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August 10 - 26, 2007
Crimes of the Heart
Reviewed by
Brad Hathaway |
Running time 2:15 - one intermission
A dark comedy of sisters gathered to support each other in grief and scandal
Click here to buy the script
|
Beth Henley's Pulitzer Prize winning dark comedy about sisters gathering
together in support of one of their number who just shot her husband gets
off to a slow start, but it picks up speed and the three actresses playing
the sisters pick up confidence as the show progresses, resulting in an
entertaining evening. The comedy of it all also escalates as more and more
tragedies in the lives of the family are revealed. In Henley's view, the
release of tensions for a family under pressure often comes through laughter
- or at least an attack of the giggles. The reason Henley's play has had
such success is that she struck on a little-acknowledged fact of life, one
known so well by many people who have shared a loss or a time of trouble
within that unique support group that is composed of siblings. The laughter
is therapeutic and real.
Storyline: Three sisters gather in their childhood
home in small Hazlehurst, Mississippi on the day that one of them is
arrested for shooting her husband, one heads off on a date with a married
man who used to be her boyfriend and the other suffers the pangs of
approaching spinsterhood as no one seems to recall that it is her thirtieth
birthday. Add a fatal stroke that befalls their grandfather and the emotions
spill out in laughter as a defense against uncontrollable tears.
Henley's play followed an unusual path to success. Co-directors Zina T.
Bleck and Herb Tax point out in their notes in the program that it was the
first play ever to win the Pulitzer Prize before being produced on Broadway.
It had been produced at a number of regional theaters, most notably at the
Humana Festival of New American Plays at the Actors' Theatre of Louisville,
becoming the second play to win the Pulitzer after production in the Humana
in just the first three years of the festival. It went on to a Broadway
mounting that earned a Tony Award nomination for best play. Henley was also
nominated for an Oscar for the best screenplay when the story was filmed
with Diane Keaton, Jessica Lang and Sissy Spacek as the sisters.
Bleck and Tax have a trio of appealing actresses for
the three sisters' roles. Cynthia Heusman plays the eldest, the one who has
remained at home to care for their grandfather. She faces her thirtieth
birthday with a sense of dread, but Heusman also shows some of the girlish
giddiness that she's yet to shed. Catherine Nelson Hassett plays the middle
sister who has come home from a failed effort to become a star in Hollywood
just in time to share her sibling's troubles. She has the requisite sardonic
edge of one who has had too many doors slammed in her face. The youngest is
the source of the troubles that start the evening off. Hannah Gavagan is
bubbly as her character tries desperately to hold on to the fiction that her
attempt to murder her husband was no big thing.
Supporting players include an effective Mary L. Fettes
as a cousin whose main role in the piece is to help deliver some of the
history of the family so the audience can understand the events on stage.
Neither Alex Avila as the youthful attorney defending the youngest sister
against charges of attempted murder nor August H. Kruesi as the married man
the middle sister takes up with on her first night back home make their
roles particularly believable, and the production isn't helped by a stodgy
set design that presents little opportunity for effective blocking, but Bleck
does get the cast to wear costumes that work very nicely to suggest time,
place and character. It all falls on the shoulders of the three actresses
playing the sisters. They respond with an almost sibling-like bond.
Written by Beth Henley. Directed by Zina T. Bleck and
Herb Tax. Design: Jennifer Rose, Mark Edwards and Elizabeth Vernaci (set)
Lolita Marie (hair and makeup consultant) Zina T. Bleck, Kristine Cornils
and Erin DeCaprio (properties) Herb Tax (special effects, lights and sound)
Zina T. Bleck (costume coordination and photography) Helen McCarthy (stage
manager). Cast: Alex Avila, Mary L. Fettes, Hannah Gavagan, Catherine Nelson
Hassett, Cynthia Heusman, August H. Kruesi.
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February 16 - March
4,
2007
Having Our Say
Reviewed by
Brad Hathaway |
Running time 2:35 - one intermission
A warmly human two-woman show
Click here to buy the script
Click here to buy the book |
Theater can cast so many different spells. In this particular piece of
theater magic there is no big dramatic catharsis, no gut wrenching tragedy,
no escalating parade of comic explosions - just a pleasant evening in the
presence of two lovely ladies whose acquaintance it is a pleasure to make.
