Elephant Shavings by Ron Sossi

L - R Giovanna Quinto, Jack Geren, and Diana Cignoni - Photos by Kayte Deioma

 

By Joe Straw

 

Lizzie (Diana Cignoni) enters a makeshift greenroom, with a couch, and a kitchen area, and beyond that is a bed.  It is a room away from the partying crowd for the actors to step off stage and take a breather before walking back into those maddening patrons. Lizzie, in a black Dianne Keaton attire, looks to be exhausted because it is the end of the run and thus closing night.

 

Jill (Giovanna Quinto) the stage manager takes leave of the party outside and joins Lizzie asking if she can get her anything. Jill steps back outside and the other solipsistic luminaries - cast members - Sam (Jeff LeBeau) and Erin (Cameron Meyer) and the omnipotent director Peter (Jack Geren) step into the space and, in a celebratory manner, carry on in a discussion about God, Jerzy Grotowski, an experimental theatre teacher, authenticity, and acting.

 

Lizzie remains quiet, observing the director pontificating, and the others discussing, in a polite way, the ins and outs of acting, God, and their instruments. But Lizzie has more on her mind, personal in nature, a miscarriage 4 month ago and two months later wanting another baby.

 

Possibly inconsequential, but there is something missing in this first scene whether it is extensional, experimental, or existential whatever this may be called, something is not quite right.

 

The Odyssey Theatre Ensemble presents the world premiere of Elephant Shavings written and directed by Ron Sossi extended through October 8, 2023.

 

Ron Sossi has a slow gait these days moving among the patrons and the rooms in black, a ghost like figure hovering The Odyssey Theatre like he has done thousands of nights before. He is, dare one say it, a Los Angeles institution, a man filled with so many stories over so many years, he is a walking encyclopedia of theatre knowledge and human-interest stories. And he has decided to turn over some of those stories through the presentation of a play of his own creation.  

 

In this play, there is a story of someone asking an artist how a beautiful one-piece wood sculptured elephant was created.  And the artists answered, “I just cut away what is not elephant.” Possibly a fitting description of the play although there may be shavings still left in this two-act play.  

 

One may regard Elephant Shavings as something of an experimental experience wrapped in modern day characters. They don’t wear funny black skintight suits and dance about the room. And they don’t go beyond the natural presence on stage. They’re normal like people going through life in another theatrical experience.

 

But some characters don’t, and then the play turns into a decidedly different structure that will have some audience members on the edge of their seats and then questioning after it’s all over, what in the heck just happened? And that just may be the point.

 

  

There is some fine work in Ron Sossi’s play, a soulful satisfying search from within, especially in the second act where things just start coming together with the exploration of Lizzie’s character finding another spiritual level and running with it. That said, the opening scene needs work. Lizzie comes in exhausted when she has a lot on her mind.  She basically has nowhere to go after the production with the theatre becoming dark for the summer months. But she doesn’t reach out, she doesn’t take the information or is guided by any human force (via the dialogue) about how she is going to survive. Happenstance doesn’t have conflict, inner turmoil does, and we need to see her thinking about how she is going to survive.  

 

Denise Blasor and Diana Cignoni

 

 

Denise Blasor plays Pearl, a friend of the theatre, always around to help whenever she can. Blasor brings a lot of life to the show, she is funny, frightening, and is charming in various ways.

 

Diana Cignoni is Lizzie, an actor, who may not have a clue in the direction she wants to take.  She needs guidance and seeks guidance in the forces surrounding her but that means a deep spiritual connection, a cleansing of sorts, away from her arduous melancholy, and a movement that takes her beyond her physical self and into an enigmatical tranquility.  The ending is fascinating. To search would be an appropriate action for this character who seems to be doing this the entire play. All the steps she takes should clue her to eye opening moments that leads her to a satisfying conclusion. Cignoni is mesmerizing with her direct connection to the audience and there must be that moment where she ultimately understands where she is going.

