Me Rich You Learn – by Adam Carpenter and Zach Steel

Zach Steel and Adam Carpenter 

By Joe Straw

The day didn’t start off right.  Off in Santa Monica a crazed gunman killed four human beings and scores of SWAT, police, and fire personnel rushed bravely to control the situation.

The news was impossible to ignore living so close to the crime scene.  But, escaping to another part of the city, I was eager to see some light hearted fair.  And I couldn’t think of a better way than to go to The Open Fist Theatre to see Four Clowns - Me Rich You Learn.  There, I could see clowns frolicking around the stage making those of us who needed a laugh, laugh.

But, I didn’t see clowns in this production.  Wait a minute, that’s not a fair assessment.  I saw one clown in bright clothes and a funny red nose, for about a nanosecond.  

But the bill says Four Clowns.  There were only two, and two members from the audience who participated. That equals four.  Four clowns?  I only saw one clown, and a guy in a funny hat. Two, maybe?

Four Clowns presents Me Rich You Learn by Adam Carpenter & Zach Steel and directed by Turner Munch for a limited engagement at the Open Fist Theatre in Hollywood.

Life in modern day USA is not good when you don’t pay your taxes.  But the IRS is more than willing to work with you in order to pay down your tax bill, or send you to prison. (Which, by the way, doesn’t get the tax bill paid.  It increases expenditures to have your cheating butt incarcerated.) Still, the IRS can be very creative and have ingenious ways for you to pay your tax bill.   

TR Hamer (Zach Steel), king of the white polyester suit, satin blue shirt, and long white clown shoes, has been a bad boy.  And, because he is a successful motivational speaker, the IRS thinks it’s a great way to pay off his egregious tax debt.   

TR Hamer once was a point millionaire (anything under a million dollars), his money evanescent, now lost because he paid diddlysquat in the way of taxes.  One gets the feeling he doesn’t like this motivation show idea one bit.  Still, he is good at it, and why not give it a shot.

There to see that he does his community service job with aplomb is Martin Almond (Adam Carpenter), the lurid glaring, and mild mannered IRS agent who keeps the show and TR in line.

But, TR has tasted the good life, too good in fact.  And with the sexual proclivities of a common house cat, TR has had his run with fast cars, fast women, faster bucks, and now he is in a lot of trouble.  He can’t forget the good times, so he relives them on stage at every opportunity, in graphic details, with his implementation tools, generally located around his groin region.   

On far stage right is a video camera taping their movements and on center stage right is chart with the following game plan.

8:15pm   Martin Almond Intro

8:20pm   TR Hamer From a Life of a Misguided Man

8:27pm  W-2 and You

8:33pm  Am I a Business?

8:37pm  Taxes?  Do I have to?

8:51pm  Shallow Mellow

8:55pm  Cheese Plate Social

But nothing goes right from the start and the show becomes a nightmare – a worse nightmare than being audited.  

There is a lot of rich physical life in this clown comedy.  At the end the actors are a tattered mess and they are drenched in water, sweat, blood (fake), and other bodily fluids.  Their clothes hang in shreds from their bodies and buttons and marshmallows litter the floor.  Such is the life of a clown.

Adam Carpenter

Adam Carpenter does a fine job as Martin Almond. Sans hat, he looks the part of an IRS agent, with hat; well it’s anyone’s guess.  Carpenter does a lot of interesting work.  I’m unsure if the shy, uninteresting IRS agent, who has taken a lot of classes at the YMCA, plays to its greatest effect. There is the façade of an IRS agent but underneath lies a perfectly respectable human being and we don’t see much of that character.  

Zach Steel plays TR Hamer.  He is boisterous, and physically aggressive, and seems to fly off in directions that play like improvisation.  In fact, most of his performance seemed to be improvised as he moved in the direction of the above chart, until he got to the part in which he needed to perform.  Nothing wrong with that, but it just seemed off script. There is a point where he says the script is not working, and after that, his performance soars. There is a likeability factor in his character, the need to communicate to get his point across, and this is well worth the price of admission.   

Carpenter and Steel, the writers, need to get the relationships working and quickly establish who dominates in the relationship. Clowns are human beings and the relationship need defining. For example, the IRS agent should be the boss in this relationship; the criminal overran his nebbish counterpart.  The criminal seemed to be pulling all of the strings and the agent was the hamster running around the criminal’s wheel.  And if true then we need to see how the criminal is smoothly getting his way.  Right now the criminal powers his way like a bulldozer.

