Directed by Jack Serio, The Dark Outside will star Austin Pendleton as the tailor and New York actress Katharine Cullison, for whom the part was written, as his wife leading a stellar quintet of actors.
The World Premiere of The Dark Outside will be performed from November 6 to 28.
Wednesdays through Saturdays at 8:00 PM, Sundays at 3:00 PM.
Tickets: $18 general admission.
ABOUT THE PLAY
A working-class family in their struggle against a bleak and tumultuous world. Bernard Kops centers his play on escapism and the human condition, reminding us of the most important things in life.
"Kops deals with the issue of our times - the conflicts and struggles of a family trying to keep together, while the world outside is ever-increasingly chaotic and desperate. Sometimes, a writer and poet such as Kops can elucidate the state of the nation with astonishing clarity and find the words that many of us are feeling and thinking. Although the play appears to be a domestic drama, it is set against the visual metaphor of an ancient 400-year-old mulberry tree protecting the family in the garden. This ancient tree is a symbol of longevity and hope, often known as the Tree of Life, reminds us of the mystical healing power of Mother Nature." (Pamela Howard)
ABOUT THE PLAYWRIGHT
Bernard Kops is an English playwright, novelist, and poet born on November 28, 1926, in London, England, known for his works of unabashed sentimentality.
Kops left school at the age of 13 and worked at various odd jobs before beginning to write. He established himself with his first play, The Hamlet of Stepney Green (1959), a reversal of the family relationships depicted in William Shakespeare’s Hamlet, ending happily in an affirmation of the human spirit. Among his other plays were The Dream of Peter Mann (1960), an apocalyptic drama in which much of the action occurs as a dream, and Playing Sinatra (1991), which centers on a brother and sister obsessed with the legendary performer. Kops’s early life of poverty and his Jewish background informs much of his work, including Enter Solly Gold (1961), in which a con artist convinces a Jewish millionaire that he is the Messiah in order to steal his money, the surrealistic drama Ezra (produced 1981), based on the personality of the American poet Ezra Pound, and Dreams of Anne Frank (1998).
Kops’s novels included Awake for Mourning (1958), The Dissent of Dominick Shapiro (1966), and The Odyssey of Samuel Glass (2012). He also wrote the autobiographies The World Is a Wedding (1963) and Shalom Bomb (2000) as well as several radio and television plays. Barricades in West Hampstead (1988) and Love, Death, and Other Joys (2018) were among Kops’s many collections of poetry.