 

Jack Geren is Peter, the director. One understands the situation in which he appears but never got a sense of character and the conflict. One gets the relationships but not the backstory prior to the cast entering the room. Was the play successful on this night? Is there someone he really needs to speak to - to get the performance he wants? Even though we’re at the end of the run, is there more work to be done for the sake of the future of this company?  Is there a special relationship between the director and the stage manager? Can there be?  Who is holding the notes? One never gets the sense of authority the director has with this cast and ultimately how that moves the lead off into her direction. (An interesting note: Geren looks twenty years younger than his photo in the program.) That said Geren is very likeable in the role. But the choices for this character seem unlimited.  

 

Jeff LeBeau and Cameron Myer

 

 

Jeff LeBeau is Sam an actor that engages in a polite argument with his counterpart and it’s mostly about the craft.  LeBeau has a strong presence and is very engaging onstage.  His voice is strong, and his actions are fluid. But here is another character that doesn’t make a mistake and the conflict within doesn’t materialize for the purpose of the whole play. But his time is limited, and we must know how his actions work within the context of the play.

 

Cameron Meyer is Erin. Erin is an interesting character, set in her ways, somewhat stodgy, believes in what she believes and that is settled. One wonder how that works for actors who are not open to other alternatives. The discussions in the opening scene move the main character to figure out her life but one couldn’t figure out when or how that happened.

 

Giovanna Quinto is exceptional as Jill, the stage manager and seems to be open to seeing beyond the beyond. Jill is very superstitious and offers her friend warnings about what she may encounter, things in the theatre world that jump out unexpectedly. That said, there is more that Quinto can do to elevate those moments, how far she can go highlights what is to be expected of living alone in a theatre so that when Jill comes back, after the summer, she understands a power she possesses and is moved to what has just happened.  

 

Jan Munroe’s set is a little awkward but manages to work in this setting.

 

Other members of the crew are as follows:

 

Denise Blasor and Juliette Blasor – Costume Designers

Jackson Funke – Lighting Designer

Christopher Moscatiello – Sound Designer

Fritz Davis – Video Designer

Katie Chabot – Stage Manager

Andrew Blahak – Rehearsal Stage Manager

Severine Laure – Assistant to the Director

 

There are a lot of fantastic moments in this production. I’m sure I didn’t get everything but I’m glad I went.

 

Tickets and Reservations: https://odysseytheatre.com/

 

And parking is free!

 

 

 

a slight ache by Harold Pinter

L - R Henry Olek and Susan Priver - Photos by Kayte Deioma

 

By Joe Straw

 

A slight ache is not to be confused with a disturbance in the force unless you want it to be.

 

Dance On Productions in association with Linda Toliver and Gary Guidinger present a slight ache by Harold Pinter and directed by Jack Heller is now playing at the Odyssey Theatre through October 1^st, 2023.

 

Somewhere, long ago, in the late 1950s or early 1960s lived a couple on the outskirts of London in a country home.  This couple co-existed somewhat happily.  They had almost everything they wanted except complete satisfaction, and one knows that is hard to come by these days.

 

Their lives have been given away to the pomp and circumstances of the wretchedness and dreariness of daily living. They need something to bring a bite into their existence and on this day, they find it.

 

We catch Flora (Susan Priver) and Edward (Henry Olek) in the middle of a cherished moment – breakfast. Edward engrossed in his morning paper and Flora wanting so desperately to make a connection that she bangs around her teacup, saucer, her tea pot, and noisily scrapes the burnt crumbs off her beloved toast before slamming it back onto the plate.

 

Edward is unfettered but ignoring her without the slightest bit of concern.

 

To break the iceberg that is between them they engage in some small talk both aware, although not mentioning it, there is someone beyond the gate.  

 

“Have you noticed the honeysuckle this morning?” – Flora

“The what?” – Edward

“The Honeysuckle. – Flora

“Honeysuckle? Where?” – Edward

“By the back gate, Edward.” - Flora

 

And there we have it, in the opening moments of their story, the back gate. It isn’t so much as what flowers are growing around or through the back gate, it is the matter of the person waiting beyond the back gate.  

