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Reviewed July 10
Running time: 2:40 - two intermissions
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Storyline: A dramatization of the famous "Monkey Trial" of 1926 sees a former three-time Presidential candidate, Matthew Harrison Brady (a fictional version of William Jennings Bryan), face off against the day's most prominent defense lawyer Henry Drummond (based on Charles Darrow), over the State of Tennessee's law against teaching Charles Darwin's theory of evolution or any "theory" in contravention to the biblical account in the book of Genesis. (The actual text of the statute prohibited teaching "any theory that denies the story of the Divine Creation of man as taught in the Bible, and to teach instead that man has descended from a lower order of animals.")

McKean has pickets outside the theater to greet the audience on their arrival with chants supporting the pro-Genesis position and opposing the evolution theory. The concept continues with a program in the form of a newspaper with articles about the trial. The trial itself was fabulous real-life theater in 1925 when Darrow really did call Bryan as a witness and grill him on such things as the biblical accounts of Jonah being swallowed by the "whale" (or "big fish" as Bryan pointed out), Joshua making the sun to stand still in the sky and just how long the "days" were in the famous 7 days of creation. Some of the best lines in the play actually come from the transcript of the trial (Bryan really did say "I don't think about things I don't think about." ) but the play is so much more than a merely edited version of reality, more than a live theatrical version of a Court TV documentary. It assembles the threads of incredible events to illuminate the issues involved, and while it is clear which side the authors come down on, their respect for the positive qualities of both sides is reflected in the gentle way Drummond/Darrow responds to the death of Brady/Bryan. (Bryan did die, peacefully in his sleep, a few days after the real trial ended.)

Port Tobacco has a fine Brady/Bryan in the person of Tim Treanor who builds his character gradually as the script requires. It is the meatier of the two main roles because the character undergoes a transformation during the show, going from supremely confident and even egotistically overbearing through the emergence of doubt and finally to a breakdown which Treanor performs with painful effectiveness. Tom Nuzzi is this production's Drummond/Darrow. This role has the best lines in the script but shows no character development over the course of the evening, and Nuzzi is not able to infuse the part with much depth. He also seemed, at least during the opening weekend, to get ahead of his memory of the lines, stumbling from time to time to recall just where a speech was going and then, once he regained the thread, rushing forward to the next pause. Still, what zingers Lawrence and Lee reserve for him! Among the supporting cast are two standout performances of note: Tom Pentacost whose portrayal of the home town fire-and-brimstone preacher is as energetic as the real thing, and Bob White who, in his dapper white suit, black shirt, white tie and hat makes a fabulous reporter in a role patterned after H. L. Menken who really did cover the trial.

McKean's approach to the play is thoroughly consistent with the author's stage directions which mandate that the courtroom appear in front of a representation of the town so that the action never is out of public view. Set Designer John Merritt serves the directors vision with a superb main street set and uses the actual hearing desks of the hall in the Charles County Government Center, the theater the company is using while their normal house undergoes renovation. McKean adds to the effect by bringing characters through the audience to make entrances and exits and even places a few of them in audience seats during the trial scenes. Tying the small southern town of the 1920's with LaPlata of today, McKean has David Guthrie plunking on his banjo through many of the softer scenes while throwing a reference to e-mail and cell phones in the dialogue. Throughout, he handles the crowds of the residents of the town with great skill, creating a very believable world on stage.

Written by Jerome Lawrence and Robert E. Lee. Directed by Justin McKean. Design: John Merritt (set) Carol Charnock (costumes) Meg Hoffman (hair and makeup) Amanda Lane (properties) Leslie Wanko (lights) Laura Lane (stage manager). Cast: Greg Allison, Dave Bayles, Karen Beriss, Joe Bowes, Randy Campbell, Stevie Charnock, Jr., Lori Dement, Rachel Epp, Randy Geck, Barbara Lord Graves, Bill Graves, Kate Grimes, Matthew Grimes, Steven Grimes, David Guthrie, Suseen M. Guthrie-Longley, Joe Hamilton, Jr., Christopher Jay Hicks, Meg Cronin Hoffman, Pereuna Johnson, Amy Kilgore, Aunna Kilgore, Bill Klein, Matt Klein, Amanda Lane, Katie Lane, Samantha Lane, Kimberly Legagneux, Rachel Lloyd, Darren Longley, Jennifer Malherek, Karen Fields Mattingly, Kathy Mead, Linda Sue Milgrim, Kirstan Michael Morey, Jessica Mullins, Kristin Mullins, Tom Nuzzi, Tom Pentacost, Emily A. Rehm, Greg Rumpf, Gwyneth J. Saunders, Jennifer Tardibuono, Tim Treanor, David Weaver, Shirl Weaver, Bob White, Rachel Youngson.

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Reviewed January 16
Running time 2 hours 20 minutes

Storyline:  History records that the deformed John Merrick was plucked from a Victorian freak show to be protected and studied in a hospital in 1884. He became a mover in London’s high society before his death in 1890. Bernard Pomerance’s Tony Award winning play explores serious issues of social values and human worth.

It was the playwright's fortuitous choice to have the horribly deformed "elephant man" portrayed by an actor without any help from makeup or special prosthetic devices. Because the concentration on Merrick's humanity is achieved through this lack of artifice, it places unusual responsibility on the actor who must convince the audience of the physical deformations they can’t actually see before them and, at the same time, portray the extraordinary intellectual and social growth of the man in the six years between his “discovery” in a side show and his death. Adam Brandao does a good job at the first task of convincingly portraying the physical aspects of the role. But his progression from ill-treated, intellectually unchallenged property of a side-show operator to a respected, artistically active and socially impressive phenomenon is less satisfying.

