The Last Night of Ballyhoo, 1999-2000 Season Archive

The Cast

LaLa Levy . . . . . Julianne Richardson
Reba Freitag . . . . Debby Fleming
Boo Levy . . . . . Jessica Kitchner
Adolph Freitag . . . . . David Black
Joe Farkas . . . . . Joshua Yoho
Sunny Freitag . . . . . Jenny Bowen
Peachy Weil . . . . . Justin Buoy

Production Staff
Director . . . . . Paul Prece
Set Design & Costume . . . . Ron Zastrow
Lighting Design . . . . . Ron Zastrow
Sound Design . . . . . Paul Prece
Technical Assistance . . . . . Tony Naylor
Sceneshop Supervisor . . . . . Lynn Wilson
Satage Manager . . . . . Chris Schultz
Publicity . . . . . Paul Prece
Lightboard Operator . . . . . Yoko Homma
Sound Operator . . . . . Viet Lam
Fly . . . . . Willard Bean
Dressers . . . . . Shelley Liginslan, Josh Dixon
Set and Costume Shop Crew . . . . . Dennis Banks,
Josh Lacey, Eun Joo Lee, Benjamin Gingras,
David Duckworth, Shaun Rice,
Melinda Eshbaugh, Lynn Wilson,
Daivd DeLoach
Box Office/House . . . . . Penny Weiner
Theatre Scholarship Students

Alfred Uhry graduated from Brown University and worked in the theater for 25 years without much success. In 1959 he moved to New York to become a lyricist. His work slowly made its way to television and Off-Broadway. Struggling to make ends meet, he was earning $50.00 a week writing lyrics for TV shows and commercials.

Still struggling in 1976, Uhry received a Tony nomination for the book and lyrics to The Robber Bridegroom, a musical adaptation of the Eudora Welty Sourthern gothic novella. In 1986, Uhry decided to give up theater for good and turn his attention to his growing family. "I had responsibilities. I realized I could have earned in one week writing TV stuff what I had made in four years in the theater." His parting effort, Driving Miss Daisy, based on the story of Uhry's Jewish grandmother and her long-time black chauffeur, was rewarded with unanimous critical praise and the 1988 Pulitzer Prize from Drama. The screenplay for the film, also authored by Uhry went on to win the Oscar. Follwing Daisy's success, the Olympic Garmes' Cultural Olympiad approached Uhry about producing a play for the 1996 Atlanta Olympics. The result was The Last Night of Ballyhoo which went on to win the 1997 Tony Award for Best Play and a citation and monetary award from the Pulitzer committee: "For a distinguished play by an American author...original in its source...and dealing with American Life." Uhry's inspiration to create continues to flow from his Atlanta upbringing and the experience of being Jewish. In 1998 he created the book for Parade, a musical based on the case of Leo Frank, the Jewish victim of a 1913 lynch mob that believed Frank had murdered a young girl. Although Uhry left the South in 1958, he continues to use his roots to explore the depth of human relationships. "I am not a social historian; I'm just a playwright." he insists. "I am a southern person."