Ithaca College

On the Verge's staged reading of THE LAST MATCH will be the culminating event of the New Voices Literary Festival, a three-day event featuring readings and presentations by visiting writers in various mediums. Anna Ziegler--best known for her play PHOTOGRAPH 51, recently performed in London with a cast starring Nicole Kidman--will be in attendance for the staged reading and will participate in a talk-back immediately afterwards.

THE LAST MATCH, written and first produced just this year, focuses on a pivotal professional tennis game whose outcome will have crucial consequences for its two players: Tim Porter, a 33-year old star athlete in the twilight of his illustrious career, and Sergei Sergeyev, who is a decade younger and brimming with promise, though it is a promise he has yet to fulfill. As the men play out this critical match, we intuit that there are many reasons why it may be the last. Tim may retire. Sergei may lose and thus sink into oblivion. The two men may never play one another again. Their game of tennis—which, as Tim notes, is “fast and slow all at once”—is played out against the backdrop of a series of memories, or past moments in time, that waft through the men’s minds as they battle to determine what their futures will bring. Directed by Claire Gleitman (Professor, English) and assistant directed by Adam Secor (student, Theatre), THE LAST MATCH will feature a cast of faculty members, students and local professionals (Jacob White, Jennifer Herzog, Adam King, Maureen Edwards). The reading was stage managed by Kelsey Dunne (student, Theatre).