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Running time 1:20 - no intermission
A strongly physical production of a Shepard battle play
Price range $5 - $10
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Storyline: In a seedy motel room on the edge of the Mojave Desert, a down on his luck rodeo rider (and occasional stunt man) and an equally unlucky waitress reunite for the umpteenth time. They have shared a past and can’t stay away from each other, nor can they get along with each other. A dark secret binds them and repels them at the same time. An old man on the side of the stage breaks into their consciousness at key points in their struggle to separate.

Shepard's plays are always about compulsion. Sometimes the compulsion is sex, yes. But, sometimes it is something entirely different - sibling rivalry and competition, family fortunes either financial and genetic. The "something" is almost always a mixture, as it is here. But sex can never be more than a single derma layer under the surface of Fool for (you should pardon the expression ) Love. Here it seems to be a hidden bit more than skin deep.

Walker and Varady make a believable couple and their pain can be felt. These people have been injured by the hard knocks of life, but it was their own attraction to each other that has done the most damage, and they share the sense of guilt and a strong frustration over their common inability to leave each other alone. Their attraction to each other is not just a shared bond of a common past, it is so strong that it creates an inability for either to envision anything desirable in a future without the other. The frustration comes out in the combat side of their relationship. However, they don’t seem to be fascinated with each other’s bodies so much as with each other’s heads - it is their shared history and their shared revulsion over the secret that links them, not a physical force. Not only is there "the old man" revealing alternative versions of reality, there are two outsiders. They are the current attempts of each to establish a relationship with a member of the opposite sex other than the flame of their past. The rodeo rider’s current “flame” is so much of an outsider she never actually appears on stage, although her actions make an impression. The waitress’s “insignificant other” is very much present on stage in the person of James Gagne who is such a milquetoast that it is a wonder he could seem a "cure" for an addiction to the he-man rodeo rider.

Richard Montgomery's set is both well designed and well constructed. It has to be to hold up to the slamming of doors and bouncing off walls that are so much a feature of Shepard's story. Lighting is an important part of any production of this play as well, both in the more subtle shifts to reinforce mood and for the more evident effects Shepard wants you to see through the doorway and windows for key plot points. Ayan Fedorcha handles both types well while Matt Rowe reinforces a few key moments with sound effects.

Written by Sam Shepard. Directed by Kasi Campbell. Design: Richard Montgomery (set) Cat Martin (costumes) Ayun Fedorcha (lights) Matt Rowe (sound) Perry Schwartz (photography) Zachary Ford (stage manager). Cast: James Gagne, Manolo Santalla, Halsey Varady, Stewart Walker.

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Running Time 2:30 - one intermission
An entertaining evening of chases and hedonism
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Storyline: A catastrophic fire in the Hollywood hills is the beginning of a chase around the country in search of a supposedly dead husband with $7 million dollars in mob money stolen from his wife who had originally stolen it from the mob. The mob wants its money back and will stop at nothing.

Eric Overmyer’s Dark Rapture has its roots in the noir films of the 1940’s and early 1950’s. The title refers to the blinding darkness of the Cambodian jungle during the Vietnam War just before being set aflame by the American military with flares from helicopters. Overmyer is in love with literary language and movie images. He strings together words and thoughts as rapid fire, overlapping dialogue. There is nothing soft in the raw language or the characters. Those who are soft pay the price with their lives.

Director Paul Takacs has a clear vision for the production. As the audience walks into the theater there is the smell of sulfur in the air. Takacs opens the production with a match and a cigarette as the sound of fire and deep crimson lighting surrounds the space. He then lets his cast enjoy themselves and entertain the audience with a production full of movement to go along with the rapid fire interchange. The nine member ensemble has some very solid performances. Chuck Young as a mob leader searching for what is his is a great pleasure to listen to as he spits out multi syllable dialogue in a machine gun manner without missing a beat. Hillary Kacser inhabits her role as the “older fallen woman" who has seen the very bottom of life and now wants to find a way out. Kacser plays her as a ripe, sensual woman who a man of any age would want to bed if the opportunity presents. As the wife, Jodi Niehoff is the central “bad” girl of the production who will lie with nary a misstep. But, she is more believable with her clothes on than off.  As the “cold” fully clothed woman who has concocted a heist of mob money, Niehoff is in her element. Steve McWilliams is her husband. He is the man all women want to bed; someone with boyish charm, a willingness to spend time on foreplay, and a man seemingly unable to wound anyone. Manolo Santalla is delightfully nasty as a malicious man quick to find his way out of a bad situation through guile. He has only survival on his mind; even if it might mean intimate relations with a woman (Debra Buonaccorsi) who could be either a much younger girlfriend or even possibly be his daughter.

The technical work for the production is first rate. The intimate black box space at the Montgomery Community College facility is used well. Misha Kachman developed a backdrop of a large movable wooden slatted fence which then is used to create scenes and stage sets. With simple set pieces, and wonderfully evocative lighting and sound, the various locations from LA to Tampa, Key West to Seattle and beyond, all become real; all assisted by nifty video projections. Lynly Saunder’s costumes are especially delightful for Niehoff who appears first in flimsy lingerie, then a bikini, and then several changes of black and white fitted outfits.

