“Awake and Sing,” the spring production by University of Illinois Springfield Theatre, could be thought of as the granddaddy of ensemble casting, Method acting and other aspects of film and theater that today’s audiences take for granted.
“One of the reasons we decided to do it, is due to its historical significance,” director Eric Thibodeaux-Thompson said of Clifford Odets’ 1933 play about a working-class Jewish family from the Bronx confronting the Great Depression.
The play opens Friday at the UIS Studio Theatre for six performances.
“It was the first play to be produced by the Group Theater, many of whose members became icons of theater,” Thibodeaux-Thompson said.
The play was featured by The State Journal-Register on April 4, 2013.
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