O’LEARY STARS IN “TRYING” FOR ONE WEEKEND ONLY

WHEELING, W.Va. (May 21, 2009) - -Theatre legend Hal O’Leary returns to the Towngate stage to star in “Trying,” a witty and poignant account of the inevitable adventure of growing old. This is the first time O’Leary has acted on the Towngate stage since the 2005 production of “On Borrowed Time.”

Directed by Michael J. Ramsay, this special production will be staged for one weekend only- Thursday – Sunday, June 4 - 7, at Oglebay Institute’s Towngate Theatre, 2118 Market Street, Wheeling.

Written by Joanna McClelland Glass, this two-character play is inspired by the playwright’s experiences in 1967-68 as a young secretary to the elderly and irascible former Attorney General Judge Francis Biddle. Although the pivotal character in Trying is a judge, the title has nothing to do with the trying that takes place in courtrooms. The play is about a young, fresh-faced Canadian girl and an old Philadelphia aristocrat “trying” to understand each other in what Biddle knows is the final year of his life.

Biddle was as close to aristocracy as we get in America. His ancestors could be traced to the founding of our nation. He grew up in a wealthy Philadelphia family, graduated from Harvard with honors, clerked for Chief Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes, served as Attorney General under Franklin Roosevelt and was Chief Justice at the Nuremberg Trial of Hitler’s top aides.

But in 1967, Biddle was 81 years old and mightily resisting it. He was demanding and extremely difficult to please. He had gone through a long line of secretaries, all of whom left either humiliated or terrified. Twenty-five-year-old Sarah Schorr was raised in much humbler circumstances than Biddle, and she was different than his other secretaries. She was brave, strong-willed, had dreams of her own and was determined to tame the beast.

Over the ensuing months and through battles over everything from grammar to beliefs, these two headstrong people developed a mutual respect for one another that eventually became a warm and affectionate friendship that lasted until Biddle’s death a year later.

O’Leary (Francis Biddle) is the founder of Towngate Theatre and served as artistic director from 1969 to 2008. He has more than 300 productions to his credit along with half a dozen films. Most recently he was inducted into the Wheeling Hall of Fame and is the recipient of an honorary degree of Doctor of Humane Letters from West Liberty University.

C.J. Farnsworth (Sarah Schorr) is well known on the Towngate Stage. She last appeared in a dual role in Agatha Christie’s Witness for the Prosecution. Other Towngate credits include A Streetcar Named Desire, Fool Circle, Steel Magnolias and Months on End.

Ramsay’s directing credits include The Importance of Being Oscar Wilde for the Pittsburgh Playhouse and The Playboy of the Western World for The Acting Company. At Towngate, he has directed On Borrowed Time and The Beauty Queen of Leenane, which was named best play at the 2001 West Virginia Theatre Conference.

Towngate’s curtain is at 8 p.m. Thursday, Friday and Saturday, June 4, 5 and 6 and 2 p.m. Sunday, June 7.

Call the Stifel Fine Arts Center at 304.242.7700 to reserve seats. For those buying seats at the door, Towngate’s box office opens one hour before all shows and can be reached at 304.233.4257.

Refreshments are available at Towngate Theatre and parking is curbside or in the nearby Center Wheeling Parking Garage. Located at 2118 Market St., Wheeling, Towngate is easy to find and located just across the street from St. Alphonsus Catholic Church in the historic Centre Market district of Wheeling.

This program is made possible through the generous support of the members of the Institute as well as with financial assistance from the West Virginia Division of Culture and History and the National Endowment for the Arts, with approval from the WV Commission on the Arts.