San Pedro Awaits THE LAST FIVE YEARS
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| THE LAST FIVE YEARS stars Marla McClure as Cathy Hyatt, Ray Buffer as Jamie Wellerstein and features the photogrpahy of John Mattera. |
The Relevant Stage presents Marla McClure and Ray Buffer in Jason Robert Brown’s, THE LAST FIVE YEARS. Performances are August 7, 8, 14, 15, 21, 22 at 8PM, and August 9, 16, and 23 at 2:30PM at Warner Grand Theatre – 478 West 6th Street, San Pedro, CA 90731. Tickets are only $20 for adults, $15 for students and seniors, and $5 for 18 & under.
Purchase online at www.therelevantstage.com, or in person at Williams Book Store, Sacred Grounds Coffee House, The Corner Store, Parkhurst Gallery, and Off The Vine. You may also buy tickets in person at the door prior to any performance. For more info call (310) 929-8129.
This production features the photography of John Mattera. Images from the 5-year relationship are displayed above the actors heads throughout the performance.
This amazing Off-Broadway hit has inspired, uplifted, and impacted audiences throughout the country with its simplistic ideal and incredibly ingenious design. Witness Jamie and Cathy's lives cascade before you in opposite directions as opposites fail to attract. Consumed with passion for life, love, and success both are bound to those conflicting decisions between their personal careers, lives, and marriage.
Cathy and Jamie’s relationship has lasted five years. As the story begins, Jamie is at the beginning of the relationship and Cathy is at the end. With inter-cutting scenes, we watch Jamie move forward in time as Cathy moves backward.
Cathy has just found a note from her husband, Jamie, signifying the end of their marriage. While she still struggles with their break-up, she feels he has easily moved on without her. Five years prior, Jamie has just met Cathy. He is soaring from the high of it. He recounts his past relationships, feeling as if he’s been waiting for her all his life.
Cathy (moving backwards) is hopeful for the healing of their marriage. Jamie has come to meet her in Ohio where she has been working as a performer. She believes he will see her show and they will be able to spend time together even though he must leave early.
After their first date, Jamie has made a phone call to a potential literary agent—a contact made through his old college professor. Unbelievably, this agent seems interested in his work. Soon his career begins to soar and Jamie decides he wants to move in with Cathy. His life is moving at top speed, but no matter. He’s living the way he wants to.
Catherine’s career is struggling. She’s been turned down by a theatrical agent. As she waits patiently during a book store appearance by Jamie, someone asks her what it’s like to be married to a famous author. She expresses how she rides out his manic writing spells where he completely shuts her out emotionally then suddenly lets her back in.
It’s their second Christmas together and Jamie reads a story he wrote for her. It is intended to inspire her to go out and pursue her dreams of becoming an actress. He tells her to quit her day job and go and be happy. He also tells her how lucky he is to be in love with her.
Cathy has obtained a summer stock job in Ohio. The situation is less than desirable, but she’s trying to make the most of it. Meanwhile, Jamie is back in New York, his latest book a bestseller. Cathy sends an email to Jamie as she anxiously awaits his visit.
After a stroll through Central Park and a proposal, they marry. Physically together for the first time during this show, they exchange vows and promises of an undying love.
Jamie, now married, begins to feel the temptation and attraction of other women he meets at parties. His success has made him the centre of attention, and though he feels the pull, he loves Cathy and believes his marriage will remain strong. He calls Cathy who is out of town working, and promises to meet her as soon as he can escape his publisher.
Cathy has just auditioned for and been given another job. Cathy shares with her father the stress and difficulty of daily auditioning and daily rejection. At another audition, she flounders as a million different things about her life with Jamie race through her head.
She is determined, however, to have her own career and not live in the shadow of her now-famous husband. Jamie is doing a reading at a bookstore. The passage he reads is a metaphor for Cathy’s drive and the feeling of his isolation from her.
Jamie is in the middle of a fight with Cathy. He has just had a book published and wants her to go to the party the publisher is throwing for him. She refuses. He doesn’t feel supported by her and does not understand why she is angry.
Cathy is driving Jamie to meet her parents. She is happy and excited and talks about her disappointments of the past in contrast to her bright future with him.
Jamie wakes up beside another woman. He knows he must go see Cathy in Ohio. Fighting panic and a feeling of inevitability, he admits to the other woman that he has fallen in love with her.
Cathy floats on air at the end of her first date with Jamie. They have shared their first kiss and she wants the magical moment to last forever. She bids him goodbye until tomorrow. At the same time, Jamie ends their relationship. Both say their “goodbyes” ending the story.
This production is directed by Ray Buffer, assistant directed by Paul Rorie, stage managed by Mercy Maes, instrumentally arranged and performed by Robert Gross, with lighting design by Richard Taylor, sound design by Jeremy Plankey
Musical Numbers:
1. Still Hurting - Cathy
2. Shiksa Goddess - Jamie
3. See I'm Smiling - Cathy
4. Moving Too Fast - Jamie
5. A Part of That - Cathy
6. The Schmuel Song - Jamie
7. A Summer in Ohio - Cathy
8. The Next Ten Minutes - Jamie, Cathy
9. A Miracle Would Happen/When You Come Home to Me - Jamie, Cathy
10. Climbing Uphill - Cathy
11. If I Didn't Believe in You - Jamie
12. I Can Do Better Than That - Cathy
13. Nobody Needs to Know - Jamie
14. Goodbye Until Tomorrow/I Could Never Rescue You - Cathy, Jamie
Running time: 100 minutes.
Performed at Warner Grand Theatre - a facility of the City of Los Angeles Department of Cultural Affairs.
Call 310.929.1829 for more information.
The Relevant Stage is a non-profit performing arts company in San Pedro, CA.
600 S. Pacific Avenue #220 - San Pedro, CA 90731