Turner Munch the director did a fine job.  There was a slight problem with the fourth wall.  When we are making a TV show and use members of the audience, we should include them in the disasters that follow, they don’t all of a sudden become an uninterested party, employ them for help.  Is there a doctor in the house?  Instead we forget the audience and the forth wall suddenly becomes the Berlin wall.

And, just as an aside, the acupuncture needle appears to be an engravers tool and was slightly painful to watch, what with the blood, and all.

Still, the audience this night, mostly in their twenties and thirties had a great time, and gave our troop a standing ovation. A standing “O”.   You couldn’t ask for a better audience.

Jeremy Aluma, the Producer, did a wonderful job getting the crowds in.  And I must admit he made us feel right at home.  The women at the front desk were very polite and courteous. And the folks greeting us at the entrance of the theatre asked a lot of question and took pictures.  It was just a wonderful evening!

Other members of the crew are as follows: 

Assistant Director: Raymond Lee

Stage Manager: Ashley Jo Navarro

Lighting Designer: Brandon Baruch

Costume Designer: Lis Vizcarra

Set & Props Designers: Meghan McCarthy & Alexandra Giron

Make-Up Designer: Cat Elrod

Production Manager: Mike Funt

Artistic Director: Jeremy Aluma

Run!  And take a clown that likes sidesplitting comedy.  

Thursday, June 13 @ 8pm

Friday, June 21 @ 9pm

Saturday, Jun 22 @ 5pm

Friday, June 28 @ 11pm

Saturday, June 29 @ 10pm

$12 general admission
$10 fringe participants or w/ code taxman
60 minute run time

@ 2013 Hollywood Fringe Festival

@ Fringe Central @ Open Fist Theater

6209 Santa Monica Blvd., Los Angeles, CA 90038

Years To The Day by Allen Barton

By Joe Straw

“There’s a story going around Hollywood and it’s probably an old story about two A-list actors in a film, on the set, on for first day of principal photography.  And on that day, one actor goes completely overboard, working on a character that he has completely fleshed out.  It is a dramatic physical combination of moving head, lips, shoulders, arms, hand, and legs swaying to (I suppose) an imaginary beat in his head.

“Oh, we’re doing that kind of acting.” the other actor said.  

Skylight Theatre Company presents The World Premiere of Years To The Day – written by Allen Barton and directed by Joel Polis.

I have actually been looking for a play like this.  With a small set, designed by Jeff McLaughlin, an impalpable grayness smacked center stage.  A play featuring actors who fill the spaces with all they have to give with no unnecessary distractions.  A play in all its glory, featuring two actors going toe-to-toe, mano a mano, giving us life’s coruscations, all for the sake of a single objective.    

Allen Barton’s cleverly written play is, in my imagination, David Mamet meets Bret Easton Ellis. There is dialogue fit for massive adult human consumption, never a dull moment, and with rich manly characters that don’t hold back on delicious adult banter, which by the way, tears each other’s heart out without even realizing what they are doing.  It is a marvelous ride.

Still, I have notes and those notes will come later.

My perception is: There is a bad guy here.  His name is Dan (Michael Yavnieli) and can best be described as an opinionated blow hard with a nice suit and polished buckled black shoes. A man who, by all appearance, has everything. The tie is off for now, probably because of his high blood pressure and his inability to effectively control his temper.  And something in his red-faced diatribe of his man-speak may have been funny in his younger days but grows tiresome today.

Dan has decided to meet up with his college roommate/friend, Jeff (Jeff LeBeau), because they have not had seen each other for four years to the day. But rather than greet him, Dan is busy on his smart phone and not even taking a moment to look up.

“There he is!” – Dan

“Here I am!” – Jeff

“What’s going on?” – Dan

“How’s it going? (not answering)  You’re technoring me bro.” – Jeff

Okay, so you get a slight taste of the dialogue and this continues for quite some time before we get into some real serious moments. But these guys didn’t come for those cocktail moments, they want the façade to drop, and they want answers to two specific questions on this particular day, the real reason for their meeting.

There’s only one problem, neither one of them can effectively break down the man barrier and ask the question. They hem and haw and beat around the bush with man-speak as the incessant chatter continues without getting to the main point.  

While we are at it, to touch all bases, why not throw in life changes, children, divorce, heart attack, movies, and political commentary.  These details are all important but not the reason that these two decided to show up today.

