“A View from the Bridge” may be seen in Brooklyn

RED HOOK — A play by iconic American playwright Arthur Miller is returning to Brooklyn.

“A View from the Bridge,” a 1950s-era-set one-act play which revolves around an Italian-American family that lives near the bridge, premiered at New York’s Coronet Theatre (now the Eugene O’Neill Theatre) in Sept. 1955.

Now it returns to Red Hook, the original setting of the play, in the Brave New World Repertory Theatre production which will have its run at the Waterfront Museum Barge from Sept. 12 to 29.

Brave New World Repertory Theatre, a Brooklyn-based theatre company, first won acclaim with its rendition of “To Kill a Mockingbird” staged on the front porches of homes in Victorian Flatbush in 2005. Now it’s bringing back its SRO production of Miller’s “View” onboard the Waterfront Museum Barge in Red Hook.

The original play run in the spring of 2018 received rave reviews and was sold out and extended. The immersive production, onboard the covered century-old barge, mesmerized audiences with its compelling family tragedy about Italian longshoreman Eddie Carbone — focusing on the demons he battles within himself, and with those different and threatening to him.

The classic domestic drama revolves around Eddie, his wife Beatrice and their orphaned niece Catherine. When Beatrice’s undocumented relatives arrive from Italy to work the docks, conflict grows between Eddie and cousin Rodolpho. The intimacy of the Waterfront Museum space — with its ambient smell of the sea and the audience merely feet away from the action — serves to drive home the tragic events of the story.

The cast includes Claire Beckman, Nixon Cesar, Jacob Dabby, Joe Gioco, Maggie Horan, Richard O’Brien, Kordell Prichard and David Tawil.

The opening night performance is Thursday, Sept. 12 at 8 p.m. with subsequent 8 p.m. shows on Friday, Sept. 13; Saturday, Sept. 14; Sunday, Sept. 15; Saturday, Sept. 19; Sunday, Sept. 20; Saturday, Sept. 21; Sunday, Sept. 22; Thursday, Sept. 26; Friday, Sept. 27; Saturday, Sept. 28 and Sunday, Sept. 29.

The play is more relevant than ever, says BNW Co-Founder/Producing Artistic Director Claire Beckman, who is also playing Beatrice. “Eddie Carbone is a tragic American character who we may have assumed was a dinosaur before the 2016 election, but now we know is alive and well, and living among us,” she said. “There is genuine danger in the play. It speaks to our time in a haunting way.”

Beckman continued, “Arguably the Bard of Brooklyn, Miller is a favorite of Brave New World Rep. We also produced ‘The Crucible’ in 2010, ‘The American Clock’ in 2011, the American premiere of ‘The Hook,’ based on his screenplay this past June, and the 2018 production of ‘View.’ Our director Alex Dmitriev takes a naturalistic, almost filmic approach to this classic.”

Dmitriev, whom Beckman first met 30 years ago in another production of “View,” says the intimate setting aboard the Waterfront Museum lets in the tragedy of the story.

“I am struck by the play’s parallels to the struggle we see daily in the news about the promise of America, the never-ending struggle to build a better life, and the forces at work against achieving the American Dream. It’s as relevant today as it was when Miller wrote it,” added Dmitriev.

For more information go to http://www.waterfrontmuseum.org/directions.