Photo Flash: World Premiere of THE OLD MAN AND THE SEA At Pittsburgh Playhouse

The world premiere of the stage adaptation of Ernest Hemingway's classic, The Old Man and the Sea, set to open at Point Park University's Pittsburgh Playhouse on February 1.

Centenarian playwright and biographer, A.E. Hotchner (Papa Hemingway), and his son, Tim Hotchner, adapted Hemingway's novel for the stage upon the encouragement and direction of Hemingway himself.

A.E. Hotchner was a longtime friend of the legendary writer, and after Hemingway's disappointment in the film adaptation of The Old Man and the Sea, Hemingway told his friend that someday, A.E. would do his own adaptation and do it right. No one is better for the part than A.E. Hotchner as he spent time with Hemingway in Cuba, fishing and experiencing the terror of the sea together.

Now decades later and after writing tens of drafts, the Hotchners landed on a final script for the play. Directed by Pittsburgh Playhouse Artistic Director Ronald Allan-Lindblom and produced by New York-based RWS Entertainment Group, The Old Man and the Sea will run through February 17. Tony Award-winning actor and Broadway veteran, Anthony Crivello, is cast in the lead as Santiago, an aging Cuban fisherman who struggles with catching a giant marlin far out in the Gulf Stream off the coast of Cuba. The Old Man and the Sea is the first production produced by Point Park University in collaboration with RWS Entertainment Group. The show is presented by Highmark and runs from Feb. 1 through Feb. 17 in the Highmark Theatre at the new Pittsburgh Playhouse, located at 350 Forbes Avenue in Downtown Pittsburgh.

The Old Man and the Sea is based on the Pulitzer and Nobel Prize winning 1952 short novel that tells the story of Santiago. One of Hemingway's most famous works, the story has been adapted for the screen three times and has become one of the most taught novels in American high schools.

Joining Crivello, the cast also includes David Cabot as Hemingway and Gabriel Florentino as Manolin. Simon Cummings, from Cello Fury, will be creating and performing original music for the show.

Photo Credit: John Altdorfer