‘Driving Miss Daisy’ pulls into Bridge Street Theater
Pull to the side of the road: “Driving Miss Daisy” motors into the Bridge Street Theatre, 44 W. Bridge St., Catskill, for its opening weekend of performances. Times are Friday and Saturday, Oct. 12 and 13, at 7:30 p.m., and Sunday, Oct. 14, at 2 p.m.
Alfred Uhry’s heartwarming 1988 Pulitzer Prize-winning drama is set in Atlanta, Georgia, in 1948. An elderly Jewish widow named Daisy Werthan has just totaled her new car and her insurance company has declared her a high risk.
While she’s determined to maintain her independence, her son Boolie insists she get herself a driver. He hires an African-American man named Hoke Colburn to be her chauffeur. And, though the relationship gets off to a rocky start, these two very different people gradually develop a close mutual friendship, one that transcends both the racial prejudices of the time and all the societal changes that occur over the 20-plus years Hoke spends ‘driving Miss Daisy’.
Featured in this production are local actors Lora Lee Ecobelli as Daisy, Paul Carter as Hoke and Tony Pallone as Boolie.
Ecobelli is an actress, writer, director and teacher. She has performed on Broadway, Off Broadway, in Regional Theatre, and in films and television. She was the recipient of the Harold Clurman award for best leading actress for her performance in “The Vise.” Some of her favorite roles include Gertrude in “Hamlet” at The West End Theatre, Madame Ranevskaya at Walking the Dog Theatre in Chatham and Emily in “Lark Eden” at Bridge Street Theatre.
Ecobelli is also the artistic director for The Blue Horse Repertory Company and teaches theatre at The Theatre Institute at Sage College.
Carter is a Hudson and Bard College alumnus. He has worked in the New York theater scene in various productions at such venues as The Metropolitan Opera, La Mama,e.t.c., Theater for the New City, Riverside Shakespeare, Soho Rep and Westbeth Theatre Center. He has also enjoyed playing several supporting roles on daytime television, including “One Life to Live,””, “All My Children,” “Another World,” and “Loving.” National and International tour credits include McMurphy in “One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest” (European Tour), Jesse Owens in “Olympic Spirit” (US), Hud in the 20th Anniversary Tour of “Hair, The Musical (US & Canada), and The Fox in “Pinocchio” (US). Other favorite roles include: Joe in “Big River” (Yorktown Performing Arts), Private Megs in “Strange Snow” (Shadowland Playhouse), Mohammed in “Omnium Gatherum” (Stageworks/Hudson), Solomon Northup in “Friend of a Friend” (Capital Repertory Theatre) and Macheath in “Three Penny Opera” (Rhinebeck Performing Arts Center). His performing experience also includes a stint as a featured vocalist for Regency Cruise Line’s Broadway Spectacular and Manhattan Latin revues (Caribbean, South America, and Vancouver, B.C./Alaska Cruises).
Pallone first shared a stage with Bridge Street Theatre co-founder Steven Patterson in Capital Repertory Theatre’s production of “To Kill a Mockingbird,” and he’s wanted to work with him again ever since. Previous credits include “The Enemy of the People” (Barrington Stage), “The Trip to Bountiful”, “Gypsy”, “To Kill a Mockingbird” (Capital Rep), “Urinetown: The Musical”, “Equus” (Ghent Playhouse), “The Seagull,” “The Little Foxes” (Northeast Theatre Ensemble), “Half and Half,” “The Addams Family” (Theater Barn), and “Blithe Spirit”, “Arms and the Man”, “The Weir” (Theater Voices). He also serves on the boards of Northeast Theatre Ensemble and Theater Voices, both based in Albany. He has taught acting to young theatre enthusiasts at Drama Kids International, NYSTI and Proctors.
The play is directed by Flo Hayle, with sets and lighting designed by John Sowle, and costumes by Michelle Rogers. Production Stage Manager is Frank Dianda.
The production concludes with performances Thursday, Oct. 18, Friday, Oct. 19 and Saturday, Oct. 20, at 7:30 p.m., and Sunday, Oct. 21, at 2 p.m. Tickets for most performances are available for $22 online at driving.BrownPaperTickets.com or by calling (800) 838-3006. Tickets can also be purchased at the door before each performance (on a space-available basis) for $25. Students ages 21 and under are always $10.
The Oct. 14 performance is a pay-what-you-will event. Those tickets are only available at the door and are subject to availability.
The Oct. 21 performance is a special benefit for the Town and Country Women’s Network Scholarship Fund. All seats are $35 and include a pre-show reception at 1:00pm. Tickets for this special performance are not available online and can be purchased by contacting Joan Young at (518) 943-4992, Tammy Anderson at (518) 728-4340 or Ellen De Lucia at (518) 943-1836 or ellendelucia@ yahoo.com.
Call the theatre at (518) 943-3894 or visit bridgest. org for more information.