 

He is the Match Seller (Shelly Kurtz), and he has been waiting there for weeks.

 

But first there is the matter of a wasp buzzing around the marmalade and the sight ache that gnaws at Edward’s being if not both of their beings.  

 

Harold Pinter, the writer, leaves the door open for any kind of interpretation, the ambiguity explodes out from the page and it’s up to the collaborative effort of all to see how far they want to take it.  Originally, this 1959 two-character play was for the radio before it moved to the Arts Theatre in London January 18, 1961as a three-character play.  

 

In Jack Heller’s version, on this night, Edward is a forceful figure using his voice and his physical ways to control his wife Flora and then using that same force against the Match Seller, a silent figure who has no means of verbal communication.  This is a comedy but may need more work to accentuate the Pinter pauses and the way it emotionally moves the characters. It’s still too early in the run to know if the actors have fully realized those moments and this becomes particularly apparent when both Edward and Flora are communicating with the Match Seller. They ask the questions of the Match Seller but don’t wait for the answer before satisfactorily answering the question on his behalf.  Both Edward and Flora have wild and imaginative ways of looking at the world and their place in the world (however distorted it may be). And they both like to plan, each thinking their plan is better than the other. One suspects that neither adheres to conjugal fidelity in their marriage.  Also, Flora is not the submissive being she makes out to be and Edward is not as intelligent, or the important writer he makes of himself. That said, this is a very good production, and when the run settles down, should evolve into a better production capturing the moments that will move the play and the audience as well.

 

Susan Priver is successful as Flora, a submissive wife who, in the end, wins all the matches. (Pun intended) Slightly nervous, in the beginning, she manages to relax and give an exceptional performance.  There is a little more to add to this character. Flora is the smarter of the two, the one with the most imagination (particularly amatory) which gives us a clue as to what she really wants from either of the two men and she isn’t particular in that regard.  She goads her husband to recognize his strengths and when that doesn’t work destroys his spirit for possibly a moment.  

 

Henry Olek is Edward, a man who has got something on his mind but refuses to acknowledge it to either himself or his wife. He knows there is a man at the back gate, and he’s been there for some time. It is his wife that moves him in that direction by way of strength, first by having him kill the wasp, secondly by going out into the garden (he doesn’t), putting up the canopy (again he doesn’t), and then finally confronting the man. Instead, he hides in the scullery, looking out a small window, and avoids his wife at every opportunity.  (What he is doing in the scullery is opened to the imagination.) He speaks of Africa as though he knows but the continent but in fact those place do not exist (the Membunza Mountains, Katambaloo) all for the sake of sounding superior. And his practice of patriarchy only works when his wife is affected by it but in this version shows little sign of working.  Edward is physical and demeans her at times, but it only hurts his wife and doesn’t move her in a satisfying direction, or maybe it does. 

 

Shelly Kurtz

 

 

Shelly Kurtz is the Match Seller.  He can hear and understand slight commands all with a disquieting peculiarity, but he may not be able to speak. He doesn’t smile either. Dressed in rags he moves about with little or no regard to the person in front of his being. He is arduous in his manner never coming out of the blank stare to react to anything before him. This is a tough role, but Kurtz manages to succeed.

 

Jeff Rack scenic design works wonders for the Odyssey space. And Christopher Moscatiello’s work for the sound design is also excellent, especially the wasp noise in the pot. Kiff Scholl’s work of the one sheet is very impressive that conveys the disturbance in the force.

 

Other members of this delightful crew are as follows:

 

Sarah Dawn Lowry – Stage Manager

Ellen Monocroussos – Lighting Design

Michael Mullen – Costume Design

Amanda Sauter – Scenic Painter

Aubrielle Hvolvoll – Prop Master

Lucy Pollack – Publicity

Tracy Paleo – Social Media

Kyle McConaghy – Photography

Stephanie Rush – Electrician

Reparata Mazzola – Program Design

 

Parking is free at the Odyssey!

