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Lester's Breakdown Suite Winner of the 2004 National Original Play Contest Written by Eric Appleton Directed by Devin Meadows Click here for Tulsa World Preview Click here for Tulsa World Review May 5-7 & 12-14, 2005 at 8 pm

The cast includes Whitson Hannah, Alli Tunnell, Nate Gavin, Sue Sinor,Marilyn Gates, David Gray, Ronda Grosso, Tony Manganaro, and recent Council Oak winner Sherry Zyskowski.

Talk back sessions with the playwright will take place immediately after the May 13-14 performances. These question and answer sessions are made possible through the generous support of The Great Western Downtown Plaza Hotel, on 7th and Boulder (17 W. 7th). This year we received over 207 entries from around the world for our 16thannual Playwriting Contest. What drives families apart? And what can heal them? Come see a world premiere presentation in our continuing celebration of new works. Appleton's play tells the story of three sisters, who have been estranged for years, and the grown son and daughter of the eldest sister, Rose. They all bear the scars of family discord, each in their own way. They survive, or not, depending on their character and their ability to see and accept the truth.

Eric Appleton is a lighting and set designer based in Chicago, where he hasDesigned for such companies as the Bailiwick Repertory Theatre, L'OperaPiccola, Circle Theatre, Prop Thtr, and the Northwestern University SchoolOf Music. His play, Iphigenia in Kingman, was produced last year by theInternational Theatre of Chicago, and both, Lester's Breakdown Suite andAlice Delmonico's World Without End were selected to participate in PropThtr's annual NewPlaySeries. He has taught various theatre courses at Carroll College, Elmhurst College, and the College of Wooster, and isconcluding his fifth year as technical director and set designer in NilesNorthHigh School's nationally recognized theatre program to take a position on thetheatre faculty of Niagara University . Eric expressed special excitement about this production as it occasions the first time he's ever won any sort of award for any of his professional work.

Here are a few things the playwright has said about the play:
This is not a play about family dysfunction and coming to terms, nor should it slide into melodrama, nor should undue emphasis be placed on the revelation of secrets. It is the time and the place that information comes together, and the characters must deal with it the best they know how * whether they sink or swim is a function of character. Indeed, it could be argued that many of the characters would prefer never to know the truth, but now that the dam has been breached the flood simply overwhelms them. Once again, scars give character, and without pain, we may never find out who we truly are. Screw the healing process. Bluntly, I feel this play is about good and evil; the ease with which selfishness slides into evil, and the difficulty and thanklessness of being good.

The director adds it is also frequently very funny.

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