Notes on Marvin's Room

A cast of 9 BCC students present this multiple award-winning play about one woman's commitment to caring for her family first. The themes of death, love, duty and caring, which resonate in all our lives, are treated comically and yet poignantly at the same time. The playwright, Scott McPherson, wrote the play in response to a number of his friends dying of AIDS. He has spoken eloquently, both in his writing and in interviews, of the personal and familial ravages of chronic illness and the need for loving support and connection with lovers, family and friends. The play has received the Drama Desk Award, the Oppenheimer Award, the Obie Drama Award, the John Whiting Foundation Award for Writing, and the Outer Critics Circle Award.

"Produced in New York City in 1991, the playwright, Scott McPherson, died in 1992 of complications resulting from AIDS," said director Katherine Bacon. "He did however write the screenplay for the film version before he died . Marvin's Room gave the BCC actors the rare opportunity to explore the adaptation of a stage play for the screen by the same author."

The film version featured Diane Keaton, Meryl Streep, Gwen Verdon, Robert DeNiro and Leonardo DiCaprio. Robert DeNiro was a co-producer of the film and Diane Keaton was nominated for a Best Actress Oscar for her performance in 1996.

When the play opened in New York City , The New York Times said ". . . one of the funniest plays of the year as well as one of the wisest and most moving. When the American theater gains a new voice this original, this unexpected, you really must hear it for yourself."