Ben … Chris Rojas

Mrs. Robinson … Jeanne Wysocki
Mr. Robinson … Heath Verrill
Elaine … Ally Reardon
Mr. Braddock … John Flynn
Mrs. Braddock … Margie Secora

Stripper … Dina Del Buono
Hotel Clerk … Rick Rubin
Wedding Guests … Gail Weber

Priest … Ben Bump

THE GRADUATE

March 2022

Photo courtesy of Dalton Zbierski,

The Wilbraham-Hampden Times

The Theatre Guild of Hampden Presents The Graduate

Benjamin Braddock is a confused young man. Having spent four years achieving a brilliant scholastic record, upon graduation he finds himself adrift, uncertain about his future, disconnected from his purpose, and increasingly alienated from the upper-class, suburban, “plastic” world of his parents. Fighting panic and boredom, he is deeply conflicted but ultimately willing when Mrs. Robinson, the unhappily married, alcoholic, and dangerously charismatic wife of his father’s business partner, tempts him into an affair. Benjamin’s tenuous existence of lazy days and stolen nights falls apart when he falls in love -- with Elaine, Mrs. Robinson’s upbeat, optimistic daughter. Terry Johnson’s stage adaptation of The Graduate, based on the novel and the iconic 1967 film, is a bitterly hilarious dark comedy, full of rapid fire dialogue between fascinating and horrifying characters. This play explores family dysfunction, parental expectations, crumbling marriages, and the naive, yet disillusioned, dichotomy of youth, against the shiny backdrop of affluent Southern California in the 1960s.

Directed by Mark Giza

CAST