News Release

UDM Theatre Company Ends Season with "Trying”

The University of Detroit Mercy Theatre Company will perform the last show of their 39th season with Trying, directed by David L. Regal. Trying opens April 9th at 8 p.m. and will be playing a limited three-weekend run until April 25 in the Marygrove College Theatre. A sentimental and witty piece about hardship, life and mortality, Trying is sure to be a stirring performance.

The April 18 performance of Trying will feature an audience talkback with playwright Joanna McClelland Glass who’s drama is a serio-comedy about the relationship between a young secretary and the irritable Judge Biddle (played by Arthur Beer). Biddle, an elder statesman notorious for firing his secretaries, has been both the head justice in the Nuremburg Trial as well as an attorney general.

His new secretary, Sarah Schorr (played by Anne Di Iorio), has only worked as an ad agency copywriter, is hired to help the ill-tempered judge complete his memoirs. Despite their age and generational gap, the two characters find themselves “trying” to understand each other as the judge battles to retain life’s last leg of integrity.

UDM Theatre Company's "Trying" Talk-back featuring
playwright Joanna McClelland Glass. Left to right is: Dr. Arthur
Beer, Joanna McClelland Glass, Anne Di Iorio, David Regal on
the set of Trying.

In his 34th season with UDM’s Theatre Company, Beer has won best actor, best director and lifetime achievement awards from The Detroit Free Press, and numerous acting and directing awards from The Detroit News, The Oakland Press, and others. The UDM faculty member has also received the Hopwood and Gesu playwriting awards and is playwright-in-residence at the University, which has produced five of his original plays and adaptations. Beer and his wife, Mary Bremer founded and have directed the “Classic Theatre Study Abroad” program in Greece each summer for the past 25 years.

Regal graduated from the first MFA class of the Hilberry Theatre at Wayne State University and took a leading role in developing the UDM Theatre Company. He is currently the artistic director of the UDM Theatre Company and also acts, directs and teaches. The faculty member has performed across the country and has won numerous awards including: best actor and supporting actor with the Detroit critics.

Written by Glass , Trying is creative team includes David Regal (artistic director), Melinda Pacha (costume and scenic design), Mark Choinski (technical director and lighting design), Joel A. Frazee (stage manager) and Greg Grobis (general/business manager).

Tickets for Trying are $15 for general admission, $13 for discount admission (senior citizens, UDM and Marygrove faculty, staff, and alumni), $9 for students and $5 for UDM and Marygrove students. Please note a $3.00 service fee per order for non-subscribers.

Trying’s performances are April 9 through 25, 2010, Fridays and Saturdays at 8:00 p.m. and Sundays at 2:00 p.m. at the Marygrove Theatre on the campus of Marygrove College, 8425 W. McNichols Rd. Detroit MI 48221. The UDM Theatre Company’s box office is located in Reno Hall on the University of Detroit Mercy campus. Hours of operation are NOON through 5:00 p.m., Tuesday through Friday. The box office will move on the day of the performance to the Marygrove Theatre and will open 45 minutes prior to curtain. For tickets, call the theatre box office at 313-993-3270 or reserve your tickets online at http://theatre.udmercy.edu. For special ticket offers and promotions visit us on facebook at www.facebook.com/udmtheatre.

Release date: March 22, 2010

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