 

Tickets and reservations:  https://odysseytheatre.com/tickets/?eid=102981

One Moment of Freedom by Marion Zola

 

L - R Kristal Dickerson, John Combs, and Catherine Bruhier:  Photos by Ryan Rowles

 

By Joe Straw

 

Any time, any time while I was a slave, if one minute's freedom had been offered to me, and I had been told I must die at the end of that minute, I would have taken it—just to stand one minute on God's airth [sic] a free woman—I would. — Elizabeth Freeman

 

Theatre 40 presents the world premiere of One Moment of Freedom written by Marion Zola, directed by Linda Alznauer, and produced by David Hunt Stafford through August 27^th, 2013.

 

Bet (Catherine Bruhier), a slave in 1781 Sheffield, Massachusetts comes upon her daughter Lizzie (Kristal Dickerson), also a slave, and Alison Ashley (Katyana Rocker-Cook) having an argument about a tray of Fine china Lizzie has just broken on the floor in her living room. Alison is so angry she grabs a poker and swings at Lizzie before Bet rushes in and takes the brunt load of a hot poker. 

 

Bet in pain and suffering with a burn to her arm, runs away from the house. Colonel John Ashley (John Combs) discovers that Bet has left. The Colonel is furious with his daughter and tells her to immediately apologize to Lizzie and Bet.  

 

But Bet has already put a great distance between them and two days later she is seen walking to the home of abolition minded attorney Theodore Sedgwick (Michael Robb), and his wife Pamela Sedgwick (Mandy Fason). Theodore says he must take her back, but Bet is adamant about not returning.  

 

Bet offers to work for Theodore and Pamela but Theodore is conflicted saying she must be returned. Bet relates a tale of men constructing laws, the Sheffield Declaration, a precursor of the Declaration of Independence waiting a dinner table and offers a passage she remembers that “all men are created equal.” Theodore says that “men” refers to all human beings including women and Bet concludes that, being a human being, she should also be a free woman.

 

Clever thinking.

 

Pamela delicately takes time to convince Theodore that he should defend Bet and her right to be free. But Theodore says he risks everything, including his livelihood and his friendship to Colonel John Ashley will forever be lost to defend such a precarious proposition.

 

Theodore says not returning will mean jail.

 

Bet chooses jail.

 

Colonel John Ashley regards both Bet and Lizzie as family, slaves, but family and will not let them go. Theodore Sedgwick says they will see them in court.

 

Marion Zola’s world premier play is a wonderful, meticulous play with a very dramatic and articulated courtroom scene that plays out in all its grandeur. What is remarkable about the play is that most of the characters come from a place that is so low it is almost impossible to come back. Actions that are done that cannot be undone.  Beliefs that are so ingrained that it takes a courtroom to make an impossible situation possible. And even after that, a sinister stain remains.

 

Based on a real event makes one want to go home and research the incident.

 

That said, Zola has taken some liberties with the truth and has fictionalized relationships to make this stand-alone play into a cohesive work of art as a way of creating a multi-dimensional sense of conflict. Tapping Reeve’s relationship and marriage to Alison Ashley is fictional but, in the play, provides a backdrop of an inner conflict about slavery and personal feelings against abusive power.  Zola has written Bet’s daughter Lizzie as a plaintiff when it was another slave named Brom (Brom and Bett v. Ashley) and that person was the co-plaintiff.  

 

Linda Alznauer’s work as director is tremendous with a nice through line and ambiguous enough to stay on point and keep the actors focused and the audience entertained. Some moments need clarification, and the ending must serve a purpose to tie things up in the end.       

