“THE TALL BOY” BY SIMON BENT

January 22, 2016

“THE TALL BOY” BY SIMON BENT

CCA

January 22, 2016 - January 22, 2016

8:00pm – 10:00pm

CCA

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Tandy Cronyn will star in THE TALL BOY, a solo play based on Kay Boyle’s short story, “The Lost”, adapted for the stage by Simon Bent and directed by David Hammond. It will be presented at The Courthouse Center for the Arts January 22nd at 8pm and on the 23rd at 2 and 8pm

 

THE TALL BOY is a moving story about the fragility and resilience of children in war.  In it, three boys, a 15-year-old Czech, a 14-year-old Pole and a 12-year-old Italian have been swept up by different American Army units in the final years of WW II and outfitted as GI mascots. When the GIs are shipped back stateside, the boys are dumped at a children’s Displaced Persons Camp.  The matron of this temporary orphanage is bound by regulations to try to repatriate the children – the US has yet to open its doors to more than a tiny trickle of refugees – but the boys have their hearts set on America. In Simon Bent’s dramatization, the story is told by the American matron of the children’s camp. Through her eyes, we relive the boys’ struggles to find a future for themselves in the aftermath of World War II.

 

TANDY CRONYN was born in Los Angeles, raised in New York, made her professional debut in Montreal and trained for the stage in London. After a season of repertory in Suffolk and several British teleplays, she returned to the US to tour in Moliere’s Scapin and G. B. Shaw’s The Devil’s Disciple.  She made her Broadway debut as Sally Bowles replacing Anita Gillette in the original production of Cabaret.  Off-Broadway she has performed in Mint Theater’s Drama Desk nominated The Return of the Prodigal, Roundabout Theater’s The Killing of Sister George, and A Shayna Maidel at The Westside Arts Theater. Off-Off-Broadway, she performed in Nat Cassidy’s Old Familiar Faces in FringeNYC, and was nominated as Outstanding Actress by the New York Innovative Theatre Awards.  She has toured nationally in A. R. Gurney’s The Cocktail Hour, Mary Chase’s Harvey and Stephen Sondheim’s Company.  She has performed major roles in theatres across North America, notably Hartford Stage, Barrington Stage, Yale Rep, Cleveland Playhouse, San Diego’s Old Globe and Denver Center Theater, among others. Her work has covered a wide spectrum of styles and playwrights, including Albee, Anouilh, Alan Ayckbourn, Beckett, Brecht, Coward, Ibsen, O’Neill, Neil Simon, Shakespeare, Shaw, Oscar Wilde and Thornton Wilder.

 

THE TALL BOY will be presented Friday, January 22 at 8pm and Saturday, January 23 at 2 and 8pm. Running time is 74 minutes with no intermission. The Courthouse Center is located at 3481 Kingstown Rd, West Kingston, RI. Tickets are $25, available at (401) 782-1018 or www.courthousearts.org.