Lise McDermott directs the undertaking, which stars a cast of 14.
Ribman's work is based on Ivan Turgenev's story "The Diary of a Superfluous Man." The central figure, Zoditch, is a lowly employee at a nineteenth-century Russian publishing house, who is assigned to read the rambling diaries of a dead landowner. As Zoditch delves into the odd memoir, he begins to see his own life and wishes in the dead man's quest for love.
The original staging took place at the American Place Theatre at St. Clement's Church, with Hoffman in the lead. Both Ribman and Hoffman won an Obie for their work.
Journey is arguably Ribman's best-known play. Though interest in the work has persisted since its New York premiere in 1966 (Drama Dept. Considered producing the play at one point), it has never received a major Gotham revival. Ribman, an active figure in the Off-Broadway of the '60s and '70s, is also the author of Cold Storage, The Poisin Tree and several other plays.
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