Driving Miss Daisy
by Alfred Uhry
September 12 - October 19, 2008
It’s not very often, if ever, that a piece of work can win the Pulitzer Prize for Drama, win an Academy Award for Best Picture and win the hearts of millions of theatergoers. “Driving Miss Daisy”, opening at Stage 3 Theatre Company is one of those rare works.
The play was called “a total delight” by the New York Daily News.
“I’ve been in love with this play for years.” says Stage 3 Artistic Director Don Bilotti. “Its not easy to pull off and we’ve been waiting for all the pieces to come together.” “When Hilah Elkins, Dennis Brown, John Bell and Maryann Curmi all came to me with the project, I jumped at the chance. It was the perfect team, perfect for Stage 3 and perfect for our audience. It’s not only very funny and entertaining, ‘Daisy’ has this wonderful underlying message of acceptance and hope. In gentility, compassion and mercy there is tremendous power.”
The place is the Deep South, the time 1948, just prior to the civil rights movement. Having recently demolished another car, Daisy Wertham, must rely on the services of a chauffeur, an unemployed black man, Hoke, whom Miss Daisy immediately regards with disdain and who, in turn, is not impressed with his employer's patronizing tone and, he believes, her latent prejudice. But, in a series of absorbing scenes spanning twenty-five years, the two, despite their mutual differences, grow ever closer to, and more dependent on, each other, until, eventually, they become almost a couple. They both come to realize they have more in common than they ever believed possible—and that times and circumstances would ever allow them to publicly admit.
Many people will remember the 1989 movie version starring Jessica Tandy as Daisy, Morgan Freeman as Hoke and Dan Aykroyd as Boolie. It won four Academy Awards including Best Picture, Best Screenplay and Best Actress for Tandy. Freeman earned a Best Actor nomination and Aykroyd a Best Supporting Actor nomination.
Director Maryann Curmi is well known to theatergoers throughout the region. As an actress, she has appeared in over two dozen shows at Stage 3 as well as having a lengthy list of credits with Columbia Actors Repertory and Sierra Repertory Theater. She is also a talented director, having helmed such productions as “My Heart and My Flesh”, “A Man For all Seasons”, “Billy Bishop Goes to War”, “Talley’s Folly” and “A Show of Her Own”.
“I was lucky enough to be in the right place at the right time”, Curmi says. “Hilah, Dennis and John were all in the same room. They had never met one another, but by the end of the evening each one had agreed to be the cast of “Driving Miss Daisy”! It was an easy decision to add my name on to direct these fine actors. I love this cast. They never cease to amaze me, rehearsal after rehearsal.”
The title role is played by veteran actress Hilah Elkins. She has appeared in many productions at Stage 3, most recently in the powerful production of “Inherit the Wind”. Elkins had retired from the stage but the lure of ‘Daisy’ brought her back one more time. The role demands an actress of great humor, great heart and great understanding. It also demands an actress with a powerful work ethic and Elkins fills the bill. She says, “This role and it is probably the only one that could have brought me back and I’m delighted to be playing it with this wonderful cast.”
Dennis Brown gets to display his considerable dramatic chops in the role of Hoke. He is one of the regions best known and most respected musical performers and music directors. His credits include dozens of appearances in local productions. At Stage 3 he was seen in ‘Billy Bishop Goes to War, as Jimmy in ‘Lady Day at Emerson’s Bar and Grille” and was Music Director for the hits “Crowns” and “Woody Guthrie’s American Song”. Recently for SRT he was Old Deuteronomy in “Cats”, was the musical director and performed in “Ain’t Misbehavin” and was the voice of Audrey II in “The Little Shop of Horrors”.
Boolie, Daisy’s son, is played by another veteran, John Bell. You might not know his face but you are probably very familiar with his voice. Or should we say voices. His seemingly limitless supply of comic inventions have graced the radio airwaves across the country for decades. Moving to the Mother Lode several years ago, he has been able to return to his first love, live theater, when his busy schedule allows. Bell has appeared at Stage 3 in “Inherit the Wind” and “King o’ the Moon”.
Set design for “Daisy’ will be by Ron Cotnam, Costume Design by Diana Newington and Lighting Design by Matthew Leamy. Kathleen Liedlich will stage manage with production assistance by Susan Biszmaier.
This production is made possible in part by Associate Producers Larry and Olga Jones.