Tag Archives: Patti Airoldi

Pulitzers Play Little Rock: RABBIT HOLE at Weekend Theater

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RabbitHoleTWTThe announcement that the 2007 Pulitzer Prize for Drama went to David Lindsay-Abaire for Rabbit Hole was a bit of surprise.  The play had actually opened on Broadway the prior season.  (While now the Pulitzer year equals the calendar year, at that time, the Pulitzer calendar went from Autumn to Autumn.)

Lindsay-Abaire’s play tells the tale of a family coming to grips with the accidental death of a four year old son.  The Weekend Theatre brought the play to life on a Little Rock stage in 2009.  Andy Hall directed the production (duties he has performed for the current Weekend Theatre production of Assassins).

Patti Airoldi took on the central role of the aggrieved mother.  Duane Jackson played her husband, Patti German played her mother, and Regi Ott was her somewhat unconventional sister.  William Moon rounded out the cast.

Though the play veers to the edge of maudlin, it never gets there.  The script presents how different people cope with grief and guilt without becoming a “Very Special Episode” of After School Special.

2018 marks the 100th anniversary of the first Pulitzer Prize for Drama being given. To pay tribute to 100 years of the Pulitzer for Drama, each day this month a different Little Rock production of a Pulitzer Prize winning play will be highlighted.  Many of these titles have been produced numerous times.  This look will veer from high school to national tours in an attempt to give a glimpse into Little Rock’s breadth and depth of theatrical history.

COMPANY comes in to the Weekend Theater

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20130307-232808.jpgThose good and crazy people of George Furth and Stephen Sondheim’s Company come to Little Rock at the Weekend Theatre during the month of March. The production opened last night and runs through Sunday, March 24.

Craig Wilson stars as the central character Bobby who is celebrating his 35th birthday. Bobby is surrounded by five married couples and three single women as he travels through time and space. Company is a musical journey into what makes a marriage but also modern living.

The production is directed by Andy Hall. Joining Wilson in the cast are Kathryn Pryor and Ralph Hyman, Alan Douglas and Patti Airoldi, Jeremiah James Herman and Kate East, Duane Jackson and Erin Martinez, and Gabriel Washam and Julie Atkins. The women in Bobby’s life are played by Hannah M. Sawyer, Moriah Patterson and Jessica L. Hendricks.

The Weekend Theater production of the musical opens Friday, March 8, at the performance space at Seventh and Chester streets in downtown Little Rock. Curtain times are 7:30 p.m. Fridays and Saturdays and 2:30 p.m. Sundays through March 24. Tickets are $20 for adults and $16 for seniors age 65 and older and students.

To make pre-paid reservations, visit the theater’s Web site, http://www.weekendtheater.org; tickets can also be purchased at the door. (As seating is currently limited due to reconstruction at the building, advance purchase is encouraged.) For information only, call (501) 374-3761.

The Weekend Theater presents THE MIRACLE WORKER

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Nicholson and Sawyer (photo by Byron Taylor)

William Gibson’s Pulitzer and Tony winning play The Miracle Worker opened last weekend at the Weekend Theater.  It continues tonight and tomorrow as well as March 23 and 24.

Showtimes are 7:30 p.m. Fridays and Saturdays through March 24; there is also one matinee scheduled for 2:30 p.m. Sunday, March 18. Tickets, $16 for general admission and $12 for students and seniors age 65 and older, can be ordered online at the theater’s Web site, www.weekendtheater.org, or purchased at the door before each performance, based on availability.

Though the play is the story of Helen Keller (Sarah Nicholson) at the start of her remarkable life, it is also the story of her family and the indomitable Annie Sullivan (Hannah M. Sawyer).

The cast includes Byron Taylor and Patti Airoldi as Helen’s parents, Captain Arthur and Kate Keller, along with Drew Ellis, Zoe Dickerson, Diondre Wright, Patty German, Henry Melhorn, Donna Singleton, Patty Landry, Adrianne Owings, and Colin Boyd.

Andy Hall directs the production.