Accomplished journalist Mitch Albom promised his Brandeis University professor, Morrie Schwartz, he’d stay in touch, but life got in the way. Florida Rep Producing Artistic Director Greg Longenhagen describes how the two reunited 16 years after Albom’s graduation.
“He's watching the news one day and sees Ted Koppel interviewing his old professor and he finds out during that interview that Morrie has Lou Gehrig's disease. He feels terrible and he decides he's going to go visit his professor before he passes away.”
What starts as a simple visit turns into a weekly pilgrimage and a beautiful lesson in humanity, compassion, and friendship.
“It's about life. It's about dying. It's about how to be a good human being and it's really a touching story,” Longenhagen added.
While its themes may be weighty, the script is replete with humor, imbuing audiences with the renewed resolve to live every day to the fullest.
“Tuesdays with Morrie” is performed in the ArtStage Studio Theatre through March 8.
MORE INFORMATION:
“Tuesdays with Morrie” is the autobiographical story of the friendship between Mitch Albom and Morrie Schwartz. At the end of Schwartz's life, the two reconnect, swapping life stories and advice about living life to the fullest.
“Tuesdays With Morrie” is the best-selling memoir of all time, with nearly 10 million copies sold worldwide. Albom, along with playwright Jeffrey Hatcher, adapted the book into a hit play. It premiered at Vassar College in Poughkeepsie, New York, on June 21, 2002. It was then produced off-Broadway at the Minetta Lane Theatre on Nov. 19, 2002.
It has since been performed in regional theaters throughout North America.
Hatcher wrote the book for the Broadway musical “Never Gonna Dance.” His Off-Broadway credits include “Three Viewings and A Picasso” at Manhattan Theatre Club; “Scotland Road” and “The Turn of the Screw” at Primary Stages; “Murder By Poe,” “The Turn of the Screw” and “The Spy” at The Acting Company; “Neddy” at American Place; and “Fellow Travelers” at Manhattan Punchline.
He also wrote “Compleat Female Stage Beauty,” “Mrs. Mannerly,” “Murderers,” “Mercy of a Storm,” “Smash,” “Armadale,” “Korczak's Children,” “To Fool the Eye,” “The Falls,” “A Piece of the Rope,” “All the Way with LBJ,” “The Government Inspector,” “Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde” and others at The Guthrie, Old Globe, Yale Rep, The Geffen, Seattle Rep, Cincinnati Playhouse, Cleveland Playhouse, South Coast Rep, Arizona Theater Company, San Jose Rep, The Empty Space, Indiana Rep, Children's Theater Company, History Theater, Madison Rep, Intiman, Illusion, Denver Center, Oregon Shakespeare Festival, Alabama Shakespeare Festival, Milwaukee Rep, Repertory Theater of St. Louis, Actors Theater of Louisville, Philadelphia Theater Company, Asolo, City Theater, Studio Arena and dozens more in the U.S. and abroad.
His film and television credits include “Stage Beauty,” “Casanova,” “The Duchess,” and episodes of “Columbo.”
He has received grants and awards from the NEA, TCG, Lila Wallace Fund, Rosenthal New Play Prize, Frankel Award, Charles MacArthur Fellowship Award, McKnight Foundation, Jerome Foundation and Barrymore Award Best New Play.
Hatcher is a member and/or alumnus of The Playwrights Center, the Dramatists Guild, the Writers Guild and New Dramatists.
Mitch Albom is a best-selling author, a nationally acclaimed newspaper columnist (with the Detroit Free Press), a radio host (with WJR-AM), and a television commentator (with ESPN and ABC).
Albom’s first novel, “The Five People You Meet in Heaven,” was published in 2003 and was on the New York Times best-sellers list for two years. With a screenplay by Albom, “Five People” was adapted into an ABC movie that aired in December 2004 and starred Jon Voight, Ellen Burstyn, and Jeff Daniels.
Albom has founded three charities in Detroit: “The Dream Fund,” “A Time To Help,” and “S.A.Y. Detroit,” which helps Detroit’s homeless people. He serves on numerous charitable boards around the country and makes his home in suburban Detroit.
Support for WGCU’s arts & culture reporting comes from the Estate of Myra Janco Daniels, the Charles M. and Joan R. Taylor Foundation, and Naomi Bloom in loving memory of her husband, Ron Wallace.