Enough to get a feel for the man you thought was your best friend, a bastion of conservative causes talking volubly, not listening, and barely reacting when hearing significant tidbits of information.   

Dan is pathetically mendacious as well.  He arrives at the meeting incased in a lie. He’s unable to lay the chips on the table and battle Jeff, the quintessential liberal being, who is also hiding a dramatic secret.

“You’re mind is mush.” – Dan

“You’re dark.” – Jeff

There’s something here they are not talking about.  Will somebody please get to the heart of the matter!  They can sit there in the coffee shop with hands over their face sobbing de profundis, but not finding a way out of their predicament or even searching for help from the other. (Wait a minute, they do, but neither is talking.)  

There are a lot of marvelous things in Allen Barton’s play.  Caught within the confines of a dingy coffee shop, there is definitely a mood of repugnance; a mental suffering that comes at an awakening of sorts from men reaching the hump of their 40-year-old lives.  

Still each character wants a truth, it’s the reason the characters stay for as long as they do.  But, they sit having a scornful disregard of the other, sitting across, doing nothing, sipping coffee, and letting moments go in the way that loving humans let important moments get away.  And oh, isn’t that perspective just pathetic.   

The dialogue, the man-speak, that draws us to the edge of our seats, also takes us back down, with references to “East Berlin”, “one-quarter-white El Presidente”, “12^th year of his term”.  Where the heck are we, Cheko-la-slavia-venen-za-whoola?  And what year is this?  And when did our constitution suddenly change?

I’m not sure I completely got this part of the play but I found it fascinating nevertheless. It appears to be a confused snapshot of dialogue from two individuals who are not thinking clearly on this particular day and revert back to their earlier man-speak days.  (I don’t think this worked but maybe with a little more specifics in mind, it could.)

Also, one was more successful than the other but a little backstory of their current lives would be nice, lawyer, doctor, writer, actor, etc.,

Joel Polis, the director, did a fine job.  The actors have a nice entrance.  The ending is spectacular.  But there are minor things that could have happened but didn’t or things that did happen but with no consequence. In the end, we know more about the characters but the characters, and the audience, got no emotional satisfaction from their meeting. Both characters did not get what they came for and neither really went after the information they wanted.  If, their objective is the one thing, why didn’t they get it?

I loved the direction and the set. But placing the table off center stage would give us a visual that something is amiss and even having one chair larger than the other would also add to a distorted visual.  Before the characters appear, we get a hint of an uneasiness, a distortion, a blend that will add to the through line and carry on through the lives of the characters.

The battle has not been won.  There is more work to do and more positions to be gained. The characters must fight for their space around the table be it physical, mental, or emotional.  They must fight for their perspective and hold ground for what will surely be an onslaught to come.      

Jeff LeBeau plays Jeff, a left leaning die-hard liberal, who pays to watch movies twice. He saunters in with his tan-leather man-bag.  His counterpart knows him for a number of years but he’s not very eager to see him.  His objective is to get an answer to his question and he goes to great links to get it, possibly divulging a secret to get what he wants.  There is an action on stage of eating the paper, which I didn’t get and his counterpart didn’t respond.  Maybe it is a nervous response, something he needs to do in order not to kill his friend. Also, more compassionate of the two, he offers little in the way of solicitude, and shows less little physical compassion, only showing a somber thoughtfulness, slightly hidden behind his nice glasses. Still, LeBeau does a lot of nice work.

Michael Yavnieli plays Dan. It is hard to be sympathetic to a person who is constantly on the hunt with ammunition of his own choosing.  It’s not only his counterpart, but also how he feels about the woman walking her small dog, his wife, his mother and father.  His plan is always his game plan, but nobody wants to play in his game. People who let him speak surround him but there is nothing in listening to that spirit of a man who has nothing to say.  He was sitting across the table from a man whose face he could not see, emotions he could not feel, and wanting information but not knowing how to get it.  This all makes for an interesting character but what is needed is a dramatic catharsis.

Curiosity is the key for both actors.  Each can be systematically incurious and be mysterious, at times, but each must doggedly pursue a strong dramatic objective to satisfactorily come to a resolution.  

Gary Grossman is the Producer and Artistic Director.

Jeff McLaughlin was responsible for the Set and Lighting Design.

Christopher Moscatiello is the Sound Designer.

Robert R. Ryel is the Production Stage Manager.

Run!  And take a “friend” you haven’t seen in four years.

