"Sparky" looks at mystery surrounding Jack Ruby

Staff report

YOUNGSTOWN

The Victorian Players, in association with J&B Production Arts Services, will present the world premiere of “Sparky ... from Chicago,” written by J.E. Ballantyne Jr., who also directs.

The play opens Friday and runs for three weekends.

Ballantyne, executive director of the Victorian, said the play takes an in-depth look at Jack Ruby, the Dallas strip-club owner who shot and killed Lee Harvey Oswald, the suspected assassin of President John F. Kennedy.

The play marks the end of the JFK assassination trilogy presented this year by the Victorian. It started in February with “Finale.”

Ruby has always been one of the great mysteries in the Kennedy assassination. He emerged from a crowd of reporters and police in the garage of the Dallas Police station on Sunday morning, Nov. 24, and shot Oswald at point-blank range. Oswald later died at Parkland Hospital denying the world any further information he may have had to offer about the assassination.

Ruby then became the focal point. Did he know Oswald? Was he involved somehow in the assassination? Although many theories have been suggested, there are few concrete answers.

It is known, however, that Ruby’s activities the week before the assassination and that weekend have given rise to much suspicion.

“Sparky ... from Chicago” takes a look at this time frame and the questionable associations during Ruby’s life.

Playing the role of Jack Ruby is Brady Flamino from New Castle, Pa. Flamino won critical acclaim in February in the role of Edwin Booth in “Finale,” a show that examined the life of John Wilkes Booth and his family. Flamino has extensive background in theater and is seen frequently on the New Castle Playhouse stage.

Playing opposite Flamino in the role of Tennessee is Jack Hay. Hay also has an impressive list of credits in the area. His character is a sort of mystery man, said Ballantyne, adding that the audience will have a good time deciding just who this guy really is.

Others in the cast include Victor D. Garcia, Mary Rosenberg, Curtiss E. Barron, Camille Rose Smith, Thomas Lee Ewen, C. Richard Haldi, Davin Stilson, Stephanie Serrach and Sam Luptak Jr.

Following each performance, the Youngstown Area Community Theatre Alliance (YACTA) will sponsor a Downstage Dialogue session at which the audience can talk with the cast and director.

For more information on the assassination, go to specterof-treason.com.