It is a visit that will linger in the memory. "The Delany Sisters? Yes, I
remember them" you may say years from now, only to remember that you met
them through the magic of theater and that you weren't really invited into
their home. These two gentle ladies share their stories in their own words.
Their own words seem good enough, thank you. The words ring true because the
play is based on an oral history. Their own words seem so real because they
really are their own. They have a great many stories to tell and their
history covers a lot of ground - from the deep south to Harlem - and a lot
of time. A great deal transpired in the century they shared.
Storyline: At age 100+ the Delaney Sisters,
invite you in to their home as they prepare dinner on the birthday of their
late father, a man who had been born a slave and sired ten children, all of
whom went on to college. The sisters regale you with stories from their
century including their experiences under the infamous Jim Crow laws, their
pioneering efforts to gain college educations and establish careers for
themselves, and the strong family ties that survived a tumultuous century.
The play is based on a book which is an
expansion of a newspaper article written for the New York Times on the
occasion of the younger sister's 100th birthday in 1991. Since it is a
reminiscence, not a thing happens during the show. Oh, a meal gets prepared
and a table gets set. But all the events of these ladies lives are simply
told, not shown. The stories are all interesting, however. These ladies
covered a wide variety of places and events in their lives.
Still, the material
would be static and dull if not for the ability of Rhonda Gayle Carney and
Lolita-Marie to bring the characters to life. Neither actually appears to be
over a hundred years old but each moves with the deliberate pace of the
elderly and each shakes just a bit. Credit may be due to director Peggy
Jones for the fact that neither over-does the mannerisms, however, so they
never become distractions. Lolita-Marie is the older sister, the one who had
been a school teacher in a New York City high school for white children.
(She got the job by missing the in-person interview and then just showing up
on opening day - imagine the shock to the students and staff in 1926!)
Carney is the younger sister who established a practice as a dentist in
Harlem after graduating from Columbia University. She was only the second
black woman to be licensed as a dentist in New York State.
The two actresses capture the closeness of
the relationship between these two unmarried ladies who spent their entire
lives together, moving north with so many other blacks in search of economic
and social freedom. Their view of the world is unique but their affection
and reliance on each other is universal. It is good to know them.
Written by Emily Mann based on the book by
Sara Delany, A. Elizabeth Delany and Amy Hill Hearth. Directed by Peggy
Jones. Design: Elizabeth Vernaci (set and stage manager) Susan Schulman
(costumes) Lolita-Marie (makeup) Mary Goldring (hair) Meredith Morrison
(properties) Bob Morrison (projections) John Larmett (lights) Elizabeth and
Bob Morrison (sound) Bob Morrison, Bonnie Briar Productions LLC
(photography). Cast: Rhonda Gayle Carney and Lolita-Marie. |
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August 11 - 27, 2006
Little Women |
Running time 2:10 - one intermission
A solid recreation of a century old stage piece
Click here to buy the novel |
Zina Bleck directs the 1912 stage adaptation of Louisa May Alcott's 1868 novel.
The script was highly successful when it first appeared with a healthy
Broadway run, a subsequent London mounting which helped make a star of
Katherine Cornell, and a national tour that saw the play mounted at the
Belasco Theatre (where Woodrow Wilson attended) across Lafayette Square
from the White House. The novel has survived
over the decades but the play has lapsed into obscurity. Bleck gives us an
opportunity to re-visit it with a cast that gives it a respectful, if
somewhat mixed presentation. Tapestry has dipped into historically
interesting material before but never quite so deeply into the past nor
quite as satisfyingly. With a few very good performances to counterbalance
the few clunkers and with a solid hand from the director, keeping the
production moving along sharply and drawing attention to the key plot points
for a clear approach to storytelling, the show is never less than pleasant
and often quite fascinating.
Storyline: The four March Sisters - responsible Meg,
pretty Amy, sickly Beth and would-be writer Jo - are growing up in
Massachusetts during the Civil War. Their mother must travel to Washington,
DC, to bring their ill father home after his service to the Union in the war,
but soon the family is together again and the sisters begin to be courted by
gentlemen.
The role of Joe is the
principal part in the script and gets the strongest individual performance.