Written by Eric Overmyer.  Directed by Paul Takacs. Design: Misha Kachman (set) Lynly Saunders (costumes) Ayun Fedorcha (lights) Will Wurzell (sound) Perry Schwartz (photography). Cast: Debra Buonaccorsi, Michael Feldsher, Hillary Kacser, Steve McWilliams, Jodi Niehoff, Sasha Olinick, Manolo Santalla, Chuck Young, Edwin Xavier.

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Running time 1:20 - no intermission
A serious look at a Pentecostal sect where
snake handling can be a test of faith
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Storyline: The congregation of an Appalachian Pentecostal church gathers for their service. New to the group is a young woman their minister has decided to marry. First, however, she needs a divorce from her husband who has arrived with his country lawyer, determined to have what's his restored to him. As the passions of the secular world swirl about the couple and the fate of their marriage, the religious passions of the congregation build toward a climax of serpent handling peculiar to their sect.

Linney was raised on both slopes of the Great Smokey's so he has a feel for the people of the Appalachian region. Here he looks at the lives of people who haven't found a great deal of fulfillment from careers or education or cultural pursuits and whose emotional bonds are to others in the same state. They all either feel let down by the secular world or they had no real expectations of the world in the first place. But human beings need something to believe in, something to make their lives meaningful and someplace to turn for affirmation of their values. For some, that something is a deep, fundamentalist and sometimes socially rejected religion. These are the people Linney tries to portray in terms that respect their worth as human beings. His is not a proselytizing of the religious movement involved, but, rather, a study of the reasons it attracts followers. It is the the emptiness that feeds the need for the rapture.

Henrich mounts the play in a highly realistic manner. Staged in a black box without a proscenium or a curtain, the show begins almost without the audience knowing it. Jennifer Crooks simply walks across the playing space speaking the first lines quietly. She's softly vulnerable as the wife who's left her abusive husband and found acceptance at the Amalgamation Holiness Church of God. Soon Brandon Mitchell, a bit blustery as her husband, is introducing John Feist who brings a sense of world-weary wisdom to the role of his lawyer who will help him get back the property she took with her and prosecute his suit for divorce. Slowly the playing space fills up with the members of the congregation and the minister - each exhibiting personality traits that illustrate their personal histories. Part of the evening is spent examining the causes for divorce. Part of it examines the reasons for each character's attachment to this church. As the evening hits its climax, the rapture of the sect's service overwhelms the entire ensemble. Henrich makes the right choice in not using either live snakes or cheap rubber fakes for the scene. Instead, he adopts a theatrical solution to the problem of staging the scene and it works very well.

While each cast member adds a special value of his or her own at some point, special note should be made of Steve McWilliams' contribution. His character brings his guitar along. McWilliams simply strums it quietly over to one side for much of the time, but slowly his strumming becomes a musical underscoring for the entire show. His playing at first is so subtle that it adds atmosphere without drawing any attention at all. But as the show builds to the moment of rapture the music becomes more and more insistent. Finally it is leading rather than simply underlining the emotional arc of events.

Written by Romulus Linney. Directed by Richard Henrich. Musical direction by Steve McWilliams. Design: Cat Martin (costumes) Jason Arnold (lights) Clay Teunis (sound) Micah Hutz (photography) Pip Colvin (stage manager). Cast: Steve Beall, Jim Breen, Rachel M. Clark, Jennifer Crooks, Anthony van Eyck,  John Feist, Hilary Kacser, Don Kenefick, Jason B. McIntosh, Steve McWilliams, Jean Hudson Miller, Tory Miller, Brandon Mitchell, Max Silver, Nick Stevens.

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Reviewed October 19
Running time 2:00 - one intermission
An earnest treatise on ecology and the defects of human nature

Storyline: From first date to coping with pregnancy and illness, the relationship between a man and a woman is tied to political, social and environmental causes.

This must be the most politically correct play of the year. The endangered species of the animal world and the endangered species of humanity, compassion, rationality and true love are at risk due to the ignobility of corporate greed, personal wealth, individual ambition and selfishness all rolled up in a fur coat. Nothing good about anything on one side. Nothing bad about anything on the other. The twist here is that the two characters are on opposite tracks as they connect briefly, find common ground and then diverge, each switching from excesses on one side to excesses on the other.

Seth Alcorn takes the character of "Leo" (just in case we might miss the connection to the cat world?) from callow collegian with a passing interest in wildlife to an activist whose commitment is overcome by ego in a fairly smooth series of transitions. This helps keep his character from seeming insufferable even when he gets to the point of advocating the elimination of half the world's population of those evil doers - people. Alison Weisgall has a more difficult time making her character's evolution feel natural. She brings a bright presence to the role, however, and it is a pleasure to watch the two of them work their way through the courtship rituals that take up much of the first act.

Henrich mounts the piece on a nearly empty stage with just two crates that can be pushed together to form a bench, pulled apart to be chairs, or stacked one on the other for a podium for a speech or presentation on the environmental impact of economic development. A few nice lighting effects help keep the evening from looking too bare. Throughout, the pace is kept active to keep you from dwelling overlong on any one platitude.

Written by TJ Edwards. Directed by Richard Henrich. Design: Jason Cowperthwaite (lights and sound) Kristen J Bishel (stage manager). Cast: Seth Alcorn, Alison Weisgall.