Lost In Yonkers

By Neil Simon
Directed by Robin Taylor
October 22 - November 13, 2010

Neil Simon, the world’s most successful playwright, earned the Pulitzer Prize and the Tony Award for Best Play with this bittersweet coming-of-age "dramedy."

It’s the sizzling summer of 1942. World War II rages overseas. Young brothers Arty and Jay battle their personal home front when ne’er-do-well Pop dumps them at dictatorial Grandma Kurnitz’s apartment in Yonkers, New York. With a loving, mentally challenged aunt and a petty-thug uncle, the boys struggle for survival in Grandma’s harsh home. Results are both comical and poignant. 

Director Robin Taylor says, “In this marvelous play, Neil Simon has fused the comic situations and one-liners that we enjoy in his comedies with a compelling family drama set in wartime. The universal themes of acceptance, survival, and the importance of one’s family flow throughout the play until it concludes with a surprising happy ending.”

The cast includes two young accomplished actors, David Kahawaii, a freshman at San Ramon Valley High in Danville, as Jay, and a home-schooled student from Pleasanton, Cole Cloud, as Arty. Dawn Cates of Pleasanton, Willem Long of Lafayette, Janice Fuller Leone of Hayward, Sukanya Sarkar of Dublin and Ryan Terry of Martinez round out the cast.

Danville website: Town of Danville and Role Players Ensemble