The Penn State Berks Theatre Department will present “Danny and the Deep Blue Sea,” written by John Patrick Shanley. This play will be co-directed by Julia Elberfeld, a junior theatre major, and Radhica Ganapathy, assistant professor of theatre. Shows are scheduled at 8 p.m. Nov. 11-15, in the Perkins Student Center Auditorium.
Elberfeld was selected to co-direct the play when her directing style was observed in a theatre course and it was deemed to be a good fit for the production.
The setting is a rundown bar in the Bronx, where two of society's rejects, Danny and Roberta, strike up a halting conversation over their beer. He is a brooding, self-loathing young man who resorts more to violence than reason; she is a divorced, guilt-ridden young woman whose troubled teenage son is now being cared for by her parents. Danny, whose fellow truck drivers call him "the animal," seems incapable of tender emotion, while Roberta, who is still haunted by the memory of an ugly sexual incident involving her father, is distrustful of men in general. And yet, as their initial reserve begins to melt, and they decide to spend the night together, the possibility of a genuine and meaningful relationship begins to emerge — the first for both of them.
Tickets cost $10 for general admission; $7 for Penn State Berks faculty/staff; and $5 for Penn State Berks students with ID. To order tickets, call the box office at 610-396-6371 or email BerksTheatre@psu.edu.