 

The burn moment is critical, and it is the moment of freedom that sets the entire play on its course.  On this night, Bet seeing trouble, swoops in and then swoops out without taking the time to show us exactly what happened. There are a lot of things going on here including flight or fight that require a little more exploration. It is the one moment of freedom and defining the moment of the play that is critical.    

 

There is also another moment when Bet arrives at Pamela Sedgwick’s home.  She shows them the burn, but an odd thing happened. Pamela and Theodore have a conversation while Bet is writhing in pain with 5^th degree burns (my exaggeration)! Moments later they go off and get something for the burns.  One is not sure if this was intentional or not.    

 

Still, overall, and in its own form, the play is mesmerizing from the beginning to the end.

 

L - R Catherine Bruhier, John Combs, Katyana Rocker-Cook and Jeffrey Winner

 

 

Jeffrey Winner is outstanding as David Nobel the defendant’s attorney. The manner in the ways he moves throughout the courtroom scene suggests a deep and emotional commitment to character. It is one the finest acting portrayals you will see all year.

 

David Westbay also fits perfectly as the Judge. He is a man committed to the rule of law and rules the courtroom with precision and patience. Westbay’s voice is strong, and he has a natural presence, moves with exactitude on stage and a has great character look.

 

Catherine Bruhier is Bet a mild-mannered character living with the idea of freedom on her mind. She can’t read or write but has the wherewithal to move to be free. There may be more to add to the character in the way she moves toward her objective, but this is a very fine performance.  

 

Joe Clabby and Katyana Rocker-Cook

 

 

Joe Clabby is Tapping Reeve a lawyer and man who heads a law school.  He is also the love interest that feels the need to recuse himself because of his relationship to the plaintiff’s daughter. He is also torn by her nasty behavior and has terrible misgivings about his relationship to his fiancée. And how that completely resolved itself is ambiguous and open for discussion. The statuesque Clabby is a leading man and is also terrific in the role.

 

Mandy Fason is Pamela Sedgwick a woman who is the solid backbone of the team called marriage convincing her husband to do the thing that is right. For the time, this requires a lot of patience and fortitude, especially when her husband is so against it. There is more Fason could do to strengthen her relationship to her husband. (They had 10 children!) Pamela is the daughter of a very prominent New England family and there may be more to add to this character to give her additional color. The conflict with her husband must be a competition of intellect and fortitude and we must see that play out on stage.  Still, Mandy was very likeable in the role.  

 

John Combs played Colonel John Ashley on short notice. And it was not a bad job noting he was on book most of the night. Ashley is an interesting character.  Kind, and mild manner. Missing may be the soldier he was in the French Indian Wars, and how that would work in the context of the play. He sees slaves as human beings, but he treats them as chattel going so far as having one of them put in jail for disobedience. He only gives up when he has completely lost.

 

Michael Robb gives a tremendous performance as Theodore Sedgwick, a man beset with conflict, his wife, the plaintiffs, and the entire country all watching the outcome that will start with the beginning of the end of slavery.  He risks losing everything to bring this to trial. Robb gives a very fine performance with an immediacy that strikes a chord with every being.

 

Katyana Rocker-Cook is also impressive as Alison Ashley. There is some very good work going on here – spoiled white privileged young woman who believes the world is her own. Alison must come from way back of a very horrific opening moment and Rocker-Cook does this in increments and it is remarkable work.

 

Kristal Dickerson also does some good work as Lizzie, Bet’s daughter.  There is more she can add to the role to develop the relationship to her mother during the play. That bond must be stronger.  Lizzie loses her mother two times in the play, once when Bet runs away and the second time in prison. Each of those times may require more of an emotional and physical moment of never seeing her again.  This is your mother.

 

There are alternates that did not perform the night I attended, Michael Kerr, and Diane Linder.  Daniel Leslie plays Colonel John Ashley and did not perform either.

 

Michael Mullen’s work as the Costume Designer was excellent. There were slight touches in the costumes that elevated the performance. The ruby pin in David Nobel’s wardrobe gave the character a natural flair of power and invincibility for this lawyer. Indeed the work was one of sartorial splendor. Judi Lewin, Hair, Wig & Makeup Designer, was also excellent in keeping with the time and date.

