West End Productions Presents THE DRESSER Opening January 13, 2023

THE DRESSER runs at North Fourth Art Center, 4904 4th St. NW, Albuquerque, NM 3 weekends, from January 13th - 29th, 2023, Fridays and Saturdays at 7:30 PM, Sunday matinees at 2 PM. For more information, season and individual tickets, and COVID-19 guidelines, go to www.westendproductions.org or call (855) 937-8505.

Written in 1980, THE DRESSER is a bracing, heartbreaking drama set back stage at a theatre in the English provinces during WWII; an elegy to a by-gone era. Director Colleen Neary McClure says she has always been fascinated with what happens behind the scenes and in an actor's mind in theatre and film. "As an actor myself, I know the struggles that actors go through. Losing one's nerve can be devastating - Laurence Olivier lost his nerve as a stage actor at the age of 64. 'Sir', played by Peter Shea Kierst, is in the same predicament. It is up to the dresser 'Norman', played by Keith Allen West to get 'Sir' through his breakdown and onstage."

Sir Ronald Harwood CBE FRSL was a South African-born British author, playwright, and screenwriter, best known for his plays for the British stage as well as the screenplays for The Dresser and The Pianist, for which he won the 2003 Academy Award for Best Adapted Screenplay. He based the play on his experiences as dresser to English Shakespearean actor-manager Sir Donald Wolfit, who is the model for the character 'Sir' in the play.

Once again, Colleen Neary McClure directs a cast of many of the most talented actors in the Albuquerque theatre community. Other members of the cast are Neil Faulconbridge, Levi Gore, Fawn Hanson, Caedmon Holland, Versai Knight, Yannig Morin, Jessica Osbourne and Philip J. Shortell.

WEST END PRODUCTIONS, established in 2015, focuses exclusively on the treasure trove of theatrical gems, past and present, from England, Ireland, Scotland and Wales. WEP stages works ranging from classical repertory to the most contemporary of authors, and everything in between. Our pledge to Albuquerque audiences is to provide entertaining, thought provoking and heart-touching productions while always maintaining the highest professional standards.