The American Clock

Synopsis: Subtitled "a mural for the theatre," the play employs a series of vignettes and short scenes, with the actors portraying some fifty-two characters, to capture the sense and substance of America in the throes of the Great Depression. The central figures are the Baums, a wealthy family whose fortune has vanished in the stock market crash, but their story is amplified and illuminated by brief glimpses of other lives; a farmer who has lost all in the dust bowl; a prostitute who exchanges her favors for dental work; a white Southern sheriff in thrall to a black short-order cook; a young man who dreams of success on Tin Pan Alley, etc. Moving deftly from scene to scene, some funny, some movingly poignant, the play becomes a deeply affecting evocation both of a tortured time in American history and of the indomitable spirit of the people who survived and prevailed in the face of unaccustomed adversity.

Cast

Lee Baum	Scott R. Sophos
Arthur Robertson	Scott Shearon
Rose Baum	Linda Walden
Clarence/Waiter/Caldwell/Isaac	J. Otis Powell
Moe Baum	Keith Prendergast
Frank/Jesse Livermore/ Brewster/Stanislaus	MacDowell Blue
Fanny Margolies/Mrs. Taylor/Myrna	Beth Ramirez de Arellano
Grandpa/Judge Bradley/Kapush	William Fairchild
Rosman/Waiter/Bicycle Thief/ Piano Mover/Bidder/Rudy/Ryan	Neal Moran
William Durant/Howard/ Piano Mover/Sheriff/Toland	George Penton
Arthur Clayton/Sidney Margolies/ Deputy/Ralph	Tim Sexton
Tony/Henry Taylor/Dugan	Marc Petersen
Diana Morgan/Bidder/Lucy/ Edie/Lucille	Cee-Em Ward
Joe/Charlie/Bush	John Jackson III
Doris Gross/Harriet Taylor/ Isabel/Grace	Rita Creahan
Irene	Gerrie Bailey
Iowa Farmers	Sami Assadi
	Beth Craig

 

Production Staff

Director	Susan Gitenstein
Assistant Director	Rita Creahan
Scene Designer	G. Scott Corliss
Costume Designer	Stephanie Whitehead
Wardrobe Assistant	Cee-Em Ward
Lighting Designer	Peter B. Young
Lighting Assistant	Bob Mathis
Properties	Terry Dillon
Properties Assistant	Cee-Em Ward
Light Board Operator	David Heeg
Sound Board Operator	Regina Graham
Music Consultant	Grier Williams