NEXT UP AT THE FRINGE: PULITZER PRIZE PLAY

Fringe Theater presents the 1978 Pulitzer Prize winning play The Gin Game, written by DL Coburn and directed by John Reynolds, at the Key West Woman’s Club, located at 319 Duval Street.

To the playwright’s consternation, the show is often referred to as a comedy-drama. “I thought I had written a tragedy,” later explained the author of his first play. “I was horrified that people were going to expect to laugh!” They did expect to, and they did laugh.

The Gin Game pits Weller Martin against Fonsia Dorsey, a new resident at the retirement home. They square-off not only over a card game but over life choices, remembrances, and eventually something deeper. (Doubting that’s possible? Remember the last time you agreed to play Monopoly with your in-laws?)

“I was bringing the focus to bear on two people who are nearing the end of their lives with essential areas unexamined and never confronted.  It is the gin game, gently at first, then as ferocious obsession, that draws both characters into a virtual death-spiral of revelation that reaches to the core of their beings,” continues Coburn.     

The play opened in a 56-seat theater in Los Angeles. It quickly came to the attention of husband-and-wife actors Jessica Tandy and Hume Cronyn. They in turn brought it to the attention of renowned director Mike Nicholls. Within months, the production found itself fast-tracked to Broadway, and in 1978, the play won the prestigious Pulitzer Prize. Most recently, the play was revived with Cicely Tyson and James Earl Jones.

The Fringe production features veteran performers Don Bearden (1776) and Vanessa McCaffrey (Shirley Valentine) as Weller and Fonsia. With director John Reynolds and Carole MacCartee, these actors navigate this tense, tender, volatile — and yes, funny play.

“I came across this quote by Gustave Flaubert,” the playwright concludes, “We laugh with pity at the vanity of the human will. I realized then, that it is the human will that is funny. I simply stayed with the truth of my characters, and life supplied the humor.”

Tickets to the Fringe’s production of The Gin Game are $35 general admission and $45 reserved. Like the original setting for the original production, seating is limited to 56-seats so advance tickets are encouraged. Tickets can be purchased at www.fringetheater or at 305-731-0581.

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