Tandy Cronyn to Star in Solo Performance at the Carousel Theatre
Veteran actor Tandy Cronyn will star in the “The Tall Boy” at the Clarence Brown Theatre’s Carousel Theatre on March 14 and 16 at 8:00 p.m. The productions are free and open to the public. A talkback will follow each of the performances.
“This play tells an important and moving story about the fragility and resilience of children in war,” Cronyn said.
In it, three young boys, a 15-year-old Czech, a 14-year-old Pole and a 12-year-old Italian are swept up by different American Army units in the final years of WW II and outfitted as GI mascots. They wear cut down US Army fatigues, speak English in the accents of the GI’s who “adopted” them, and want to follow their units “home” to the US. But as the GIs are being shipped back stateside, the boys are dumped at a children’s Displaced Persons Camp in Bavaria run by an American Relief Team.
The matron of this temporary orphanage is bound by regulations to try to repatriate the children – the United States has yet to open its doors to more than a tiny trickle of refugees – but the boys have their hearts set on America.
Through her eyes, we relive the boys’ struggles to find a future for themselves in the aftermath of World War II. Ms. Cronyn plays the role of the matron.
Ms. Cronyn was born in Los Angeles, raised in New York, made her professional debut in Montreal and trained for the stage at London’s Central School of Speech and Drama. After a season of repertory in Bury-St.-Edmunds, Suffolk, and several British teleplays, she returned to the United States to tour in Moliere’s “Scapin” and G. B. Shaw’s “The Devil’s Disciple.” She made her Broadway debut as Sally Bowles in the original production of “Cabaret.” Off-Broadway she has performed in The Mint Theater’s recent revival of “The Return of theProdigal”(which earned a Drama Desk best revival nomination), the Roundabout Theater’s revival of “The Killing of Sister George,” and at The Westside Arts Theater in “A ShaynaMaidel.” She has toured nationally in A. R. Gurney’s “The Cocktail Hour,” Mary Chase’s “Harvey” and Stephen Sondheim’s award-winning musical, “Company.” Ms. Cronyn has performed major classical and contemporary roles in theatres across North America, notably Hartford Stage, Barrington Stage Company, Yale Repertory Theatre, Cleveland Play House, San Diego’s Old Globe Theatre, the Denver Center, the Missouri Rep, and PlayMakers Repertory Company at UNC, Chapel Hill. Over the years her work has covered a wide spectrum of styles and playwrights, including Edward Albee, Jean Anouilh, Alan Ayckbourn, Samual Beckett, Bertholt Brecht, Noël Coward, Brian Friel, A. R. Gurney, Lillian Hellman, Ibsen, Donald Margulies, Martin McDonagh, Moliere, Eugene O’Neill, Neil Simon, Shakespeare, G. B. Shaw, Michele Tremblay, Oscar Wilde and Thornton Wilder. Ms. Cronyn has appeared in the several television movie and episodes.
Originally Kay Boyle’s story was published in a collection titled “Smoking Mountain: Stories of Germany During the Occupation.” Cronyn acquired the rights and commissioned a stage adaptation from British playwright, Simon Bent. The script began development at Guilford College in North Carolina where David Hammond directed a fully staged reading. The show, now titled ‘The Tall Boy,” had its premiere last August at The University of North Texas.
The production is directed by Bruch Reed and based on original staging by David Hammond.
For more information, please contact the Box Office at 865-974-5161 or www.clarencebrowntheatre.com
