Archive: Arts & Entertainment

ITHACA, NY: The Kitchen Theatre Company (KTC) begins its 2005-2006 / 15th Anniversary season with The Price, Arthur Miller's twice Tony-nominated play that originally premiered in 1968 at the Morosco Theatre. The Price is the first of seven plays in KTC's Subscription Main Stage Series, and begins previews on Thursday, August 25 at 7:30pm, opens Saturday, August 27, and runs through Saturday, September 24, 2005.

A family's long-repressed dreams, desires and resentments bubble to the surface in this scorching examination of the American way of life by one of America's greatest 20th Century playwrights, Arthur Miller. Compelling and deeply moving, The Price explores the legacy of choices whose results control the present. "The big decision is always the one you don't realize you're making - till the results start coming in", says Victor,  "And then you're stuck with it".  Miller's characters lament between what was and what could have been.

This four-character drama concerns Victor Franz (Eric Brooks), a middle-aged policeman near retirement, and his older brother Walter Franz (Greg Bostwick), a wealthy and successful surgeon.  The brothers come together after nearly two decades of estrangement to settle their father's estate. Haunting their relationship is Victor's decision to become a cop and care for their father, a casualty of the Depression, while his older brother continued his education and pursued financial success. On this night, the brothers are forced to settle up in more ways than one.

Gregory Solomon (RM Fury), a 90 year-old Russian Jewish appraiser has been hired to assess their family's possessions. Victor, his wife Esther Franz (Leigh Keeley) and brother Walter must agree on a price. Together they struggle to determine what they owe each other and what price has already been paid.

KTC's Artistic Director, Rachel Lampert, directs the play.  "This is a play that speaks to every one of us. Whatever choices we have made in life; whatever we have hoped to achieve; no matter how we have lived; tried to do the right thing; acted within our own moral code; each of us ultimately faces a truth about our decisions. Are there regrets? Could we have done better? More? Made other choices? How wonderful to wrestle these important human concerns through the words of a great American playwright," says Lampert.

Scenic and Lighting designer Steve TenEyck has created the realistic attic home of the once prosperous, soon to be demolished, Manhattan brownstone and piled it high with furniture, family memorabilia and knick-knacks of a past age.  Costume design is by Hannah Kochman and Sound Design by Tim Reppert.

The title The Price has a dual meaning - there is the figure haggled over and agreed upon for the apartment's contents -- the price is also a fact of life according to Arthur Miller. Whatever you chose, whatever trade-offs you make, there is always a "price." 

Exclusive Underwriter - Tompkins Trust Company

Performance Dates:

KTC's 2005-06 season offers an expanded performance schedule:  the Main Stage now includes added performances on Wednesdays beginning in the second week of the run of each play. Performance times have also changed: Wednesday and Thursday performances will be at 7:30pm, Friday and Saturdays will be at 8pm and Sundays at 4pm.

August 25, 2005, Thursday at 7:30 pm (Preview 1 of 2)
August 26, 2005, Friday at 8:00 pm (Preview 2 of 2)
August 27, 2005, Saturday at 8:00 pm (Press/Opening Night)

August 31, 2005, Wednesday at 7:30 pm
September 1, 2005, Thursday at 7:30 pm
September 2, 2005, Friday at 8:00 pm
September 3, 2005, Saturday at 8:00 pm
September 4, 2005, Sunday at 4:00 pm (Matinee 1 of 3)

September 7, 2005, Wednesday at 7:30 pm
September 8, 2005, Thursday at 7:30 pm
September 9, 2005, Friday at 8:00 pm
September 10, 2005, Saturday at 8:00 pm
September 11, 2005, Sunday at 4:00 pm (Matinee 2 of 3)

September 14, 2005, Wednesday at 7:30 pm
September 15, 2005, Thursday at 7:30 pm
September 16, 2005, Friday at 8:00 pm
September 17, 2005, Saturday at 8:00 pm
September 18, 2005, Sunday at 4:00 pm (Matinee 3 of 3)

September 21, 2005, Wednesday at 7:30 pm
September 22, 2005, Thursday at 7:30 pm
September 23, 2005, Friday at 8:00 pm
September 24, 2005, Saturday at 8:00 pm (Closing)

Bold, intimate, engaging...Kitchen Theatre Company (KTC), now in its 15th anniversary season, is downtown Ithaca's critically acclaimed and nationally recognized year-round professional theatre.  KTC provides an engaging mix of regional and world premiere plays and musicals to Central NY in an intimate 73-seat theatre that encourages a bold relationship between audience and actor.  The theatre is located in the historic Clinton House, a renovated hotel in Downtown Ithaca, New York.  Ithaca is located on the southern tip of Cayuga Lake in central New York.  Kitchen Theatre Company receives public funds from the New York State Council on the Arts, a State Agency, and funding from the Community Arts Partnership of Tompkins County and Tompkins County Room Occupancy Tax Fund.  Season sponsors:  Cayuga Radio Group, The Ithaca Journal, Rep Studio and WENY-NewsChannel 36.