh's romance through years of missed connections and introduces the main characters for the next two plays in the Trilogy. CTC Artistic Director Byam Stevens reminds patrons that, "While Last Train to Nibroc is part of a trilogy, each of the three plays stands on its own. If your busy summer schedule makes it impossible to see all three, you'll still be well rewarded if you can only see one or two."
Last Train To Nibroc unfolds in threes scenes that begin in December of 1940 and end in May of 1943. The first scene is set on an east-bound train that carries the bodies of the great American writers Nathanael West and F. Scott Fitzgerald. Also on board are May and Raleigh, who discover they are from neighboring Kentucky towns. Scene Two, set a year and a half later, finds May and Raleigh at the Nibroc festival, an annual fair in May's hometown of Corbin, Kentucky, but the mood is anything but festive. The following spring, as they sit on May's front porch, on the eve of Raleigh's departure for New York, they discover the true depth of their feelings.
This tale of two young Kentuckians wondrously conveys a portrait of a changing America in mid-20th century. Hutton's capacity for capturing the shifting cultural landscape and couching it in intimate scale drama was praised by The New York Times: "She seems to possess the ability to weave the epic and the incidental with the lightest and least obtrusive thread."
THE CAST
The cast of Last Train To Nibroc features Allison McLemore as May and Joel Ripka as Raleigh. Set Design by Charles Corcoran, Lighting Design by Lara Dubin, Costume Design by Charles Schoonmaker, Sound Design by Tom Shread.
Allison McLemore's credits include: The Madras House at New York's Mint Theatre Company; The Underpants at The Olney Theatre; Cyrano de Bergerac at Pennsylvania Shakespeare Festival; Othello and Jane Eyre at Pittsburgh Irish and Classical Theatre; Pygmalion (Denver Post Ovation Award) Antigone Now at Cincinnati Playhouse in the Park; and Little Women at Peterborough Players
Joel Ripka has performed extensively theatres in the Pittsburgh area, including The Pittsburgh Public Theater, the Irish and Classical Theater, Playhouse REP, City Theatre, and The Jewish Theatre of Pittsburgh, appearing in Othello, the world premiere of Martin Giles' Beautiful Dreamers; Ah, Wilderness; The Real Thing and Hamlet. With Pittsburgh Public Theater, he understudied Mozart in Amadeus and played John in the world premiere of Harry's Friendly Service, both directed by Ted Pappas.
SPECIAL EVENT: THE TRILOGY IN A DAY
The Nibroc Trilogy will culminate on the final two Saturdays of the season (August 14 & 21) with the presentation of the complete cycle in one day. Special event tickets for those days will include an afternoon ice cream social and a country style dinner.
SPECIAL EVENT: THE NIBROC TALKS
CTC will present a series of Pre-Show talks by eminent professors from UMASS Amherst and Yale University in conjunction with its production of the NIBROC TRILOGY. NIBROC TALKS are set for Friday July 16, July 30 and August 13 at 7:00pm at CTC’s Town Hall Auditorium. There is no admission charge.
Hutton’s funny, romantic, touching tale of two young Kentuckians who meet, fall in love, get married and create a unique family unit also explores life on the Home Front during World War II, the plight of young men barred from service by medical complications, the stigma of congenital diseases, the increasing role of American women in the work force and the early days of the civil rights movement. The NIBROC TALKS will address these and many other issues raised by the plays.
LAST TRAIN TO NIBROC - 7:00 PM, July 16 - Joyce Avrech Berkman
Ms. Berkman, a Professor of History and Adjunct Professor of Women's Studies at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst has extensive expertise in 20th century women’s history, feminism, and oral history. A former Woodrow Wilson Fellow and Fulbright Award Winner, Professor Berkman edited Contemplating Edith Stein and authored, The Healing Imagination of Olive Schreiner: Beyond South African Colonialism. She was one of a team of editors for African American Women and the Vote, 1837-1965.
TICKETS
Performances take place at the Chester Town Hall Auditorium, Wednesday through Saturday at 8:00pm., with matinees Thursday and Sunday at 2:00pm. Tickets are $28-$32; group rates are available. For tickets, call 1-800-595-4TIX or go to www.chestertheatre.org . To receive a brochure, contact the CTC box office at 413-354-7771.
SPONSORS
CTC performances are supported, in part, by funds from Massachusetts Cultural Council, a state agency, and the Local Cultural Councils of Blandford, Chester, Huntington, Middlefield, Montgomery, Russell, Westfield and Worthington. The Last Train to Nibroc is sponsored in part by Dorothy Benzian.
Photo #1 featuring Allison McLemore and Joel Ripka. Photo credit: Rick Teller
Photo #2 featuring Allison McLemore and Joel Ripka. Photo credit: Rick Teller
