Sweet Bird of Youth

Wilton’s Gary Battaglia to direct Tennessee Williams’ powerful drama Sweet Bird of Youth which plays Friday & Saturday, May 4, 5, 11, 12, 18 & 19 at 8PM and Sundays, May 6 & 13 at 2:30 PM at the Powerhouse Theatre, Waveny Park, New Canaan

 “And the whole meaning of all my work is that there is no such thing as complete  right and complete wrong, complete black, complete white.  That we’re all in the same boat and really the boat is the world, you might even say it’s the universe.”

-- From a December 1961 WFMT radio interview with Studs Terkel—

       Tennessee Williams’ powerful drama Sweet Bird of Youth is the Town Players of New Canaan’s spring production. Gary Battaglia of Wilton, who is directing the Town Players’ production, also twenty years ago directed Sweet Bird for the Wilton Playshop with whom he also has acted in Shadow Box.

       Mr. Battaglia believes, “Williams is the quintessential American playwright and his play is about loss of youthful beauty and innocence and the effect this loss has on all the characters; as Williams says in the play, ‘that bird that sails away with your youth.’ Most people look back at innocence and everyone has sadness in their lives. He treats our vulnerabilities in ways that are more identifiable and brings his plays closer to real people. His characters are representative of life, not larger than life, as are those of Eugene O’Neill.  Audiences will relate and see themselves in Sweet Bird of Youth.

     When the lights come up, Chance Wayne, an actor whose career has hit the skids, has become a beach boy and been picked up in Palm Beach by fading movie star Alexandra Del Lago, who is travelling incognita as Princess Kosmonopolis. Now her gigolo/caregiver, Chance takes Princess to St. Cloud, his home town, so that he can reunite with the love of his life Heavenly, daughter of Boss Finley, and also boast to all that Princess is sponsoring his movie comeback.

       Mr. Battaglia’s cast includes Lynne Bolton of New Canaan and Gabriel Morrow of Rowayton, who will appear as Princess Kosmonopolis and Chance Wayne in the roles created by Geraldine Page and Paul Newman. Playing Boss Finley, an archetypical Southern political crook, who is wealthy, buys people off and doesn’t care who he steps on including his children” will be Michael Kopko of Nantucket and a 1976 graduate of Staples High School. Appearing as Boss’s son, Tom, Jr., will be Bobby Pavia of Stamford who played the title role of Amadeus this past fall. New Canaan actress Janet Rathert will appear as Heavenly. “So much about life is all past for her,” says Janet. “She is trying not to get to a place of regret, her possibilities gone forever at age of 28.  Her father is so selfish and sacrificed her happiness for his political ambition.” In the poignant and brave role as Tom, Jr. and Heavenly’s Aunt Nonnie, also Chance’s champion, will be Kathleen Klatte of Yonkers.

        Playing Miss Lucy, Boss’s wise, fun loving and earthy mistress will be Susan Doran of New Canaan whose day job is an English teacher and a class dean in the upper school at St. Luke’s School in New Canaan.  In the roles of Boss’s various henchmen, compromised in their lives by various indebtedness to Boss, are Tim Cronin of Stamford as Scudder, Ed Donahue of Bridgeport as Hatcher, and Kyle Runestad of Norwalk as Scotty.  Michael Hodges of New Canaan will appear as room service busboy Fly.