SPECIAL TO NHN

Waimea Community Theatre actors are in training (rehearsal) for the May 20-29 production of “Biloxi Blues.”

Director Jennifer Hussong is excited to continue the story of Eugene Morris Jerome for Waimea audiences with “Biloxi Blues,” the second play in Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright Neil Simon’s ‘Eugene trilogy.’ Hussong directed the first part of the trilogy, “Brighton Beach Memoirs” for WCT in November 2008.

When the audience first met Eugene, he was coping with adolescence in 1930′s Brooklyn. In “Biloxi Blues”, he is a young WWII army recruit, going through basic training at boot camp in Biloxi, Mississippi in 1943 and learning about Life and Love along with some harsher lessons. The narrative of Eugene propels the play. Eugene wants to achieve a few specific things during the war: become a writer, not get killed, lose his virginity and fall in love. The stories in “Biloxi Blues” show how interacting with people with differing credos helps Eugene to define himself in a coming-of-age story that touches on bullying, discrimination, the military mindset and falling in love.

Jacy Anderson will portray Eugene Morris Jerome. Soldiers Arnold Epstein, Joseph Wykowski, Don Carney, Roy Selridge and James Hennessey will be played by Shaun Henckel, Jor-El Mateo-Panilo, Ka`eo Ishikuro, Matthew Freitas and Chadwick Lankford. Victor Pangan has been cast as Sergeant Merwin J. Toomey. Samantha Axelrod will fill the role of Daisy Hannigan and Gail Mueller and Stephen Green will play Rowena and the Corporal respectively.

Performances are set for May 20-29, 2011, Friday and Saturday 7:30 p.m., Sunday 3 p.m. at Parker School’s Theatre in Waimea. Addmission for adults is $12, senior citizen/students (with ID) is$10. Tickets are available from the cast and crew, from Waimea ticket outlets Waimea General Store or Without Boundaries, or from the Box Office 30 minutes before each performance. Seating is general admission. This play is considered the equivalent of PG-13 due to dialogue containing profanity and discussion of a sexual nature.

For more information call 885-5818 or visit www.waimeacommunitytheatre.org.