The Fresno premiere performance of the one-man play, “Confessions of a Nightingale,” is scheduled Jan. 18 and 19 on the stage of the Wahlberg Recital Hall at California State University, Fresno’s Music Building.
Alumnus Albert Ash stars in the production, based on the conversations of Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright Tennessee Williams from Charlotte Chandler’s 1984 book “The Ultimate Seduction.” “Confessions of a Nightingale” was adapted for the stage by Chandler and Ray Stricklyn.
Williams is best known for “The Glass Menagerie,” “Cat on a Hot Tin Roof,” “Night of the Iguana,” The Rose Tattoo,” “Suddenly, Last Summer” and “A Streetcar Named Desire,” all of which were adapted for the screen. The Mississippi-born Williams died in New York in 1983.
Ash (known as Albert Cirimele when he attended Fresno State) was trained as a mime by the late Marcel Marceau in Paris. He co-wrote and co-produced the movie “FairyTale: A True Story” in 1997 and has appeared in “Date with and Angel” (1987), did voice-overs for “Down and Out with Donald Duck” (1987) and “Lord of the Rings” (1978) and played in TV’s “Law & Order” (1986). He lives in Fresno.
Both performances of “Confessions of a Nightingale” begin at 7:30 p.m. and are free, but seating is limited and on a first-come, first-served basis. Because of explicit language, admission will be limited to those 18 and older.
On-campus sponsors include Dr. Edward EmanuEl (Department of Theatre Arts), USU Productions and the College of Arts and Humanities’ Departments of English and Music.
