The Centre Theatre
and

Iron Age Theatre

Present

The Boys in Autumn
by Bernard Sabath

“The Boys in Autumn” drama about Huck and Tom as old men runs through Dec. 4

The Centre Theatre in Norristown presents Bernard Sabath’s play “The Boys in Autumn” opening November 11. “The Boys in Autumn” is a warm, bittersweet comedy about the most beloved characters in American literature, Tom Sawyer and Huck Finn. The play picks up their lives as they come together again as middle-aged men, decades after their boyhood adventures together on the banks of the Mississippi River.

The play runs through December 4 at the Centre Theatre in the Montgomery County Cultural Center, 208 DeKalb Street Norristown. Showtimes are at 8 p.m. with Sunday matinees at 2 p.m. Tickets are $16 and $14. Call 610-279-1013 for information, or visit the web at www.artscc.org.

The play opens in late summer in 1920. After a long life of ups and downs as a seedy vaudevillian, Tom Sawyer- who has performed under the name of Thomas Gray - returns to the hill that was his boyhood playground near the village of Hannibal Missouri on the Mississippi River. At the end of his rope he is desperate to locate his childhood pal Huck Finn, who was the adventure-loving ragtag son of the town drunk. Instead, Gray runs into a reclusive old gentleman named Henry Finnegan who greets strangers with suspicion and a shotgun.

On the riverbank lookout, the men finally lay aside their distrust, reveal their identities and confide the troubling secrets that sent each on a separate path. Each has been deeply - catastrophically - influenced by the central events of their youth together; and each has lived an imperfect life. Now, finally in maturity with humor and wisdom, they renew their vows of blood brotherhood as they plot bold new adventures.

“The Boys in Autumn” opened on Broadway in 1986 with George C. Scott and John Cullum starring. Burt Lancaster and Kirk Douglas played the characters in the West Coast production The play is a touching, often funny, sometimes bittersweet look at the changes we go through as we grow up and how we often never fully escape our past.

Steve Hatzai plays Thomas Grey/Tom Sawyer. He has performed at the Folger Theatre in Washington D.C., the 45th Street Theatre in New York at Hedgerow, Interact, People’s Light and Theatre, Touchstone Theatre and The Pennsylvania Shakespeare Festival. He was recently seen in Iron Age Theatre’s “Shakesploitation” at the Philadelphia Fringe and as Phil Hogan in “Moon for the Misbegotten.

Bob Weick plays Henry Finnegan/Huck Finn. Weick has performed at the Philadelphia Theatre Company, Theatre Outlet, Iron Age Theatre and in television and films. For the past year he has been touring his one man show “Marx in Soho” by Howard Zinn across the country.

Working together, the Centre Theatre and Iron Age Theatre have been one of the most critically acclaimed companies working in the Philadelphia Area. They received a Barrymore Nomination for Best Lead Actor for “The Elephant Man” in 2005. Their 2003 show “Terra Nova” was nominated for a Barrymore Award for outstanding ensemble. The company also produced the critically acclaimed revival of Steinbeck’s “Of Mice and Men,” and last spring presented the East Coast premier of the World War Two drama “Sky Girls.”

The Centre Theater is in the Montgomery County Cultural Center at 208 DeKalb Street in Norristown. It is easily reached from Routes 202, I-76, I-476 and Ridge Pike. There is plenty of free parking and the theatre is one block from Septa's Norristown Transit Center, R6 line. Call 610-279-1013 for tickets and information or visit us on the web at www.artscc.org. November 11 - 13, 17 - 20, 25 - 27, December 1 - 4, 2005
Thursday - Sunday