Brian Donohue directs the piece at a slow pace that is rarely relieved with the sparks of wit and intellectual bi-play that author Bernard Pomerance included in his script. There is a certain sense of inevitability to the progression of scenes which works well, however, and it certainly results in very clear storytelling. The play has a dozen scenes in the first act and another nine in the second. Each scene has a title which is printed in the program. Keeping your program open to that page and frequently consulting it will reveal a few of the author’s points that might me missed without these clues.

Michael Mortensen has the role of the doctor who discovers Merrick. It is a difficult part to pull off because so much of the story has to be explained by his actions or his lines. Mortensen handles it well even if he is a bit stiff in some of the more explanatory scenes. Katherine Prout is impressive in the smaller but crucial role of the only woman who seems able to see past Merrick’s deformity to touch his soul. Randy Tusing delivers two impressively emotional performances in smaller roles.

Written by Bernard Pomerance. Directed by Brian Donohue. Design: John Merritt (set) Pat Brennan (costumes) Dawn Bush (make-up and hair) Barbara Ann LeDoux (properties) Julianna ‘Juls’ Bogdan (lights) Brian Donohue (sound) Dave Bayles (photography) Christi (Cobb) Burch (stage manager). Cast: Adam Brandao, Lars Peter Highby, Brooke L. Howells, Craig Hower, Aunna Kilgore, Josiah Kilgore, Rachel Libelo, Michael Mortensen, Yvonne Nutter, Katherine Prout, Mary Thiedeman, Randy Tusing, Alex Zavistovich.

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Reviewed May 3
Running time 2 hours 45 minutes
t Potomac Stages Pick

La Plata is not necessarily on the beaten path for many Potomac Region theatergoers but MD 301 South past Waldorf should be the path of choice at least through the 18^th, the last night of the run of this sparkling production of a fascinating comic murder mystery. If the facts that the production itself boasts a very strong cast and that it takes place on a fabulously designed set isn’t enough to draw the crowds, then the script itself should. After all, it is as literate, interesting and entertaining as a – well, as a Stephen Sondheim musical. That is because it was written by Sondheim and his collaborator on the musical hit Company and the musical flop Merrily We Roll Along. But here they work in a non-musical mode. Seems that Mr. Sondheim is fascinated by puzzles and that Mr. Furth is equally fascinated by dramatic structure. Put the two together and the twists and turns of a murder mystery are a perfect fit
Storyline: Seven patients in a psychiatrist’s therapy group gather for their weekly session in the doctor’s outer office while the body of the doctor lies on a couch in the inner sanctum. Once they discover the corpus delicti, they quickly determine that one of them must be the killer since only they have access to the entire floor of the building on which the office is located and, so, they attempt to solve the crime themselves.

The tightly constructed script shows all the signs of having been written by a team having a great deal of fun as they put together the elements, played out various possible resolutions and inserted touches that clearly delighted them. Each of the seven patients exhibit tendencies allied with one of the “Seven Deadly Sins” (anger, envy, gluttony, greed, lust, pride and sloth) and what fun Sondheim and Furth must have had concocting personality traits to match! The plot isn’t only a whodunit, for you know perfectly well who before intermission. But why and how he (or she) dunit become significant, and what the guilty will do to avoid discovery becomes the central question of the second act. The plot should keep even inveterate puzzle maniacs satisfyingly occupied to very close to the end and the theatricality of the resolution will even please those who think they have figured it all out.

Director David Standish keeps the production moving with dispatch, providing staging that keeps the focus right where it needs to be at all times and building a fine ensemble out of the eleven member cast. The timing of the group reflects effective rehearsal work but Standish probably did some of his best work before rehearsals began when he made the right casting decisions. The more important the role in the show the better the cast member is. It should not give away too much to list the stronger performers in alphabetical order. Ivan Hall, Justin McKean, Leslie Newkirk, Angel Oquendo and Alex Zavistovich each deliver well constructed portrayals with Hall and McKean providing energy and momentum to the plot and both Newkirk and Zavistovich providing comic touches of note. Both Karen Kleyle and Andrew Patrick are the exceptions to the above rule – they are marvelous in smaller parts.

The extremely realistic yet dramatically effective set is the work of Jeff and John Merritt who each thank their dad Mike Merrit in their program bios. They constructed on the stage of Port Tobacco’s renovated movie theater both the elevator lobby and the office suite on the 12^th floor of an old and about-to-be renovated Manhattan building with such detail that, along with Karen Klyele’s set dressing and properties, a sense of theatrical reality is created that serves this production well. Leslie Wanko’s lighting is particularly notable, especially the few scenes that take place outside the building. Add Craig Hower’s special effects, and you have a production whose physical elements are as strong as its script or its performance.

Written by Stephen Sondheim and George Furth. Directed by David Standish. Design: Jeff and John Merritt (set) Karen Kleyle (properties) Craig Hower (special effects & combat choreography) Amy Wathen Cooksey (costumes) Sheila R. Hyman (make-up and hair) Leslie Wanko (lights) Brian Donohue (sound) Liz Kowaluk (photograher) Keith Linville (stage manager). Cast: Steve Charnock, Randy Geck, Ivan Hall, Karen Kleyle, Justin McKean, Leslie Newkirk, Yvonne Nutter, Angel Oquendo, Katherine Prout, Andrew Patrick, Alex Zavistovich.