Running time 2:45 - one intermission
An emotionally challenging play read well
Price - $65
Click here to buy the script

Storyline: In the Hill District of Pittsburgh in 1948, would-be recording star Floyd Barton finally has hope. After squandering the fee for his only recording session, leaving Vera, the woman who had stood by him, spending ninety days in the workhouse and pawning his guitar, the first glimmer of a turnaround comes in the form of a letter from the recording company asking him to come record more songs for them. His neighbors care about his life but also have concerns of their own. Hedley, whose father named him King, Ruby who isn't quite sure who is the father of the baby she's carrying, and the others move on with their lives while Floyd tries to convince his former love to come to Chicago with him for the recording session.

There are two ways to approach this production. One is to view it as one of the ten staged readings of the entire history-making ten play cycle covering the century. To achieve this, a theatergoer would have to attend ten performances - preferably in the chronological order of the play's subjects. This would mean ten separate visits to the Terrace Theatre totaling nearly 30 hours at a cost of $650. Such a commitment of time and money is significant but this is an unprecedented opportunity which can be expected to yield impressive insights into Wilson's unprecedented accomplishment. Another is to approach it as a free-standing offering, a dramatic presentation on its own. Either way, it offers solid performances, fine costuming, acceptable setting, lighting and incidental music.

The opportunity to experience the entire cycle is unique and, so, making allowances for the fact that these are readings may well be justified. As a stand-alone production, however, this performance suffers from the fact that the cast is reading from the scripts they hold in their hands. Normally, the concept of a staged reading serves a developing work well, allowing a playwright a chance to judge how a piece will impact a live audience. For a finished work - especially one as finely crafted and highly thought of as are each of Wilson's ten plays - a reading does a disservice to the work, and at full prices, shortchanges the paying public. Certainly, the cast members all really do know their lines - they've rehearsed and studied and prepared as professionals do. The amount of rehearsal time may have been less than for a "fully staged production" but these professionals do know their jobs. Still, the presence of the script in their hands is a distraction and some (but not all) break their concentration to find their place from time to time. The play begins with bantering dialogue between characters which is awkward when the performers are speaking to their scripts rather than to each other. Worse, because their hands are occupied with the bound script, hand held props are not used. It is really distracting to have the actors mime the process of handing items like a pack of cigarettes from one to the other. Obviously the actors and the director know that consulting the scripts can harm a moment or a scene. As the emotional intensity of the action escalates in the second act, some in the cast cease holding the scripts up and stop looking at them entirely.

The best aspect of the physical design is the work of costume designer Reggie Ray. While the demands of using a repertory cast for the entire cycle and the decision to minimize costume changes within any given play limited him somewhat, the costumes are as well done as you would expect of a full production at the best of theaters. What's more, costume changes that are important to a given play are included. Vanessa Bell Calloway changes from a print housedress to a slinky red number when, as Vera, she decides to go with Harry Lennix's Floyd to Chicago. David Gallo designed a basic set for the entire cycle with a massive "portal" inside the Terrace Theater's proscenium, and a backdrop of his sketch of the Hill District of Pittsburgh where nine of the ten plays take place. For each of the individual plays, set pieces consisting of windows, doors, porches or walls are slid into place creating the basic spatial relationship required for the action. It is something less than you would see for a full production of one of the plays, but it is sufficient to help create the feel of Wilson's world. It is aided by active lighting which alters the appearance of the backdrop for scenes that take place in morning, afternoon or evening or as interiors or exteriors. Nighttime never gets quite as dark as might otherwise be the case, however, because the actors need enough light to be able to see their scripts.

Written by August Wilson. Directed by Derrick Sanders. Design: David Gallo (set) Reggie Ray (costumes) Allen Lee Hughes (lights) Dwight Andrews (music) Brandon Prendergast (stage manager). Cast: Vanessa Bell Calloway, Crystal Fox, Russell Hornsby, LaTanya Richardson Jackson, Harry Lennix, Afemo Omilami, Ellis E. Williams.

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Running time  -  3 hours - one intermission
A prophetic cry to Heaven for relief by the impoverished
Price - $65
Click here to buy the script

Storyline: An ex-con in the Reagan years tries to rebuild his life by selling stolen refrigerators and robbing the neighborhood jeweler so he can buy a video store. But grand dreams for his wife and unborn child are threatened by a system that does not play by his rules. He pays the ultimate price from an unexpected source.

