Press Releases

Mar 12, 2001
Southampton Players - "Look Homeward, Angel" Is a Family Affair

Heralded College Troupe Bonds With Turn-of-the-20th-Century Drama

Contact:
Darren Johnson
(631) 287 8313
Fax: (631) 283 4081

Onstage, the Southampton Players are cast as dysfunctional relatives. Backstage, the college students and community members that make up the troupe have become a happy family.

Taking on the turn-of-the-20th-century drama "Look Homeward, Angel," which runs March 22-24 and 29-31 at 8 p.m. in Southampton College's Avram Theater (tickets are $12/$8 students and senior citizens; call 287-8480), director Michael Disher says his actors really bonded with this production. Known usually for comedies and elaborate musicals with big casts and sets, the Southampton Players matured with the seriousness and complexity of "Look Homeward, Angel."

"It's a coming-of-age story that really struck a chord with them. They've bonded because of it, playing off each other's emotion," said Disher, who has helped turn the Southampton Players into the College's most popular extra-curricular program and a community favorite with shows regularly sold out. "We've not only created a family on stage, but also as a group."

Based upon Thomas Wolfe's teenage years and his book of the same title, "Look Homeward, Angel" is a dramatic tale of personal growth that rides protagonist Eugene Gant (played by Brian Donnelly) on an emotional roller coaster in his hometown of Altamont, N.C., in 1916, spurred by neglecting mother Eliza (seasoned local stage veteran Priscilla Sprague), alcoholic father W.O. (Ken McGuire), ailing brother Ben (Jeff Schaeffer), resigned brother Luke (Brian Lang) and coy vixen Laura James (Scarlett Arbuckle). Ultimately, Gant experiences love in all its wrenching psychological forms and escapes a lifetime of solitude by confronting the major influences in his life. The New York Post called "Look Homeward, Angel" "one of the finest plays in American dramatic literature." Ketti Frings' adaptation of Wolfe's classic won her a 1958 Pulitzer Prize and a New York Critics Award.

Disher is especially pleased with how the actors playing the Gant brothers seem like the real thing. "Donnelly, Schaeffer and Lang are three of the best actors to come out of the program, and they are perfectly suited for "Look Homeward, Angel,"" he said. "Not only do they look alike; they act like they've known each other a lifetime." "This could be our best production yet."