 

Other members of the crew are as follows:

 

Jeff G. Rack – Set Designer

Derrick McDaniel – Lighting Designer

Nick Foran - Sound Designer

William Joseph Hill – Fight Choreographer

Ryan Rowles – Stage Manager

 

This show will run in repertory with Doris and Ivy in the Home so please check the listing.

 

As always FREE PARKING!

 

www.theatre40.org

 

Reservations: 310-364-3606

 

A Black and White Cookie by Gary Morgenstein

 

From L to Right - Laura Trent, Tommy Franklin, and Morry Schorr - photos by Shelby Janes

By Joe Straw

 

A met an actor long ago. We had a common thread growing up in Tennessee and then coming to Los Angeles to pursue an acting career.  I studied with various teachers, read Stanislavski, Hagen, Adler, Clurman, Kazan, and Strasberg and he traveled another route. Actors make their own way and survive in Hollywood one way or another.

 

Skypilot Theatre Company presents the west coast premiere of A Black and White Cookie written by Gary Morgenstein, directed by Tudi Roche, and produced by Shelby Janes through August 20 at the 905 Cole Theatre in Los Angeles.

 

The 905 Cole Theatre is a beautiful black box theatre with plenty of street parking surrounding the space. The people working there are nice and accommodating. Pages of F. Scott Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby are attached to strings in the lobby to peruse at your leisure. It was a wonderful night to go to the theatre.

 

A Black and White Cookie written by Gary Morgenstein and directed by Rudi Roche got off to a rocky start last night early in the run.   Somebody lost their place and there was an uncomfortable feeling about the stage until someone managed to get back on track.  Opening weekend jitters are sometimes hazardous when all sorts of things can go slightly haywire.

 

Harold Wilson (Tommy Franklin), a 71-year-old Vietnam veteran, has owned a newsstand for thirty years.  After the COVID layoff he returns to work only to find his rent has increased significantly.  Back to visit again is Albie (Morry Schorr), an un–Bar Mitzva’d, nominally Jewish man, who tests the waters of an un-violated viral airspace to his favorite newsstand. He’s back to his old practices to get a free one-day old New York Times paper and a visually dry ham and cheese sandwich for $4.99.

 

And, although Albie Sands has been coming for many years the two really don’t know each other.  

 

But today is different in that Harold’s newsstand has a sign that he is going out of business being pushed out by The Man. But Albie says that can’t happen and that he must fight for his right to stay there, fight corporate America, and live happily for his right to exist. The idea for Albie to walk two more blocks to get the news and scrounge for a ham and cheese sandwich is unconscionable.

 

Albie says he will help Harold.  He’s had experience fighting corporate greed and was once part of Gus Hall’s presidential campaign.

 

Harold wants no part of his plan.  He is accepting of the things that come his way as part of the American dream fulfilled or unfulfilled.  He’s a Republican and will be for the rest of his life.

 

Detesting the Republican ground he walks on, Albie doesn’t want to be any part of that discussion but decides he will help Harold anyway.  

 

Harold says no.

 

Later that night, surround by half empty moving boxes, Harold listens to the lovely sounds of kids screaming and running outside his house.  Shooing them away was an exercise in futility.  Harold’s niece Carol (Aisha Kabia) pays an expected visit.  She readies him to move in with her in Clearwater, Florida but finds that nothing has been boxed.  

 

Carol also notes that his house is getting into a state of disrepair, and he would be better off taking the $25,000 they are offering him to move. Harold says his new friend Albie will help him fight the eviction, but Carol says the Jewish man only wants to take his money and she’s been down that route before.  

 

Later Albie enlists Mitchell (Dylan Bower), writer of a proletariat newspaper to put a story in his paper to garner sympathies for Harold’s plight. Mitchell doesn’t want to write it, but he will post whatever Albie and Harold come up with.  