Wilson's King Hedley II is one of his lesser known and revived plays. Wilson has created a loud prophetic cry to Heaven by those here on Earth who feel dispossessed, unloved, unnoticed and undervalued. The production begins with a voice-over introduction to the United States as the greatest country in the world, but one whose promise is yet unmet. Then there is the cry of an urban prophet who teaches that people need to know the story of where they came from if they are to make progress for themselves and their children to a better place here on Earth, and if they continue to sin or forget to teach their children, God will bring the fire next time. Throughout Hedley there is the constant juxtaposition of those with faith and those more secular in their approach to the conditions they face. In this staged reading directed by Derrick Sanders, the feel is of a full production. Sure there are few changes of costumes, and fewer nifty theatrical devices, both technical and cast generated, but after this production gets rolling, there is no sense of being slighted. Sanders knows his business since he has directed Hedley before. He lets the script carry itself on its own very strong legs. It is an excellent choice, especially for those who have not seen the piece before. The audience gets to “read” the script rather than dramatic flourishes. Thank You, Mr. Sanders.

The complex, weighty work of Russell Hornsby’s King Hedley II is both heat and emotion quickly brought out, but also a tenderness that is truly unexpected. His love for growing plants in “bad dirt” carries a sense of what Hedley might really want … calm and peace in his life, his marriage and hopes for his unborn child. Lynda Gravatt’s earthy 60+ year old Ruby, mother to Hedley, is a calming influence on the action of this piece until the very last scene, when the unexpected and somewhat operatic and melodramatic happens. Gravatt is definitely one sensual being whenever the script calls for it. She can swing her shoulders and give a sassy line delivery that bring hoots and hollers from the audience. James A. Williams, as Stool Pigeon the Prophet, presents his prophetic words with ardor and then just disappears from view and returns with more faith for the community to hear. Heather Alicia Simms is Hedley’s wife, Tonya. She has one particular poignant monologue that brought immediate silence to the proceedings on the stage and in the audience as she speaks of why she would rather not bring another child into the world … a world that is mean spirited, hateful, impoverishing and could all too easily take the child’s father away either to prison or worse … to death. Stephen McKinley Henderson’s 60+ year old Elmore, the paramour to Ruby, is one slick fast-talking gambler with life. The audience can see it in his eyes and his jaunty movements, that is until he must kill or be killed. Then he is all business even if the man he may kill is half his age. It is Henderson who verbalizes the unspeakable words that set the final actions of the play into motion. Finally, Mister, as played in this performance by Jason Dirden, is one cocky hanger-on to Hedley, who heats up the final scene by egging Hedley on, when he could have cooled the situation.

The Terrace Theatre production has a minimum of costume changes, a single set, and some nicely rendered lighting. And yet, one does not come away feeling slighted. The work of Reggie Ray, the costume designer, is well done. There is an especially unexpected touch in one costume change for Lynda Gravatt who comes out in Act II in a flaming red dress and sings and dances. She is a stunning sight.

Written by August Wilson. Directed by Derrick Sanders. Design: David Gallo (set) Reggie Ray (costumes) Allen Lee Hughes (lights) Dwight Andrews (music)  Jill BC Duboff (sound) Joan Marcus (photography) Shari Silberglitt and Stephen Neverson (stage manager). Cast:  Jason Dirden or  John Earl Jelks, Lynda Gravatt, Stephen McKinley Henderson, Russell Hornsby,  Heather Alicia Simms, James A. Williams.

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Running time 2:25 - one intermission
A solidly produced view of a slice of little known history
Click here to buy the book

Storyline: This docu-drama follows Elizabeth Packard from the day in 1861 that her husband had her committed to an insane asylum because her religious beliefs ran counter to his. This was a failing he could not accept because he was a conservative Calvinist minister who had already lost a number of posts, he assumes because of the disrepute her attitudes brought on him.  It ends three years later when she finally wins her freedom after suffering the horrors of incarceration in squalid circumstances and the indignity of confrontations with officials who held that her rights had not been violated because, as a woman, she had none.

