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A Philly Homecoming: Arthur Miller's The Price

February 2, 2008


Philadelphia native Robert Prosky, Two-time Tony Award Nominee, makes his professional Philly debut!

PHILADELPHIA, PA: The Walnut Street Theatre continues its 199th season with Arthur Miller's THE PRICE. This new production of Miller's powerful work resonates with the timeless themes of family, pride, missed opportunities, personal integrity and sacrifice. Featuring Philadelphia native and Tony Award nominee Robert Prosky, the production runs January 15 - March 2 on the Walnut Street Theatre Mainstage.

Arthur Miller's THE PRICE tells the story of two brothers who have not spoken to each other for sixteen years. They are reuniting at their parents' Manhattan Brownstone to sell off the remains of their father's possessions to a wily, wisecracking furniture dealer (Robert Prosky). Along with the old chairs and rugs, however, are memories of choices the two brothers made when their father's fortunes toppled. Victor (Andy Prosky) gave up his education in order to support his ailing father, becoming a policeman on a modest income. His brother Walter (John Prosky) set out on his own and became a successful and wealthy surgeon. With the furniture dealer and Victor's wife (Leisa Mather) as witnesses, the brothers are forced to settle up in more ways than one. Walter and Victor verbally battle each other time and again, twisting motives, memories and facts upside down and inside out until nothing is what it seems to be. Which brother is truly more selfish? Which is more tormented? Who sacrificed more to become the man they are today?

Arthur Miller, heralded as perhaps the greatest American playwright of the 20th century, created THE PRICE in the grand tradition of Death of a Salesman and All My Sons: a cautionary tale on remembering who we are, where we have come from, and what choices we had to make along the way. In THE PRICE, Arthur Miller presents a moral pertinent to each and every one of us: How do our actions in the past affect who we are today? Or, as one character puts it: "You have to make decisions"