 

Gary Morgenstein’s comedy is a whole lot of fun. The characters are a fioriture of a humbling Brooklynites moving with a concealed purpose.  And although they are so diametrically opposed, they somehow find that purpose in life, the one thing that unites them - to have the right to live in the way they want to live. If they could only get everyone on board.  But people are naturally opposed to any kind of change, for whatever reason, until they find the thing that makes them fluid and it takes a lot of persuasion to get them that way.

 

Tudi Roche, the director, has found the humanity in the characters but there may be other things that move the characters beyond the conflict. While the play moves successfully through to the end, the players have yet to find those identifiable moments that propel them to change their minds to pursue other paths.  What is the moment that causes Harold to go out in the middle of the night to find his friend? Why does Carol have a change of heart? What makes Albie move to fight another day? This night was also filled with off stage pauses that stop the momentum, mostly for costume changes that could have well happened onstage.  

 

Tommy Franklin is Harold, an African American Republican, who accepts his lot in life.  There’s a reason why they’re raising the rent for his corner newsstand because they need the extra money, and he’s okay with that way of thinking. He doesn’t see the other side, particularly his side.  Harold goes along with anyone who has a better idea and at this point of his life, he doesn’t have one. Harold is happy to live his life peacefully, listening to the Mets play and having a hotdog with sauerkraut. But there is more to this character that Franklin may not have gotten. He is a particular character, a Republican, that always votes against his best interest without giving a single thought to his interest. Franklin does a nice job, but there are better choices to be made, conflicts in the scene, finding the moment that makes the character change directions to roam the streets and alleyways.

 

Morry Schorr is relentless as Albie. His ideas are a coruscation of life, his life. He is always up for the good fight and getting on up in age he’s still got one more fight in him. What is life if it’s not for the definitive battle? He is always fighting for the little guy, the underdog, and knows the true cost of a battle well waged is the battle for the good. When seeing something wrong, he puts wallpaper on it. Schorr is very funny in the role and knows when the battle is lost but is willing to continue to win the war whether it’s this day or tomorrow.    

 

Aisha Kabia and Morry Schorr

 

 

Aisha Kabia plays Carol and has some ferocious prejudice words about her uncle’s friend.  She also wages a battle trying to convince her uncle that the house is running down and that he’s better off getting the money, not waging the battle, and coming to live with her in Clearwater, Florida. Because of her history, she execrates that Jewish man wanting to help her uncle, thinking he is doing it for the money, his money. Kabia has a very nice stage presence and a very dogged determination to get what she wants but it is the internal struggle within her being, the conflict with her uncle, that needs a little something extra. Still, a very nice job. 

 

Laura Trent is wonderful as J.N. Pham. She has a dry sense of humor that jumps out from her sincere expressions. Pham has a better understanding of the play as she feels compassion for her fellow human, but understands it is her business to conduct business. She has an open mind when bringing down the rent increase and may have gotten the rent renewed if someone was willing to meet her halfway. And although it is a small role, Pham excels in that role.

 

Dylan Bowers has a very good look as Mitchell.  He is willing to listen for a half a second but is not willing to go the extra mile in helping someone. There must be more to this role and character than standing and listening to two men speak about their problems. He must definitively know what he wants and how he’s going to get it.

 

Other actors contributing to the production are Corbin Timbrook (Sportscaster), Anthony Backman and Shelby Janes (Newscasters) and Chuck Lacey (Homeless man).  

 

Stephen Juhl is the stage manager. Selena Price is the lighting designer and Ben Rock is the sound designer.

 

Anthony Backman and Tina Walsch contributed to the graphic design and program design.

 

There is a lot of baseball talk in Morgenstein’s play and it’s always a joy and pleasure to listen to dialogue of the ’69 Mets.  

 

The Skypilot Theatre Company is a 501(c)3 Non-profit organization.  To donate or for tickets go to skypilottheatre.com.