Edge will launch a local production of Orphans tonight to kick off a 2014 season that will bring shows with smaller casts, meatier roles and, in the case of this show, an elaborate two-story set. “Orphans is an actor’s dream,” Yaconis says. “It has roles that you can really sink your teeth into.”
A twist in the story, in which the gangster assumes leadership as the “father” of the household, is bound to prompt some conundrum-strength questions. “There’s a reversal of story, and you go deep into it about growing up without parental influence and how people survive on their own, shaping their own adulthood without parents to make that happen,” Yaconis explains. “All three characters find different ways to survive and shape their futures without guidance — what difference could a parent really make in your life? It changes all of them dramatically, but locked up inside it all, there is a lot of comedy.”
Orphans premieres at 8 p.m. at Edge, 1560 Teller Street in Lakewood, and runs Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays through February 9; purchase tickets, $20 to $22, online at theedgetheater.com or by calling 303-232-0363
Fridays, Saturdays, 8 p.m.; Sundays, 6 p.m.; Mon., Jan. 27, 8 p.m.; Saturdays, 2 p.m.; Sun., Feb. 9, 6 p.m. Starts: Jan. 17. Continues through Feb. 8, 2014