Reservations:  702-582-8587

www.ktctickets.com

Beverly Hills Playhouse

254 South Robertson Blvd.

Beverly Hills, CA 

I’m Not Rappaport by Herb Gardner

Carl Crudup and Jack Axelrod

By Joe Straw

I did not have a relationship with the man who gave me life.  My mother divorced him, remarried, and my brothers and sisters assumed the name of the man she married.  My father signed away his rights, and we were, by law, adopted.

When my 91-year-old grandmother died, I asked about my father thinking he was dead.

“No, he’s still alive.” my oldest sister said.

So, after 30 years of not seeing, or speaking to my father, I picked up the phone and called, and after a few moments he told me something that was blatantly false.   Why was the truth so hard for him?  - The narrator.

There’s a lot to be said about the telling of a joke: the timing has to be just right otherwise the joke doesn’t work.  The “I’m not Rappaport” joke was a joke one has to think about.  Still, I didn’t get it. Why doesn’t this joke work? I asked myself.  Personally, I think it needs a pause in the right place.  Reading it over and over, I got the pause. If the pause isn’t in the right place, the joke dies a dispirited death.

The play opens in early October 1982.  The setting is a park bench near a path at the edge of the lake in Central Park, New York City, at 3:00 p.m. on a lovely afternoon.  In the distance is the sound of a carousel spinning accompanied by calliope music – abiding memories of our youth.

Midge (Carl Crudup) is a working class 80-year-old black man with thick glasses trying to read “The Sporting News.” He ignores Nat (Jack Axelrod), a dapper 81-year-old Lithuanian man with a cane and the gift of gab.  To the impartial viewer, they would appear to be complete strangers.

“O.K., where was I? (No response. Midge reads his paper.) Where the hell was I? What were we talking about? I was just about to make a very important point here (to Midge).  What were we talking about?” – Nat

“We wasn’t talking. You was talking. I wasn’t talking.” – Midge

“O.K., so what was I saying?” – Nat

“I wasn’t listening either.  You was doing the whole thing by yourself.” – Midge

“Why weren’t you listening?” – Nat

“Because you’re a Goddamn liar.  I’m not listening to you anymore.” – Midge

The West Coast Jewish Theatre presents “I’m Not Rappaport” by Herb Gardner and directed by Howard Teichman. This is a marvelously well-written show, wonderfully directed and with a superior cast.

It’s probably best to come in cold on a production like this, let the events unfold before your eyes and ears and make the best of what you believe is true or not true.  Because “I’m Not Rappaport” is a play about a man who never tells the truth.

Well, never is never really correct.  Maybe the better option is telling you he rarely tells the truth but is having the time of his life making up stuff as he goes along.

Sometimes in the park you find your perfect spot, the shading is just right, the breeze a cool wisp, and the sun catches you in spots that warm your soul.  But sharing the spot and fighting off unwanted interruptions requires a tenacious constitution.  This is a story about two men wanting to get the most out of the rest of their lives and needing each other in order to make that happen.

Midge has found that spot.  He’s been there for the last couple weeks listening to Nat tells his stories that are blatantly not true.  That is an understatement; the stories were out and out lies, but good stories that passed the time.

Midge has had enough and is going to punch Nat out, if he can see him. While taking a swing, Midge falls to the ground. He remains quiescent, and methodically takes inventory of his intactness.

Nat runs his hands along Midge’s body to make sure all the bones are in one piece in an act of unembarrassed friendliness.

“If you like this, we’re engaged.” – Nat

But Midge has another reason for keeping a low profile.  He hopes to avoid Danforth (Joe Langer), who heads the building committee where he works and lives.  There will be upgrades to the building and there are a lot of changes taking place. Today Midge thinks he’s getting the axe.

And, sure enough, Danforth (Joe Langer) sees him from the bridge and shouts that he’s got three more miles to go before he can get to Midge and their meeting.  Midge is a nervous wreck.

“Mr. Danforth, Twelve H, Head o’ the Tenants’ Committee.  Place is goin’ co-op, he says they got some reorganizin’ to do, says he wants to see me private…” – Midge

Midge has been hiding from him and, as it turns out, the truth will be coming three miles later.  Midge has bad eyesight, so bad he sees blue shadows and very little else.

Nat says he’s the same way and, in that way, they are connected.

