''Trying'' is a drama by Canadian-born playwright

Joanna Glass Joanna McClelland Glass (born October 7, 1936 in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan Saskatchewan ( ; ) is a province in western Canada, bordered on the west by Alberta, on the north by the Northwest Territories, on the east by Manitoba, to the northeast ...

that premiered at Chicago's

Victory Gardens Theater Victory Gardens Theater is a theater company in Chicago, Illinois dedicated to the development and production of new plays and playwrights. The theater company was founded in 1974 when eight Chicago artists, Cecil O'Neal, Warren Casey, Stuart Go ...

on March 29, 2004. The two-act play depicts the final year in the life

Francis Biddle Francis Beverley Biddle (May 9, 1886 – October 4, 1968) was an American lawyer and judge who was the United States Attorney General during World War II. He also served as the primary American judge during the postwar Nuremberg Trials as well a ...

the United States Attorney General under President

Franklin D. Roosevelt Franklin Delano Roosevelt (; ; January 30, 1882April 12, 1945), often referred to by his initials FDR, was an American politician and attorney who served as the 32nd president of the United States from 1933 until his death in 1945. As the ...

and Chief Judge of the

Nuremberg trials The Nuremberg trials were held by the Allies of World War II, Allies against representatives of the defeated Nazi Germany, for plotting and carrying out invasions of other countries, and other crimes, in World War II. Between 1939 and 1945 ...

as it was seen through the eyes of his then twenty-five-year-old assistant, Sarah Schorr. As the young woman relates to the audience, she is merely the latest and coincidentally the last in a long and unsuccessful line of personal secretaries, all of whom have disappointed Biddle in some way. Much of the story revolves around issues of aging and the breakdown of communication over divisions of age and class. The work is derived from Glass's own experiences as Biddle's assistant from 1967 to 1968.

Production history

The original production was directed by Victory Gardens' associate artistic director Sandy Shinner and starred Tony Award-winning actor

Fritz Weaver Fritz William Weaver (January 19, 1926 − November 26, 2016) was an American actor in television, stage, and motion pictures. He portrayed Dr. Josef Weiss in the 1978 epic television drama, ''Holocaust'' for which he was nominated for a Primetime ...

as Biddle and Kati Brazda as Sarah. After an extended run in Chicago, it transferred to an

off-Broadway An off-Broadway theatre is any professional theatre venue in New York City with a seating capacity between 100 and 499, inclusive. These theatres are smaller than Broadway theatres, but larger than off-off-Broadway theatres, which seat fewer tha ...

run at the Promenade Theater on New York's Upper West Side on October 13, 2004, and ran until January 2 the following year. The success of ''Trying'' came as a surprise to Glass, as the play was only picked up as a replacement for Claudia Allen's ''Hanging Fire'' when the show's lead actress,

Julie Harris Julia Ann Harris (December 2, 1925August 24, 2013) was an American actress. Renowned for her classical and contemporary stage work, she received five Tony Awards for Best Actress in a Play. Harris debuted on Broadway in 1945, against the wish ...

, suffered a stroke and was unable to go on. The original Chicago production of ''Trying'' was lauded by critics and audiences alike and was nominated for several

Joseph Jefferson Awards The Joseph Jefferson Award, more commonly known informally as the Jeff Award, is given for theatre arts produced in the Chicago area. Founded in 1968, the awards are named in tribute to actor Joseph Jefferson, a 19th-century American theater sta ...

including "Best Production," "Best Direction," and "Best New Work," which it won. The two actors in the Victory Gardens premiere also received Jeff nods, with Weaver taking home the trophy for Best Actor of 2004 for his work in the production. Following the play's transfer off-Broadway, the production continued to be met with high praise, with critics calling the relationship between Weaver and Brazda some of the best acting seen in New York City that season. Glass's playscript, however, found less marked success, with Christine Howey of Cleveland's ''

The Plain Dealer ''The Plain Dealer'' is the major newspaper of Cleveland, Ohio, United States. In fall 2019, it ranked 23rd in U.S. newspaper circulation, a significant drop since March 2013, when its circulation ranked 17th daily and 15th on Sunday. As of Ma ...

'' and others criticizing the plot for being too predictable. The production, largely financed by Chicagoans, closed early following financial disappointments. In spite of this, though, ''Trying'' continues to be revived regularly at regional theatres across the United States, most recently at the South Carolina Repertory Company in 2005, at the Old Globe in San Diego in 2006, at the Colony Theatre in Los Angeles in 2007, and at the Rubicon Theatre in Ventura, CA in 2010.

References

External links

* {{iobdb title, 3417 2004 plays Works about old age Plays set in the 1940s Plays based on real people Biographical plays about politicians Canadian plays Off-Broadway plays