Emily Mann is probably best known among Potomac Region theatergoers for her script for Having Our Say, the charming adaptation of the book by the centenarian Delany sisters. Her interest in using the stage to explore historical themes can be seen in her other works: Execution of Justice which was drawn from trial transcripts of the assassin of San Francisco Mayor George Moscone and Councilman Harvey Milk, Still Life about the experience of an American serviceman who served in Vietnam and Greensboro (A Requiem) dealing with the murder of anti-Ku Klux Klan demonstrators in North Carolina. She seems to have a preference for subjects where she can take a strong position on one side of an issue. This may make for engaging theater. However, there is a feeling in Mrs. Packard that the views of the heroine's persecutors - her husband and her doctor - have been dismissed by the author as not worthy of dramatization. This is a pity, for it would be fascinating to understand just how their views matched their time in history. After all, they were probably the majority view of the time. Instead, Mann presents them in the hindsight of current views. The approach also robs Mrs. Packard of any credit for being forward thinking. We see the injustice but we don't see the tug of war that creates change in a society that at least aspires to openness and progress in the human condition.

As theater rather than as history, however, there are strengths here to be valued. Most notably, there is the performance of Kathryn Meisle as the ill-fated, strong-willed Mrs. Packard. The intelligence that shines from her eyes, the dignity that is signaled by her posture and the energy of her struggle dominates the evening. There are also good performances by John C. Vennema who has to deal with the one-dimensional role of Mrs. Packard's husband, and Dennis Parlato, who is at least given some soft edges to humanize the doctor who oversees Mrs. Packard's incarceration. The production is a hefty one with a set that you will probably guess is the work of Eugene Lee when you first see it. It has the mechanical, ironwork fencing and bridgework look of his most famous designs including Ragtime and Wicked, not to mention the main set for Saturday Night Live.

You may come away wanting to know even more, so we have included a link on this page for ordering a reprint of one of Mrs. Packard's own volumes, her "Modern Persecution or Insane Asylums Unveiled - Volume II" which picks up where the play ends. It is a heavy, hefty tome. It runs some 422 pages covering 54 chapters with headings like "My Release on a Writ of Habeas Corpus," "Return to my Home - Married Woman as Slave," "Dangerous to be a Married Woman in Illinois!" and "The Imputation of Insanity a Barrier to Human Progress," but it fills in many of the questions that may be raised in the inevitable post-show discussions among those who adjourn from theater to restaurant, cafe, pub, bar or living room to thrash out just what has come before.

Written and directed by Emily Mann. Fight direction by Rick Sordelet. Movement direction by Peter Cucci. Design: Eugene Lee (set) Jennifer von Mayrhauser (costumes) Jeff Croiter (lights) Rob Milburn and Michael Bodeen (incidental music and sound) T. Charles Erickson (photography) Cheryl Mintz (stage manager). Cast: Julie Boyd, Jeff Brooks, Robin Chadwick, Georgine Hall, Kathryn Meisle, Dennis Parlato, Molly Regan, Fiana Toibin, John C. Vennema.

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Running time 2:05 - one intermission
t A Potomac Stages Pick for six hundred years of laughs compressed into two hours
Click here to buy the script
Click here to buy the DVD

Storyline: A cast of three assume all the roles in a survey of the topic from before Amerigo Vespucci to the Presidents Bush. They try to milk the iconographic stories of the United States for humor and to use the humor to comment on the gap between America's promise and her success.

The laughs begin even before the audience realizes they are seeing the show. The pre-show "turn off your cell phones" announcement includes such gems as "management wishes to remind you that this theater is equipped to provide assistance to the hearing impaired. If you or a member of your party is hearing ... paired ... eeze ... tact ... nush ... for more ... nkyou." This sort of foolishness continues non-stop for the next two hours. Overheard from a member of the audience in the elevator after the show: "Some of it is marginal, but, if you're already laughing, you can't stop." That is really the key, for the laughter is not only contagious, it has a momentum all its own. It captures you from the first moment and hardly lets you take a breath. Amazingly, the fifteen minute intermission doesn't seem to interrupt the pace. By that time, the audience not only appreciates the opportunity to draw a few unencumbered breaths, they are anxious to continue the enjoyment.

Reed Martin, with his shaved head and imposing presence seems to lead the troupe, while curly headed Austin Tichenor takes the audience into his confidence attempting to explain some of what is transpiring. They are joined by Dominic Conti, a tall and lanky comedian who fits right into the feeling of the piece. Together they throw a seemingly inexhaustible supply of one-liners at the audience in a survey sufficiently structured to give the evening a flow. That flow seems to jump just a bit when intermission separates the Civil War and World War I as if nothing transpired in the intervening half century. But it is a trap. The trio admit the gap, saying that nothing much happened in that period that was very funny, which they demonstrate . . . backwards.