“Why because we both got vision.  Who needs sight when you got vision.” - Nat

And even though Nat says Midge has got a cowardly personality and a chicken-sh*t attitude he is convinced their meeting with Danforth will go well.

Jack Axelrod is wonderful as Nat.  It is a marvelous performance that should not be missed by people who love the theatre and those who study, take notes, and marvel at the craft. This is definitely a character that wants to live and live with all the gusto he can muster until he drops.  He is a man of the proletariat with a scornful disregard for the bourgeois.  There is only one thing that frightens him and that is losing his freedom, you can see it in his eyes as he quails inwardly. Alexrod is stout but is not a spring chicken and I’m not sure how many times he can be thrown to the ground during the course of this run.  Natheless, there is so much life, heart, and soul in his performance one does not want to leave the theatre.

Carl Crudup is equally exciting as Midge.  His performance as a mordacious character is as riveting as it as it is exciting. As independent as he feels, he needs his counterpart to help him through the rough spots. He can’t do it alone and how many other people his age can he relate to? Not many I suspect.  And although he has lost most of his sight, he has this innate implacable curiosity about him and will not rest until he finds the true identity of his counterpart. It is a wonderful performance.

Joe Langer plays Danforth with aplomb.  Langer brings a lot of life to Danforth.  It is a nasty but sympathetic portrayal of a man having to do the dirty deed and not feeling really good about it. Or is that just an act? Why would he be there if he didn’t accept the job?  He is just a college professor, someone who teaches Communication Arts and may be the best person suited for the task. Langer is wonderful when confronted by Nat and that whole back and forth lifts the play to unimaginable heights. It is a wonderful job.

Melissa Collins plays Laurie and does an admirable job.   Laurie is an art student who is out in the park sketching, working on the details of her craft, the lake, trees, two old men and possibly a drug dealer.   Yes, she has had a problem and she’s trying to move on with her life.  Her only problem is the drug dealer wants $2,000.00 she owes for buying drugs on credit that doesn’t sit well when the dealer politely demands the money. This is a peculiar role.  Laurie has a rough edge, but when she enters, it is as though she is just an art student.  If there is someone looking for her, her actions in this mostly deserted part of the park do not indicate a dark force approaching.  She even decides to take a nap.   Maybe there are others choices to be had here.

Andy Scott Harris plays Gilley and does well but lacks the well-defined character needed for this particular role. It may be easy putting on the costume and saying the tuff guy words but there are many more layers needed for this character.  The kiss doesn’t work because there is no relationship between the two of them and because she wakes up and finds that he is not the man she expects.  His sole purpose is to get his walking-home money, his protection fee, and there should be nothing that takes him away from that objective.  He needs to find better ways to get those men home until he gets to his last resort, the knife. Harris is 15 years old, has a good look, and has a lot more to learn.  One can’t help but wonder, with the talent around him, that he has learned a lot during the run of this show.  

Maria Spassoff and Jack Axelrod

Maria Spassoff plays Clara Gelbert and provides a performance I truly loved. Spassoff is a focused actress that goes after what she wants.  As the character Clara, a real estate agent now living in Great Neck, her objective is to find her father and get him to agree to a living arrangements that will put her mind at rest and not drive her absolutely mad. She, once a militant herself, will no longer cover for her dad’s fraud, which seems to be a daily occurrence. She does believe in her “Pop” and is even caught and carried away in his reality. It is a wonderful performance.

Carl Crudup and Patrick J. Rafferty 

Patrick J. Rafferty as The Cowboy has a wonderful stage presence, a delightful Montana accent, and a character with many layers. Trying to be the tough guy, he has much insecurity and is not afraid to show it.  As The Cowboy he is smart and tenacious but maybe not as smart as those around him, possibly he is in way over his head, and is coming to terms this may not be the life for him.  His only problem is getting out.  

Kate Huffman is an understudy for Laurie but did not perform the night I was there.

Howard Teichman, the Director and Producer have done a wonderful job. Just a note:  I would clean up the relationship of the first scene.  For the first few minutes one is not sure if the two have had a relationship at all. We discover it through the eventual dialogue but I’m wondering if there is a better choice. Still, Teichman takes his actors on a whirlwind journey despite Nat’s pathetically mendacious ways.  The story ends with a gracious resolution and the audience soars out of the theatre. Teichman has done a fantastic job, simply marvelous.

