THEATRE + COMEDY

Unity Theatre presents On Golden Pond by Ernest Thompson. June 10-27, 2010. Golden! A romantic American family comedy.

This is one romantic play that goes beyond the usual story of young love. In a youth-obsessed culture, here is a refreshing, intelligent, and very funny play about a couple in their “golden years” and still deeply in love.  “Listen to me, mister. You’re my knight in shining armor. Don’t forget it. You’re going to get back on that horse and I’m going to be right behind you.”  - Ethel Thayer

Themes of mortality, family relationships, marriage, and generations all play out at Norman and Ethel Thayer's small lake house in Maine beside Golden Pond. Ernest Thompson's On Golden Pond has been embraced by theatergoers since its first off-Broadway run in 1978 and by moviegoers since its 1981 adaptation. The play's believable characters are engaging and flawed, and the curmudgeonly Norman Thayer achieves personal growth despite his advanced age and slow mental decline.

This is the love story of Ethel and Norman Thayer, who are returning to their summer home on Golden Pond for the forty-eighth year. He is a retired professor, nearing eighty, with heart palpitations and a failing memory—but still as tart-tongued, observant and eager for life as ever. Ethel, ten years younger, and the perfect foil for Norman, delights in all the small things that have enriched and continue to enrich their long life together. They are visited by their divorced, middle-aged daughter and her dentist fiancé, who then go off to Europe, leaving his teenage son behind for the summer.

The boy quickly becomes the "grandchild" the elderly couple have longed for, and as Norman revels in taking his ward fishing and thrusting good books at him, he also learns some lessons about modern teenage awareness—and slang—in return. In the end, as the summer wanes, so does their brief idyll, and in the final, deeply moving moments of the play, Norman and Ethel are brought even closer together by the incidence of a mild heart attack. Time, they know, is now against them, but the years have been good and, perhaps, another summer on Golden Pond still awaits.

Thompson wrote On Golden Pond at the age of twenty-eight. While he had been able to support himself as a working actor, he had gone a year without landing any work. This dry spell allowed him to pursue his interest in writing. Although he cannot say exactly what inspired the play, he credits his boyhood summer lake trips to Maine with his family as a source of special memories. Through a series of lucky opportunities, On Golden Pond was produced off Broadway in 1978. It was published the following year by Dramatists Play Service. Within six months, the play was in production on Broadway and soon in theaters across the United States. It was Thompson's first play to be produced. The film version earned him an Academy Award and opened numerous career doors for the young playwright. Thompson continues to write plays and television scripts as of 2005, but his reputation rests largely on the success of On Golden Pond.

Special Events:

CHAT WITH THE CAST
Preview Thursday, June 10, 2010
After the show, stay for a brief, intimate visit with the cast. Offer your feedback and learn about the joys and challenges of creating the characters.

MEET THE DIRECTOR
Saturday, June 19, 2010, at 7:30 pm
Get a pre-show briefing from the director’s perspective and learn what goes on behind the scenes.

For more information or to make reservations, call the Unity Theatre Box Office at 979-830-8358 or visit the website at www.unitybrenham.org.