When the Joad family drives to California in Buffalo State's production of The Grapes of Wrath this spring, they will be riding in the actual truck from the original 1988 Steppenwolf Theatre production that transferred to Broadway in 1990.

The original set, by Kevin Rigdon, was nominated for a Tony Award and the production won the 1990 Tony for Best Play. The truck has been kept in the Chicago theater’s scene shop since the original production and is loaned out every two to three years.

Buffalo State production manager Gregory Faust, arranged the rental. At the time of the original production, celebrated New York Times theater critic Frank Rich praised the production, describing “a huddled chorus of Okies, often led in song … gracefully pushes and twirls the truck through the wilderness to the hoped-for promised land.”  The vehicle will serve the same function for this student production. 

The Grapes of Wrath is presented in collaboration with Casting Hall Productions and directed by Joseph Price, associate professor, Theater Department. Performances are March 12–14 and March 19–21 at 8:00 p.m.; March 14 and 21 at 2:00 p.m. in the Warren Enters Theatre, Upton Hall.

Tickets: free for high school students with ID; $6 for Buffalo State students; $10 for Buffalo State faculty/staff/alumni, college students with ID from other schools, and senior citizens; $15 for general admission. To purchase tickets, call (716) 878-3005 or visit http://secure2.ticketguys.com/buffalostatetheater/.