2 minute read
Age gap, ignorance and tutors, oh my
Director Valorie Grear gears up cast of ‘Born Yesterday’ for April 1 opening on Mainstage
Sage Lynn / Roundup
Written in 1946, the post World War II play follows the life of an odd couple. The Pierce College Theater Department will be presenting its spring semester production of ‘Born Yesterday,’ a play by Garson Karin.
Set in Washington, D.C., the play tells the story of an unscrupulous millionaire, Harry Brock, who becomes embarrassed by his girlfriend, Billie Dawn, due to her ignorance, and thus hires a reporter, Paul Verrall, to tutor her.
In 1950, the play was brought to the screen by Columbia Pictures and starred Broderick Crawford as Brock and Judy Holliday as Dawn.
The film was remade in 1993, starring John Goodman (Brock), Melanie Griffith (Dawn), and Don Johnson (Verrall).
A revival of ‘Born Yesterday’ is currently on Broadway with Jim Belushi (Brock) and Robert Sean Leonard (Verrall).
Dennis Feehan, a veteran musician and Pierce College alum, will be starring in the production as Harry Brock.
“The process of learning a song is similar to learning a script,” said Feehan. “It just takes longer.”
The roll of Billie is casted to Sarah Ryan.
Ryan has years of experience on the stage and has had small parts in many televiosion shows.
“In the play, Billie reads the book ‘David Copperfield’ by Dickens, so for research I started reading it myself,” said Ryan.
What is a millionaire without a “minion” to do his bidding?
Veteran stage actor, Dana Craig, plays Ed Devery, a corrupted U.S. Senator.
“They print the auditions in a professional publication called ‘Backstage’ and I’m always checking for auditions,” said Craig.
Feehan, Ryan, and Craig all agree that rehearsing for the play is a lot of fun and working with Valorie Grier, the plays director, is a wonderful experience.
The play runs April 1 to 10 on the Mainstage at Pierce.
For ticket information call (818) 7196488 or visit their website at http://info. piercecollege.edu/theater/.
