The Riverside Community Players will present Arthur Miller’s A View from the Bridge January 19 through February 4.  Directed by Patricia McQuillan, the show is set in the 1950s working-class neighborhood of Red Hook in Brooklyn, New York, this tragedy of the common man teems with the authentic colloquial tones that are a hallmark of the great American playwright.

Due to some more mature content and high emotions, the show has a PG rating and is recommended for age thirteen and over.  Tickets are $15.00. There will be no late seating, and no children under 5 years of age will be admitted.  The Riverside Community Playhouse is at 4026 14th Street in Riverside. You may visit the RCP website at http://www.riversidecommunityplayers.com/.  For reservations and information call (951) 686-4030.

More about the play

The main character in the story is Eddie Carbone, an Italian American longshoreman, who lives with his wife Beatrice and orphaned niece Catherine. His feelings for Catherine, however, develop from “over-protective” into something more than filial as the play develops. These feelings are brought into perspective by the arrival from Italy of Beatrice’s two cousins, Marco and Rodolfo. They have entered the country illegally, hoping to leave behind hunger and unemployment for a better life in America, and to help build a better life for those they’ve left behind. But when his niece and one of the cousins fall in love, Eddie, violently opposed to the romance, is driven to acts of despair and destruction by passions he cannot understand.

Arthur Miller (1915-2005) was born in New York City and studied at the University of Michigan.  He is best known as author of All My Sons (1947), Death of a Salesman (1949), The Crucible (1953) and the screenplay for The Misfits, (1960).  He has been honored twice with the New York Drama Critics Circle Award, received two Emmy awards and three Tony Awards.  In 1999, 50 years after it won the Tony Award as best play, Death of a Salesman won the Tony for best revival of the Broadway season. Miller, then 83, received a lifetime achievement award.  He died in 2005 at the age of 89.

In her trademark style, McQuillan has directed the show “with a concerted effort for reality,” and the cast is dedicated to producing a real-time performance.  “These people from 1950s Brooklyn, New York, really exist in front of you for two hours,” said McQuillan.  The talented ensemble cast features Gabriel Morales of Moreno Valley as Eddie, Donna Parrish of Corona as Beatrice, Rhiannon Cowles of Cherry Valley as Catherine, Arthur Wilson of Corona as Rodolfo, Mike Truelock of Riverside as Marco, and Phil Holmer of Riverside as Alfieri.

The Riverside Community Players, founded in 1926, is one of the oldest continuously active community theatre groups in the United States and holds workshops in acting and staging techniques in addition to performing six main stage productions and three Family Series productions annually.