SIDE MAN by Warren Leight played at the Diversionary Theatre in San Diego, California. Preview performances began on September 24, opened September 26 and ran through October 11, 2009.

Set in 1953 and traveling to 1985, this poignant memory play unfolds through the eyes of Clifford, the only son of Gene, a jazz trumpet player, and Terry, an alcoholic mother. Alternating between their New York City apartment and a smoke-filled music club, Clifford narrates the story of his broken family and the decline of jazz as popular entertainment. Clifford recalls key moments in his life: Gene's music career and his lifelong musician friends, his mother’s dissolution, and finally Clifford’s own redemption and recovery from the burden of having to parent the adults upon whom he depends.

SIDE MAN, Warren Leight’s first play, took the New York theatre world by storm when it garnered the Oppenheimer Award for Best New American Playwright, eventually going on to be nominated for the Pulitzer Prize for Drama and winning the 1999 Tony Award for Best Play.

A “Side Man”, in jazz parlance, is a musician for hire who can blend in with the band or star as a solo performer, according to what the gig requires. Director, Scott Striegel says, “We chose the piece because this play reminds us how our culture can be fickle with regard to whom we hold up as heroes and how quickly we discard them. It is a truly American story about jazz and the people who played it and lived it.”

SIDE MAN features some of San Diego’s finest talent. The ensemble cast includes:

The production team includes:

Special thanks to Dan Kirsch, Bret Young and Travis Guss of Diversionary Theatre for the guidance and help in mounting this production of SIDE MAN. Without them, this production wouldn’t have happened.

And big thanks to the folks below for their participation.

Produced by BANG! Productions, Michael Mckeon & Scott Striegel

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FOR SIDE MAN