The show is the construction of the team itself. There is no credit for a director or for any designers. Not even lighting is credited, although lighting effects are used throughout. The set, such as it is, consists of an early American flag (thirteen stars) and a panel depiction of the span from Amerigo Vespucci's time to our own. The three cast members with just a few props and costume changes (mostly just hats) create all the effects the humor needs.

Written by Adam Long, Reed Martin and Austin Tichenor. Cast: Dominic Conti, Reed Martin, Austin Tichenor.

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Running time 1:30 - no intermission
An examination of issues surrounding euthanasia
Click here to buy the script

Storyline: The current wife, a former wife and the son of a stroke victim debate ending his life now that he is in a "permanent vegetative state." Has his life already ended? What claim to their devotion or care does he retain? What duty do they owe to him? Who has the right to make a continue-or-terminate decision and just what does either option mean? The debate continues as they administer potentially lethal doses of morphine and wait for the expected results.

New York writer Don DeLillo has selected a topic that is full of theatrical potential, but has constricted the view so tightly that very little of that potential is explored. The "permanent vegetative state" of the stroke victim is a rather antiseptic non-state involving practically no inconveniences or requirements for care, and the people surrounding him have little obvious emotional connection to his life. His current wife has the most affectionate reminiscences to voice, but she seems fairly content to take a walk while his son and former wife do the deed. Neither of them seem to have either ethical or emotional claims on the remnant of his life. Left unexplored are issues such as the financial impact of continued care, legal matters including rights and responsibilities and the role of any of his pre-stroke decisions or views.

The victim is played by two actors - John Heard and Larry Kucharik. Heard plays the victim in flash backs. Flanking the main portion of the one-act play are prologue and epilogue scenes showing him confined to a wheel chair after a first stroke. Flashbacks during the center section of the play show him before that first stroke. Kucharik has the physically demanding task of being the victim "in extremis." He sits in his wheel chair, slumped over completely "vegetative" with no reactions and, of course, no lines to deliver.

Among the still-living are Penelope Walker who is a fairly warm presence as the current wife who seems incapable of coping with the matters at hand, and Louis Cancelmi and Martha Lavey who are colder and sharper as the more take-charge characters from the man's past. Most of the discussion of values that does take place is in their hands. They deliver their lines with an earnestness that is nearly devoid of human humor and sheds little light on just why they should care about the fate of the victim. Without that, how is the audience to care?

Written by Don DeLillo. Directed by Amy Morton. Produced by the Steppenwolf Theatre Company. Design: Loy Arcenas (set) Nan Cibula-Jenkins (costumes) J.R. Lederle (lights) Josh Schmidt (sound) Michael Brosilow (photography) Malcolm Ewen (stage manager). Cast: Louis Cancelmi, John Heard, Larry Kucharik, Martha Lavey, Penelope Walker.

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Reviewed June 11
Running time 1:25 with no intermission

Storyline: This bio-play was assembled from the letters that Tennessee Williams wrote to his family, friends and publishers and producers he hoped would buy his works.  The one-man show covers Williams' private and professional life from childhood through his early successes on Broadway.

Thomas is an engaging presence on stage and he succeeds in creating a convincing portrait of the playwright. He matures nicely over the course of the short evening from a young teenager to a young adult and he draws the audience along on the journey. At a few points he includes audience reactions in his delivery, stretching out a pause when a laugh on a line might obscure the following point. One segment has him sipping from a martini glass and his tongue seems both liberated and lubricated by the impact of the spirits. Thomas wisely avoids overdoing the effect.

Director Steve Lawson has Thomas moving back and forth between three music stands on which are the letters from which he reads. He keeps the pace of the performance almost excessively brisk. The three stands are in front of a projection screen on which are shown a collection of snapshots of Williams, his family and friends as well as a few production shots from his early plays. The selection of photographs seems rather random although they are apparently chronological, as are the letters. A photo of his mother comes on when he starts a letter to her but stays on during letters to others. At other times the screen is blank through numerous letters. There never seems to be a strong connection between the visuals and the text.

The program doesn't include a credit for either set design or sound design. The production could have used a set designer to give the stage a bit of depth and dramatic interest by varying the three podium areas and by masking some of the large screen which had plenty of blank space when a photo was projected and which gave the stage a naked feel when one was not. At a minimum, the area of the projections could have been cropped so that the projector which was suspended from the theater's ceiling would not block the view for patrons seated further back than row R. Credit should go, however, to the Terrace Theater's sound department for the marvelously natural reinforcement of Thomas' voice which carried nicely back to those in the rear rows.

