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FRANKIE AND JOHNNY IN THE CLAIR DE LUNE

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Terrence McNally's Touching Frankie and Johnny in The Clair De Lune Features in Oberlin College's Intimate Little Theater, Sep 30-Oct 3









	Photos: Jamila Clark '05

OBERLIN, OH—A critical and popular success, Terrence McNally's Frankie and Johnny in the Clair de Lune combines poignancy and laughter as it traces the unlikely romance that burgeons between two lonely people. McNally 's insightful romantic comedy—described as "very sweet, extraordinarily funny" by the New York Post—features Olivia Briggs '05, honors candidate in acting, as Frankie, Benjamin Sinclair '06 as Johnny, and is directed by Jessica Bedwinek '05.

Frankie and Johnny is for mature audiences, and there will be nudity. There will be four performances at Oberlin College's Little Theater on Thursday, Friday, Saturday, and Sunday, September 30, October 1, 2, and 3, at 8 pm. Seating in Little Theater is limited, and there is no late seating. The production is sponsored by the Oberlin College Theater and Dance Program (www.oberlin.edu/thedance).

Synopsis/Production Notes
The setting of Frankie and Johnny is a small apartment on Manhattan's West side, where the curtain rises on Frankie (a waitress), and Johnny (a short order cook from the same restaurant). As they've just met, Frankie is hopeful that Johnny will simply put his clothes on and leave. But Johnny, a compulsive talker (and romantic), has other ideas. He is convinced that he loves Frankie, a notion that she, at first, considers to be ridiculous. She has had more disappointments than delights in life, and he is the veteran of one broken marriage already. And neither of them is in the bloom of youth. Yet out of their sometimes moving, sometimes hilarious interplay, the promise of a relationship beyond their one-night-stand begins to emerge, in what Variety called a "romantic two-hander with character depth and an abundance of laughs."

Performers and Production Staff
In addition to Bedwinek, the student and faculty production staff includes Tamar Daskin '07, set designer; Harlo Homes '05, lighting designer; Katie Dover-Tayler '06, assistant set designer; Caleb Baker '06, master electrician; Myra Albu '05, stage manager; Marc Fidelman '08, assistant stage manager; Rachel Morris '07, publicity coordinator; Associate Professor Michael Grube, managing director; and Lecturer Jen Groseth, Little Theater manager.

Who's Who
Terrence McNally won his fourth Tony Award for Best Book of a Musical for Ragtime(music and lyrics by Stephen Flaherty and Lynn Ahrens). He won the Tony in 1996 for his play Master Class in which Zoe Caldwell created the role of Maria Callas; the 1995 Tony, Drama Desk and Outer Critics Circle Awards for Best Play as well as the New York Drama Critics' Circle Award for Best American Play for Love! Valour! Compassion! and the 1993 Tony for his book of the musical Kiss of the Spiderwoman (music and lyrics by John Kander and Fred Ebb). His other plays include A Perfect Ganesh; The Lisbon Traviata; and It's Only a Play, all of which began at the Manhattan Theatre Club. For the Central Park Opera trilogy presented at the New York City Opera in the fall of 1999 he wrote the libretto for The Food of Love, with music by Robert Beaser. He has written a number of TV scripts, including Andre's Mother for which he won an Emmy Award. Mr. McNally has received two Guggenheim Fellowships, a Rockefeller Grant, a Lucille Lortel Award, and a citation from the American Academy of Arts and Letters. He has been a member of the Dramatists Guild since 1970.