Bill Oberst, Jr., Heads Off-Broadway for Ray Bradbury Live (forever)
Steve Barton
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It’s times like this I WISH I was still living in the city that never sleeps. If you’re anywhere in or around the Tri-State area, do yourselves a favor and pay close attention to the following announcement.
Actor Bill Oberst, Jr. (pictured below), has reached an agreement with the estate of author Ray Bradbury to portray Bradbury in an Off-Broadway show. The first staged reading of Ray Bradbury Live (forever) is set for April 12, 2018, at 7pm at Theatre Row, 410 West 42nd Street, New York, NY 10036.
The Emmy Award-winning Oberst wrote the script, adapting Bradbury’s own words. In addition to the author’s estate, the work was vetted by Bradbury scholars and authors Dr. Jonathan Eller, Director of IUPUI’s Center for Ray Bradbury Studies, and Dr. Phil Nichols of the University of Wolverhampton, England. Ray Bradbury Live (forever) is performed by permission of Ray Bradbury Literary Works and Don Congdon Associates, Inc. Oberst, who previously adapted Bradbury’s Pillar of Fire for the solo stage in New York and Los Angeles, describes the new show as “a mix of Epcot ride, Planetarium show, and dream.”
Emmy-nominated SFX artist Jeff Farley (“Babylon Five,” Pet Sematary, The Blob, Wolf) has signed on to design Oberst’s prosthetic make-up transformation into Bradbury for the full Off-Broadway production in 2019. Next month’s staged reading in New York, directed by Michael Joseph Ormond, will feature Oberst as Bradbury and Off-Broadway veterans Steven Hauck and Zoe Watkins as The Narrator and Bradbury’s wife, Maggie, respectively.
Ray Bradbury Live (forever) is aiming for a 2019-20 Off-Broadway run, followed by a national tour. It comes at a time of renewed cultural interest in Bradbury, who died in 2012, as HBO’s film adaptation of his Fahrenheit 451, starring Michael B. Jordan and Michael Shannon, heads for a May premiere.
Details on the show and the April 12th reading can be found at the official Ray Bradbury Live (forever) website.
Portrait: Anne de Haas
Categorized:News