Adapted and directed by Steve Lawson. Design: Martha Mountain (lights) Sandra Barrack (stage manager) Cast: Richard Thomas.

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Reviewed August 27
Running time 1 hour 30 minutes
For mature audiences - Nudity
Price range $25 - $30
t Potomac Stages Pick

Storyline: This one-performer biographical play finds Vaslav Nijinsky, his mental instability having advanced to the point that he is confined to an asylum, recalling his life and career. That life started in 1888 in Kiev, Ukraine. At ten he was in the Imperial Ballet School in St. Petersburg. By twenty he was a star of Sergei Diaghilev’s famed Ballets Russes, virtually creating the concept of a celebrity male ballet dancer and crossing over into choreography, capturing world attention for himself and the company while premiering such now classic ballets as Debussy’s Afternoon of a Faun and Stravinsky’s Petrouchka and The Right of Spring. While pursuing the adulation of audiences in public, in private Nijinsky sought the adoration of a string of sexual partners without regard to gender. He was Diaghilev’s lover as well as that of his first patron Prince Lvov, he married and had two children and through it all he had a habit of engaging prostitutes.  At thirty he was in a mental institution.  

The more you know about Nijinsky’s life and his professional accomplishments, the more you get from the performance, but you needn’t know much more than the paragraph above to be fascinated by both the subject matter and the pure theatricality of the experience. Author Norman Allen provides all the information you need in the text without stopping the flow for an introductory speech. He has all the facts and people of the story flow directly from the mind of Nijinsky in a stream-of-consciousness experience that, while carefully structured to make sure important information is provided when needed, seems to spring directly from Nijinsky’s troubled mind.

Allen provides the words and the structure and actor Jeremy Davidson brings the character to intense life. The physicality of his performance is astonishing as he switches between Nijinsky and Nijinsky’s impressions of the people in his life including most memorably impresario Diaghilev. Under director Joe Calarco and choreographer Karma Camp, Davidson’s every movement flows from the immediately preceding movement and sets up the next. It is a part that must be danced but the magic is found in the fact that Davidson, playing an over-the-hill Nijinsky recalling his glory days, doesn’t show us Nijinsky dancing so much as he shows us Nijinsky being a dancer. It is a fine distinction but it is the secret to the effectiveness of the piece. It keeps this from being an impersonation and allows Davidson to create a fascinating, touching and troubled human being. As his Nijinsky conjures up the memories of those who touched his life, Davidson has the movements and postures to bring it all to life. Note the way in which he uses Diaghilev’s cane, astonishing when you realize that Davidson doesn’t actually have a cane - he’s just holding his hand and moving his body as if he did.

The design team has created a world in which Davidson’s Nijinsky shines like a jewel on display, every facet struck by a light, underlined by a sound, highlighted by pure space. Lou Stancari’s minimalist platform and light stanchion set is nearly nothing till brought to life by the other elements - and then it is perfect. Daniel McLean Wagner’s lighting design must have as many different settings as there are minutes in the play but every one of them is in service to the story being told and the world being created. David Maddox brings more than just some ballet music in at the right moment, he creates a sonic environment with everything from the ovations that waft over Nijinsky in his triumphs to the whispers of gossip, the cries and boos of an outraged public and the sound of cell doors slamming. The performance begins with sound, the rhythmic whisper of Nijinsky’s feet trudging to his cell. Anne Kennedy’s costume which comes off and then goes back on in layers, is perfect for the setting and the needs of the story. When it comes all the way off, the frontal nudity isn’t a shock or a ploy.

Written by Norman Allen. Directed by Joe Calarco. Choreographed by Karma Camp. Design: Lou Stancari (set) Anne Kennedy (costumes) David Maddox (sound) Daniel MacLean Wagner (lights) Carol Pratt (photography) Ronny Gunderson (stage manager). Cast: Jeremy Davidson.

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Reviewed July 2
Running time 1 hour 50 minutes
t Potomac Stages Pick

Written by Joe Sears, Jaston Williams and Ed Howard. Design: Kevin Rupnik (set) Linda Fisher (costumes) Root Choyce (lights) Ken Huncovsky (sound). Cast: Joe Sears, Jaston Williams.