Renaissance Rep Co. presents Miller’s classic “Death of a Salesman” April 16 & 17

Release Date: 3/30/2004. Expired: 4/17/2004

Arthur Miller’s Pulitzer-winning Death of a Salesman comes to The Renaissance Center stage for two public performances April 16 and 17.

The American theatre classic is being presented by the Renaissance Repertory Theatre Company for high school field trips during the spring semester and will be presented in only two shows for the public. Tickets for the 7 p.m. shows are $12 for adults, $10 for seniors and $7 for children under 13.

“Death of a Salesman is perhaps one of the greatest American plays of all time,” said Hal Partlow, managing director of the Rep Co. who appears in the production as salesman Willy Loman. “Miller’s play was unusual in its time for its presentation of a common man, Willy, as the tragic figure in a story about the American dream gone bad.”

Originally published and produced in 1949, Death of a Salesman won the New York Drama Critics’ Circle Award as well as the Pulitzer Prize.

The play follows Willy as he reviews a life of desperate pursuit of the American dream that anyone can ultimately achieve success through hard work, even if he or she began with nothing. But Willy is in a crisis.

He’s about to lose his job, he can’t pay his bills, and his sons, Biff and Happy, don’t respect him and can’t seem to live up to the potential their father sees in them. Willy wonders what went wrong and how he can make things up to his family.

Through his play, Miller suggests to his audience what is real and what is deceiving in the “American dream.”

The cast includes Alex Syler as Biff, Ryan Hunt as Happy and Amy Arrington as Willy’s wife Linda, along with Matt Greenbaum, Anna Felix and Michael Knight in a variety of supporting roles. It is directed by Kim Leavitt, former director of Theatre Education and Outreach at The Renaissance Center.

Partlow is originally from upstate New York and has worked professionally throughout the country for 20 years. He is the managing director of the Renaissance Repertory Company. Partlow has appeared in or directed most Repertory Company productions since The Renaissance Center opened, including A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Jane Eyre, Twelfth Night, Davy Crockett: Titan of Tennessee, MacBeth, The Jungle Book, As You Like It, and Richard III. In the Gaslight Dinner Theatre, he has appeared as Sparky in Forever Plaid, Lucien P. Smith in The Boys Next Door, and Andy in The Star Spangled Girl. Directing credits for the Renaissance Center include: Twelfth Night, Richard III, The Belle of Amherst, The Glass Menagerie, Grace and Glorie, Dearly Departed, and Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat.

Syler is a graduate of Austin Peay State University’s theatre program. During his undergraduate years, Syler is remembered most for his award-winning performance of a mentally challenged young man named Take in Tennessee Waltz. He appeared in several short films, including Caley’s Friend and the self-produced The Guardian. During his final year in school, Syler was given the opportunity to head the fledgling film company Clean Cut, from which he spawned the sketch comedy series Campus Wild. Syler was seen at The Renaissance Center last season in several shows including A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum, And Then They Came for Me: Remembering the World of Anne Frank, Sylvia, Uh-oh Here Comes Christmas, and I Hate Hamlet.

Ryan Hunt, an Evansville, Ind., native, made his directorial debut in the Renaissance Players production of The Miracle Worker, in which he also played James Keller. He appeared in the Gaslight Dinner Theatre production of Barefoot in the Park, as a member of the ensemble for Jacob Marley’s Christmas Carol and as Charlie Brown in You’re a Good Man, Charlie Brown. His regional credits include The Baker in Into the Woods and Frederic in Pirates of Penzance (Papermill Theatre, N.H.), Freddy in My Fair Lady, Snoopy in You’re a Good Man, Charlie Brown and Charlie Davenport in Annie Get Your Gun (Jekyll Island Music Theatre, Ga.), and America: The State of Rhythm (Six Flags Over Georgia). As a member of the Repertory Company, Hunt is currently seen as Happy in Death of a Salesman and Chester in Lilly’s Purple Plastic Purse. For the Renaissance Players, he has served as assistant director for Cinderella and will fill the same role for the upcoming production of The Wizard of Oz. Hunt earned a BFA in Theatre Performance from the University of Evansville.

Amy Arrington originally hails from Cedar Hill, Tenn., and has been with the Rep Co. for three years. She has appeared in many Gaslight Dinner Theatre productions with memorable roles including Snoopy in You’re a Good Man, Charlie Brown, Lillian in I Hate Hamlet, Kate in Sylvia, Jeanette in Last of the Red Hot Lovers, Sister Mary Amnesia in Nunsense, Agnes in I Do! I Do! and Ethel Banks in Barefoot in the Park, as well as productions of The Boys Next Door, All I Really Need to Know I Learned in Kindergarten and Uh-Oh, Here Comes Christmas. Arrington is the resident costumer for theatre productions and has performed in more than a dozen Repertory Company shows.

Matt Greenbaum has appeared in the Gaslight Dinner Theatre as Victor Velasco in Barefoot in the Park, Jacob Marley in Jacob Marley’s Christmas Carol and Linus in You’re a Good Man, Charlie Brown. This past summer Greenbaum was seen at the Kentucky Shakespeare Festival as Launcelot Gobbo in The Merchant of Venice and Friar Francis in Much Ado About Nothing. He hails from sunny Florida and holds a BFA degree in Theatre Performance from the University of Central Florida. Some of his college credits include The Merry Wives of Windsor, Ah, Wilderness! and Picasso at the Lapin Agile.

Michael Knight Jr., technical director for The Renaissance Center, holds an MFA in lighting design from the University of Mississippi. Professionally, he has designed lights for the Upstaged Improv Club in Dallas, Texas, the Po’ Theatre in Oxford, Miss., as well as compiling an impressive collegiate design resume in lighting, sound and set design. He has also served as master electrician for The Kentucky Shakespeare Festival and worked for the King Biscuit Blues Festival for two years as a general tech. While at The Renaissance Center he has designed lights for numerous shows including Annie Get Your Gun, A Christmas Story, Love Letters, Uh-Oh Here Comes Christmas, John Kay and Friends, The Sound of Music, Eddie Money, I Hate Hamlet and Amelia Lives, while appearing on stage in multiple roles in Rep Co. productions of Romeo and Juliet and Death of a Salesman. Knight has also been recognized for excellence in design in several university, collegiate and regional competitions.

Anna Felix grew up in West Virginia, where she received a B.S. in Biology at Bethany College. Upon graduation she moved to Nashville where she worked at Vanderbilt Psychiatric Hospital for two years, conducting microdialysis research. Realizing that science was boring, Felix decided to explore her more creative side and she has recently been involved in several productions. Her favorite roles include Fenris Ulf in The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, which toured Texas, Oklahoma and Kansas, and directing the cast of The Praise Parade in downtown Nashville. She was last seen on stage as Miss Casewell in The Mouse Trap. This season she will be seen in You’re A Good Man, Charlie Brown, Lilly’s Purple Plastic Purse, Death of a Salesman and The Dining Room.

For more information on Rep Co. productions at The Renaissance Center, call (615)740-5600. To book a field trip production of Death of a Salesman or other Rep Co. shows, call Cathy Walls at (615)740-5566. To purchase tickets for the public performances, call (615)740-5570.

The Renaissance Center is an arts and technology education and performing arts center at 855 Highway 46 South in Dickson, just 35 miles west of Nashville on Interstate 40 at exit 172.

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