The University Theatre Department’s new play “Awake and Sing!” opens this week in the Hope Theatre on campus. Written by Clifford Odets in 1935, the play is set during the Great Depression but its parallels to modern life will make sense to audiences.@@http://theater.nytimes.com/2006/04/18/theater/reviews/18awak.html?pagewanted=all@@
“It’s a slice of life from the Great Depression that’s going to mirror their own experiences,” said Damond Morris, director and fourth year Ph.D student.@@http://directory.uoregon.edu/telecom/directory.jsp?p=findpeople%2Ffind_results&m=student&d=person&b=name&s=Damond+Morris@@ “The more things change, the more things stay the same.”
“Awake and Sing!” is a play about the Bergers, a Jewish family living in the Bronx in the 1930s. Three generations live under one roof — grandfather, father, mother, daughter and son —  and their different principles and the changing cultural attitude of America makes for intergenerational conflicts.
“It’s got a really cool family dynamic,” said senior Erica Jorgensen,@@http://directory.uoregon.edu/telecom/directory.jsp?p=findpeople%2Ffind_results&m=student&d=person&b=name&s=Erica+Jorgensen@@ who plays Bessie, the mother. “It shows a wide range of viewpoints and experience, and I think people can find someone to relate to.”
Despite the Great Depression-era setting, the play mirrors our current situation in America.
“I think this play speaks to what’s going on right now,” Morris said. “The Bergers are the 99 percent. They’re trying to be middle class … financially, they’re strapped and living on the edge, which I think is how most Americans are living today.
“The same fear is there: The fear of being thrown out on the street, the fear of being foreclosed on, of not being able to go to school.”
“I think this is a very important story,” Jorgensen said. “I think it has a lot of truth and reality in it and the way families work. It’s set during (the Great Depression), but it has a lot of relevance to the economy and today.”
The attitudes of the different generations also find parallels in the present. Ralph and Hennie Berger, the son and daughter in the play, are in their twenties and part of an inactive, apathetic generation.
The title of the play comes from a quote from Isaiah: “Awake and sing, you that dwell in dust.” In the play, the quotation is directed at Ralph: It’s a call to stand up and do something, not just sit around in the blues.
“How many people are willing to stand up for what they believe in?” Morris asked. “Or even believe in something?”
“It’s uplifting and hopeful, hope for a new generation,” Jorgensen said. “The new generation asks, ‘How can we be different?’ The young generation gets to show what they can do.”
“Some people might come away from this play and think it has a political message,” said freshman Andrew Krivoshein,@@http://directory.uoregon.edu/telecom/directory.jsp?p=findpeople%2Ffind_results&m=student&d=person&b=name&s=Andrew+Krivoshein@@ who plays Schlosser the janitor. “And maybe it does, but … it’s just an honest play.”
“Awake and Sing!” was first produced by The Group Theatre in 1935,@@http://theater.nytimes.com/2006/04/18/theater/reviews/18awak.html?pagewanted=all@@ a New York City theater company that pioneered realism and method acting. The playwright, Odets,@@http://www.colonytheatre.org/bios/OdetsClifford.html@@ was a member.
“I’m really influenced by Clifford Odets,” said Morris, whose dissertation is based on the Great Depression. “He’s probably one of the greatest underrated playwrights. We remember Tennessee Williams, but Clifford Odets is often forgotten … this, I think, is one of his finest works.”
“Awake and Sing!”@@http://pages.uoregon.edu/tadept/?page_id=133@@ runs Jan. 26, 27, 28, 29 and Feb. 2, 3, 4. Closing night will see a preshow lecture by Morris foregrounding the show and its context. Student tickets are free with a University ID.