Youngstown Playhouse ‘Terms of Endearment’ will open on theater’s small stage

Staff report

YOUNGSTOWN

The Youngstown Playhouse will present “Terms of Endearment” for six performances on two consecutive weekends, beginning Friday.

The play, part of the Griffith-Adler Series in the intimate Moyer Room, will be performed at 7:30 p.m. Friday, Saturday, Nov. 17 and 18; and 2:30 p.m. Sunday and Nov. 19.

Directing the production is Christopher Fidram, who is known to Griffith-Adler audiences for the shows “Strange Snow,” “Circle Mirror Transformation” and “Tigers Be Still.”

“Terms of Endearment” is based on the 1983 film, starring Shirley MacLaine and Jack Nicholson, written and directed by James L. Brooks, which was adapted from Larry McMurtry’s novel. The film garnered five Academy Awards, including Best Picture and Best Adapted Screenplay.

The play tells the story of a mother-daughter relationship as it evolves over the years, from the daughter’s marriage and move away from home to the widowed mother’s affair with a retired astronaut to a health crisis that tests both women.

Playing Aurora Greenway in the Playhouse production is Laura J. Phillips. Daughter Emma is played by Rachel Katz. Brian Suchora plays Emma’s philandering husband, Flap, and John Cox appears as wily astronaut Garrett Breedlove.

Lindie Schwarten, Carlos Yeager-Rivera, Jennifer Milligan and Renee Cuerdan portray the supporting characters who weave in and out of the women’s lives.

Tickets are $15 ($12 for seniors and students); call 330-788-8739, or go to theyoungstownplayhouse.com.