About
the Play:
Tuesdays with Morrie is a full-length drama by Jeffrey
Hatcher and Mitch
Albom, based on the well-loved
book of the same title by Mitch Albom. An
old man, a young man, and life's greatest lesson. It quietly tells
the story of the renewed relationship between sports columnist Mitch
Albom and his former Brandeis
professor and mentor, Morrie Schwartz. Tuesdays with Morrie is a heartwarming exploration of
friendship and life. It will make you cry, think and feel, but above
all it will make you laugh.
Tuesdays with Morrie is the autobiographical story of Mitch
Albom, an accomplished journalist driven solely by his career,
and Morrie Schwartz, his former college professor. Sixteen years
after graduating from Brandeis, Mitch has become a successful sports
columnist for the Detroit Free Press, having forgotten all about his
one-time mentor. One evening Mitch happens to catch a segment a
television news program and recognizes the voice of his old
professor. Through the interview, Mitch learns that Morrie is
suffering from ALS (Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis) or Lou Gehrig's
disease, a degenerative neurological disease that is fatal. Having
promised Morrie at graduation that he would "keep in touch"
(which he has not), Mitch decides to call Morrie and then to fly to
Massachusetts to visit. And so begins the weekly Tuesday visits that
Mitch makes to Massachusetts to visit Morrie. After a hiccup in the
beginning, but then over the next 14 Tuesdays, not only do they
reconnect on a very strong personal level, but Morrie, ever the
teacher, is able to impart to the arrogant Albom valuable life
lessons and wisdom in his final stage of life. So Mitch's first
simple visit turns into a weekly pilgrimage with a last class in the
meaning of life.
Mitch Albom's
well-known book Tuesdays With Morrie,
which spent four years atop the New York Times list, is now
the best-selling memoir of all time, with nearly ten million copies
sold worldwide. Albom, along with playwright Jeffrey Hatcher,
adapted the book into the stage version of
Tuesdays With Morrie,
which premiered in an acclaimed production at New York Stage and Film
in Poughkeepsie, New York in Summer 2002, and opened off-Broadway in
November 2002, to highly favourable reviews at the Minetta Lane
Theatre. Since then, the hit play has seen productions across the
globe, including a 25 city tour and independent productions in
regional theaters throughout North America.
Cast: 2 men
What people say:
"Unforgettable! No matter how
well you tell the story, the play makes it more vivid, more
shattering, more humorous." — NY Magazine
"Making the language of the
book crisper, cleverer and more palatable…aphoristic wisdom,
expressed with gallows wit." — NY Times
"A touching, life-affirming,
deeply emotional drama with a generous dose of humor." —
NY Daily News
"I was unprepared for how
moving and powerful Tuesdays With Morrie turned
out to be…On this ground, the flowers of humanity grow." —
NY Post
"You'll Laugh! You'll Cry!"
— Variety
"The evening has an aura of
celebration. Just what the doctor ordered, you are likely to be
moved." — Journal News
"Rewarding. Go see it any day
of the week." — WOR-AM
About the Playwright:
Jeffrey Hatcher is an award-winning American writer for
stage, screen, and television. He grew up in Ohio before attending
New York University to study acting. After a brief career on stage,
he turned his attention to writing. His many award-winning plays,
original and adaptations, have been performed on Broadway,
Off-Broadway and in theatres around the world.
Mitch Albom is a bestselling novelist, screenwriter,
playwright, and award-winning journalist. He is the author of five
number one New York Times bestsellers and has sold more than
thirty-four million copies of his books in forty-two languages
worldwide. He has founded seven charities, including the first-ever
full-time medical clinic for homeless children in America. He also
operates an orphanage in Port-au-Prince, Haiti. He lives with his
wife in suburban Detroit.