Herb Gardner has written a terrific play. He gives us a lot to think about as we move closer to the miserable indignities of old age, those depressing thoughts of aging as, each day, we move one day closer to death.  But there is a lot of life in this play and watching it all play out is a fantastic journey.  The characters, all of them, are untrammelled, each having their own voice and speaking loud enough to say “We are not going quietly!”

Bill Froggatt is the Associate Producer and Sound Designer and did a fantastic job.

Priscilla Miranda is the Stage Manager.

Michéle Young is the Costume Designer and did a very nice job finding or producing the 1980’s costumes for that period. 

Ellen Monocroussos is the Lighting Designer.

Kurtis Bedford is the wonderful Set Designer and did a fantastic job.

Michael Lamont is the Photographer.

Kiff Scholl is the Graphic Designer.

Philip Sokoloff is the Publicist.

Run and take an octogenarian.  Maybe you’ll discover that you have more in common about life and the theatre than you thought. 

Pico Playhouse

10508 W. Pico Blvd.

Los Angeles, CA  90064

Reservation: 323-860-6620

http://wcjt.tix.com/Event.asp?Event=548232

  

Opening Night by Norm Foster

Martin Thompson - Ilona Kulinska

By Joe Straw

I don’t know what life’s about and, half the time, I don’t know where I’m going, but this I do know:  stepping through the backstage door is a wonderful sensation – all that comes with it – and all those lights and shadows– it is inspiration coming from every direction.  – Narrator

Theatre 40 of Beverly Hills presents Opening Night by Norm Foster and directed by Bruce Gray.  There is a lot to like about this show and it is especially likeable in its sincerity.

The play opens, opening night, in the VIP room of the Piggery Theatre in North Hatley, Quebec.  Clayton Fry (David Hunt Stafford) is laying on his back, behind the couch, warming up opening up his nasal cavities, his entire mask, before he exits backstage.

“Neeeeeat, Nauuught, Nauughty” – Clayton Fry

Tom Delaney (Eric Keitel) a twenty-one year-old actor, and tonight a bartender, tells Michael Craig (Richard Hoyt Miller), an accomplished actor, that he too is an actor.  He doesn’t know when the day will come but he suspects that he and Michael will someday share the same stage.

Supremely flattered, Michael queries Tom to fetch him another drink.

Ruth Tisdale (Gail Johnston) is enamored of being backstage in the VIP lounge.  She feels the thrill and excitement of being one with celebrities. She is accompanied by her husband, Jack Tisdale (John Combs), a hardware salesman, who is unhappy about being at this silly play on the night of the 7^th game of the World Series. 

Ruth strongly reminds him that it’s also their 25th wedding anniversary and she wants none of his complaining.  Ruth thinks acting is a noble profession and she wants this night to ignite the flames of their passion.

“With my back?” - Jack

Across the room Jack recognizes Handy Randy, Michael Craig, the guy in the commercials about the wrench in the box, doing the things that make people laugh or take notice.   Michael is flattered to be recognized, but quickly tires of this non-thespian speaking of varnish, and after drinking an abundant amount of alcohol, he leaves for more important things.

“Excuse me.  I’ve got to walk the schnauzer.” – Michael

Richard Hyde-Finch (Martin Thompson), the director, has found out that his actress Libby Husniak (Ilona Kulinska) has not signed in.  His partner, Cilla Fraser (Meranda Walden), the town’s socialite, comes in calmly worried about one thing, their relationship and his commitment. She’s got a little something extra up her “sleeve”.

Ruth takes the opportunity to introduce herself as being from the mayor’s office. Not to miss any golden opportunity, Richard mistakes her for the Vice Mayor and ingratiates himself to her.

“I’m in accounting, down the hall, two floors down.” – Ruth

Ruth, noted for her sincerity, explains that nobody wanted the tickets so they were given to her.

Caught dead in the silence of her comments, Ruth introduces Jack to Richard.  The first thing they want to know is if he is married (he’s not) and if he directs a lot (he doesn’t) and, so with a lot of free time on his hands, he might want to stop by the store and pick up a few cans of varnish as a hobby between jobs.

Richard takes his card and leaves.

Meanwhile Cilla speaks to Richard about having a child.  Her biological clock is ticking and she wants to have children.

“What if I were pregnant?” – Cilla

Cilla excuses herself, which leaves Michael and Richard who just happen to notice each other, in the way that actors and directors do.  And caught together in a room, they speak.  

“I’m up for the role in Iceman.  Disappointed that I didn’t get it.” – Michael

Richard, in full pleasant-speak, wants to know if the court case is behind him now.

