Issue link: https://newsleader.uberflip.com/i/268408
The Asolo Repertory Theatre will continue its 2013-2014 season with Frank Galati's adaptation of John Steinbeck's Pulitzer Prize- winning novel The Grapes of Wrath, the theatre has announced. Asolo Rep Producing Artistic Director Michael Donald Edwards will direct the production. G a l a t i 's a d a p t a t i o n p r e m i e r e d a t t h e Steppenwolf Theatre of Chicago in 1988. The Broadway production won the Tony award for Best Play and Best Direction of a Play in 1990 and was nominated for six additional Tony Awards, a news release points out. Galati also won a Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Director in 1990, and the play was nominated for four additional Drama Desk Awards. Previews will be March 12-13, and open- ing night will be March 14. The play will run through April 19, the release adds. "A true American masterpiece, The Grapes of Wrath chronicles the hardships of the Dust Bowl of the 1930s, particularly its detrimental effects on the nation's farmers," the release points out. "Also transformed into the 1940 Academy Award-winning film starring Henry Fonda, the play tells the inspirational story of one family of farmers, the Joads, and their harrowing cross-country journey from their depleted farm in Oklahoma to the supposedly thriving grape farms of California." The release adds, "The family's resilient matriarch, Ma Joad, and her son, Tom, who THE GRAPES OF WRATH TO OPEN MARCH 12 AT ASOLO REP The Grapes of Wrath will be the next production at the Asolo Repertory Theatre in Sarasota. Image courtesy Asolo Rep Sarasota News Leader February 28, 2014 Page 117