Alan Arkin Robert Klein in Schoolhouse Livestream
Alan Arkin Robert Klein in Schoolhouse Livestream: Bram Lewis, Artistic Director of Croton Falls’ Schoolhouse Theater recently announced a new livestream event that is a master stroke of his continuing contributions to the local arts scene. On Saturday June 26 at 3PM, the Schoolhouse Theater will present Alan Arkin, Robert Klein, Matthew Arkin and Jon Richards in a virtual reading of Neil Simon’s The Sunshine Boys.
This event will be a Benefit for the theater that has maintained operations, albeit virtually, on a weekly basis throughout the COVID-19 pandemic. What started as a one-off Zoom reading turned into readings of a different play every week with a new cast from Lewis’ network of professional actors all under the aptly named Pandemic Players.
Memorably the first Zoom reading featured the iconic New York master player Austin Pendleton, popularly known for playing the “mysterious Marty” in Christmas With the Kranks, in a reading of Samuel Beckett’s post-apocalyptic tragic-comedy Endgame. The play, of course, features a blind man who can’t walk, his servant who can’t sit, and his parents who live in garbage cans. A dark vision we can all relate to how life seemed in the early days of COVID-19.
Neil Simon’s The Sunshine Boys, that premiered on Broadway in 1972, tells the story of the reunion of a once successful vaudeville team who have not been on speaking terms for years, for a television special on the history of comedy. The original Broadway cast featured Jack Albertson and Sam Levene. Though most people know the 1975 hit film starring George Burns and Walter Matthau.
Alan Arkin was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Actor twice, for his performances in The Russians are Coming, The Russians are Coming and The Heart is a Lonely Hunter. He was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor twice, for his roles in Argo and Little Miss Sunshine – winning for Little Miss Sunshine.
Robert Klein, who has performed live at the intimate 99-seat Schoolhouse Theater, is ranked no. 28 on Rolling Stone’s Top Stand Up Comedians of All Time (we have him in the top ten) and his 1973 comedy album A Child of the Fifties is no. 27 on Spin Magazine’s Top Comedy Albums of All Time. He starred in HBO’s first Stand Up Comedy Special in 1975 and its a classic. Klein has also hosted Saturday Night Live, been nominated for a Tony Award for They’re Playing Our Song, and appeared in many feature films including The Owl and the Pussycat, Primary Colors and How To Lose a Guy in Ten Days. And in 2018 he was cast as the character Grace Adler’s father in the Will and Grace revival – replacing none other than Alan Arkin.
The Schoolhouse Theatre, founded by Lee Pope in 1983, is Westchester’s oldest non-profit Actor’s Equity theatre. The theatre, dedicated to producing new plays, has seen no less than seven of its shows moved to Off-Broadway. They have produced works by Jules Feiffer and Tina Howe. It’s current Artistic Director, Bram Lewis founded and ran The Phoenix Theatre in Purchase where he worked with Alan Arkin, Ellen Burstyn, Horton Foote, Julie Harris, Jason Robards, Frances Sternhagen, Horton Foote and Elain Stritch among others.
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