theater

Emerson Theater Collaborative is proud to bring Driving Miss Daisy to the stage on February 21-23, 2025 at  Prescott’s The Hazeltine Theatre. This play is a winner of the 1988 Pulitzer Prize for Drama.

The place is the Deep South, the time 1948, just prior to the civil rights movement. Having recently demolished another car, Daisy Werthan, a rich, sharp-tongued Jewish widow of seventy-two, is informed by her son, Boolie, that henceforth she must rely on the services of a chauffeur. The person he hires for the job is a thoughtful, unemployed black man, Hoke, whom Miss Daisy immediately regards with disdain and who, in turn, is not impressed with his employer’s patronizing tone and, he believes, her latent prejudice. But, in a series of absorbing scenes spanning twenty-five years, the two, despite their mutual differences, grow ever closer to, and more dependent on, each other, until, eventually, they become almost a couple. Slowly and steadily the dignified, good-natured Hoke breaks down the stern defenses of the ornery old lady, as she teaches him to read and write and, in a gesture of good will and shared concern, invites him to join her at a banquet in honor of Martin Luther King, Jr. As the play ends Hoke has a final visit with Miss Daisy, now ninety-seven and confined to a nursing home, and while it is evident that a vestige of her fierce independence and sense of position still remain, it is also movingly clear that they have both come to realize they have more in common than they ever believed possible—and that times and circumstances would ever allow them to publicly admit.

Driving Miss Daisy reinforces the lesson that every stage of our life is precious and should never be taken for granted.

Produced by Special Arrangement of Dramatist Play Service. Music by Robert Waldmen.

Playwright: Alfred Uhry
Director: Camilla Ross
Co-Producer: Jay Ruby

Cast:
Joan Westmoreland – Miss Daisy
James Yaw – Boolie
Joel (Tony) Digg – Hoke

Crew:
Stage Management: Sean Spencer
Costume Designer: Terra Shelman
Sound Designer: Ky Rial
Lighting Designer: Kevin Hough
Backstage: Audrey Young
Props: Craig Schneider
Photography: Larry Kane

Alfred Uhry is the only playwright ever to win the Triple Crown: an Oscar, a Tony, and a Pulitzer Prize. He began his career as a lyric writer under contract to the late Frank Loesser. In that capacity he made his Broadway debut in 1968 with HERE’S WHERE I BELONG. He then wrote the book and lyrics for THE ROBBER BRIDEGROOM and was nominated for a Tony Award. He followed that with five re-created musicals at the Goodspeed Opera House. In 1987 his first play, DRIVING MISS DAISY, opened at Playwrights Horizons Theatre in New York. It was subsequently moved to the John Houseman Theatre, where it ran for over 1300 performances. The play earned many awards, including the Outer Critics Circle Award and the 1988 Pulitzer Prize for Drama. For the film version, he won an Academy Award and the film itself was voted Best Picture of the Year. Other films include “Mystic Pizza” and “Rich in Love.” Mr. Uhry’s second play, LAST NIGHT OF BALLYHOO, which was commissioned by the Cultural Olympiad for the 1996 Atlanta Olympics, opened on Broadway in February 1997. It has been chosen Best Play by the American Theatre Critics Association, The Outer Critics Circle, and the Drama League, and the 1997 Tony Award. He worked on PARADE, a musical play about the Leo Frank case, with music and lyrics by Jason Robert Brown and directed by Harold Prince. His film projects include a new adaptation of “Dodsworth” for Time Warner, “Cut Flowers” for Miramax, and “Taft,” commissioned by Morgan Freeman

• Premium Seating – $125
• General Seating – $100

• Advance Purchase / General Seating – $35
• Advance Purchase / Reserved Seating – $45
• At-the-Door – $45