Ouch.

Richard says that he is casting The Tempest in November but Prospero’s role is already filled.

Double ouch.

Best friends on the outside, gnawing bitter enemies on the in.

Libby finally shows up and Richard hustles her well-endowed self to get into costume to perform.

There is a marvelous set change Designed by Jeff G. Rack and the VIP room is wonderfully transformed to a small set with a country backdrop and actors churning butter.  The audience is comprised with everyone we’ve met in the first act, sitting in the audience, grinning while the show starts.  

And everyone is there to watch, filled with optimism, on opening night.  Slowly the lights come up on a voluptuous young maiden, churning butter, waiting for the arrival of her father.  And it is then that everything starts to go horribly wrong.   

I couldn’t help but stare at the patrons from time to time and see warm smiles throughout the night.  There was also a woman who had an infectious laugh and was having the best of times.

John Combs plays Jack Tisdale and did a fine job learning a few facts of life. Stuck in the back room of his hardware store, listening to the baseball fames on his transistor radio one would surmise he doesn’t get out much. Combs has a comedic commercial face and does quite well. He could take it up a notch with the bag of chips.

Gail Johnston played Ruth Tisdale and has a very nice show-stopping moment. Johnston is a veteran performer, which is evident throughout the night.  She made the most of her performance and was an absolute joy to watch.

Eric Keitel plays the young actor/bartender, Tom Delaney, running in and out with the drinks. I couldn’t help but believe there was more to this character, another layer or two, that wasn’t seen on this night. Still, Keitel did a very nice job.

Llona Kulinska played a robust Libby Husniak with enough comic flair to entice her counterparts.  But her relationship seemed platonic on all levels and it’s not something a character really wants when she is trying to make it to the top. Still, I enjoyed her performance.

Richard Hoyt Miller played Michael Craig, an actor with a wonderful voice, a to-die-for voice, a voice for the stage but possibly not film (cue: rim shot), and a voice that is the downfall of his life.  Not to mention the troubles he has gotten into.  Miller is a wonderful actor.  

David Hunt Stafford as Clayton Fry, complete with an English accent (Yipes! Where did that come from?), is a farmer out of his field.   Not someone you would want churning butter with your young daughter. As Clayton, the actor, he is very charming to his counterpart, sweeping her away with lines remembered from long ago. It is a wonderful performance.

Martin Thompson as Richard Hyde-Finch is self-important cad. He is a man who has shaken the dust off this tiny theatre town and shaken it to its core.  He is a master director in his own mind and this tiny town somewhere in North Hatley, Quebec, Canada. (North of Vermont)  Still, this is his night, a critical night, a night of life and death.  Also, I think the character should be pulled in various amorous directions. At least two.  And finding a few more character moments would only add to an already delightful performance.  

Meranda Walden as Cilla Fraser is resplendent and amusing displaying her emotional pleasures of having a love and director all in the same breath.  She is a character with an equable spirit even with temptation all around her mate.  She knows what she wants and what is necessary to get there.  It is a delightful understated performance.

I’m going to make a suggestion.  Include the entryway, the backstage door, in the opening moments of the show.  This is no greater feeling than the slow walk into the backstage door.  It will compliment and define the Piggery Theatre, especially the art on the wall, which is a pasquinade of the theatre itself. Using it briefly will highlight the beginning and open VIP room to its masterful glory.    

Bruce Gray directed a delightful show but one thing bothered me.  There was a noise coming from behind me.  It sounded like someone had on a transistor radio on or it was a hearing aid gone berserk. I believe it was ambient noise but at times this noise overpowered the dialogue. A woman behind me said:  “Who’s playing the radio?” That aside, I had a delightful time.

There’s no social message in Norm Foster’s play.  It’s about everyday people living ordinary lives.  Still, one should push the envelope now and again. If it’s a show about theatre, it’s always life and death.   Just ask any actor struggling to get a job, anywhere, here in this town. Maybe, it’s just my experience but actors, are constantly battling, to get the right moment. And they tear each others’ hair out to get that moment. The battle can’t be all fun and games.

Other crew members were as follows:

Don Solosan – Stage Manager

Jeff G. Rack – Set Design/EFX

Ric Zimmerman – Lighting Designer

Bill Froggatt – Sound Designer

Michéle Young – Costume Designer  - Very nice costumes!

Run and take someone who likes the theatrical experience of Opening Night.