Late 1930’s Brooklyn makes its way onto the Meramec stage
By: Oliver Pulcher, Art & Life Editor
Have you ever wondered what it may have been like to live in a typical, great-depression era polish-jewish Brooklyn family? Then “Brighton Beach Memoirs,” the most recent production to grace Meramec’s stage from Oct.2-6, was the play for you.
What starts off as a seemingly mundane play about family like during the great depression, quickly becomes a production which captures attention with heavy dialogue and surprisingly relatable issues faced by the characters within.
The most interesting part of this play is the endless amounts of layers that seem to take place within one household. Throughout the play the large, well put-together stage manages to give the viewer both endless things to pay attention to while simultaneously softly directing the audience’s attention back to whichever family dilemma is currently being sorted through in the household.
The layers don’t stop here either, the production also manages to showcase an astounding array of emotions and characteristics of the characters. Actors who we as students may recognize if we saw them in the halls of our school fade into their characters incredibly well.
Evan Turek, who played Uncle Jack in Brighton Beach Memoirs, said, “I think the biggest challenge was remembering that the audience can’t believe me if I can’t believe myself. I had to believe I was this 40-year old, male, jewish, head of the family archetype. This was one of the first roles I started to feel confident in. I had to allow myself to lean into it and do the role justice.”
Overall, this production really manages to utilize all of its various resources both on and off stage to really pull in viewers and hold their attention for the duration of the production’s runtime. After about five minutes of dialogue, the play really feels like it stops being a production on stage, and it really becomes more of an involved experience that audience members have been tied into, instead of just being viewers. Brighton Beach really managed to imprint itself in the memory of its viewers.
Top Left: Eugene Morris Jerome (Owen Farra) narrates about his life is horrible and tells the audience about his family during the beginning of the play Brighton Beach Memoirs. Blanche Morton (Grace Raisch), Laurie Morton (Sienna DeSuza), and Kate Jerome (Tamila Vulakh) continue with their life while Eugene speaks.
Top Middle: Nora Morton (Susannah Burch) tells Kate Jerome (Tamila Vulakh) and Blanche Morton (Grace Raisch) about a great opportunity she just encountered. A man wants her to audition to become a Broadway star. Nora’s mother, Blanche, is not so thrilled about the idea of her 16-year-old daughter becoming a Broadway star and not finishing school.
Top Right: Nora Morton (Susannah Burch) tells Eugene Morris Jerome (Owen Farra), Kate Jerome (Tamila Vulakh), and Blanche Morton (Grace Raisch) about a Broadway career opportunity. Laurie asks her mother, Blanche, if she can take the career opportunity only to be let down, because she’s 16 and her mother wants her to finish school.
Bottom Left: Nora Morton (Susannah Burch) and Laurie Morton (Sienna DeSuza) agree that if they make money that they will save it and not spend it.
Bottom Right: Jack Jerome (Evan Turek) tells the family about a letter he has just received stating that their family left Poland. They have been worried about their family due to the war going on in Europe.
Photos by Amanda Harris.