Sara Drehmer makes a chipper teenager with both the enthusiasm for the
future and the anxiety over her ability to succeed coming through quite
clearly. Also very good is Rachel Simms as her vain younger sister who
eventually wins the heart of the charming next door neighbor (played with
panache by Cody Crenshaw). Simms has a very good sense for the comedy
of the role. Larissa Kruesi is a bit too soft-spoken but she shows her inner
turmoil as the responsible elder sister, and Natalie Woods brings charm
to the shyness of the fourth sister.
Penny McKee Weis is fine as their mother, and
both Alex Avila and Michael J. Fisher are effective as other suitors for the
sisters, but Dick Costello is much too obviously acting as the father and Elissa Hudson overdoes the brittle attitude of the family's wealthy aunt.
Lending welcomed touches of stage presence in smaller roles are Bailey R.
Center as the wealthy neighbor and Erin Gallalee as the family maid.
Set designer Jennifer Rose provides a
substantial structure of theatrical flats for the single set play with a few
steps at the rear for exits to the upper floor, two visible alcoves, which
clarifies the comings and goings written into the script, and plenty of
playing space for separate groups of characters to conduct discussions in
this re-creation of a very busy household. It may not rival the set for the
original Broadway and national tour which featured David Belasco's replica
of the actual house that Louisa May Alcott grew up in in Concord,
Massachusetts, but it establishes time, place and tone quite successfully, indeed.
Susan Schulman's costumes accomplish the same functions as well.
Written by Marion De Forest based on the
novels by Louisa May Alcott. Directed by Zina Bleck. Design: Jennifer Rose
(set) Susan Schulman (costumes) Lolita Marie (hair and makeup) Kristine
Cornils (properties) Kay Sullivan (lights) Herb Tax (sound) Bob Morrison,
Bonnie Briar Productions (photography) Jessica Lada (stage manager). Cast:
Alex Avila, Bailey R. Center, Dick Costello, Cody Crenshaw, Sara Drehmer,
Michael J. Fisher, Erin Gallalee, Elissa J. Hudson, Larissa Kruesi, Rachel
Simms, Penny
McKee Weiss, Natalie Woods. |
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May 12 - 28, 2006
Fahrenheit
451 |
Reviewed April 14
Running time 2:30 - one intermission
The stage adaptation of the novel about book burning
Click here to buy the novel |
Two and a half hours is too long for the interest that
this stage adaptation of Ray Bradbury's 1953 novel can generate. Director
Mark Edwards tries to keep the interest level up by using video projections
of newscasts, commercials, and reality programming as the story requires.
However, the excessively wordy script and his cast's mixed abilities
eventually loose the battle to maintain any sense of wonder over the
prescience of Bradbury's predictions of half a century ago, or suspense over
how his story will end. The result is a rather plodding presentation that
will nonetheless interest those who remember either the book or the movie
version with pleasure.
Storyline: In an "alternative present" firemen don't put out fires, their
job is burning books which are seen as a danger to society. One fireman
stops to read one of them before burning it, however, and begins to wonder
just what the magic of the written word is all about. He discovers a clique
of rebels who carry on the literary tradition by memorizing books before
they can be burned.
When word first surfaced that Tapestry would tackle a
stage version of Ray Bradbury's classic science fiction novel of the early
1950s, it sounded like such a good idea. Here's a story that tried to warn
us of the temptations of the "dumbing down" that popular culture can wreak
and the dangers of trading freedoms for security. The novel featured
predictions for the future that seem prescient from this vantage point a
half a century later -- wall mounted, big screen TVs, tiny in-ear radios, all
the horrors of phony "reality" programming. But Bradbury's novel doesn't
translate to the stage quite as well as you would hope. Where lots and lots
of words pour out on the two hundred pages of the novel, many fewer can work
from the stage in just over two hours. Bradbury did his own adaptation. He's
not a stranger to stagecraft as he has many a play to his credit.
Adaptation, however, proves not to be his primary job skill.
The production begins with the chanting of quotations
from the great books by the cast in black costumes before a white set. It is
an auspicious beginning and is followed up by a well choreographed and
executed fight scene. The promise of the first few minutes is not
maintained, however, as the wordiness of Bradbury's novel on stage begins to
weigh the production down, and highlight the limitations of the cast's
abilities. In the role of the fireman, Anthony Van Eyck handles himself well
on stage, but his character seems particularly static even as he progresses
from loyal book burner to subversive book reader. Alex Bastani handles many
small scenes fairly well as the fire chief but bogs down in the big
explanation scene at the end of the first act. Michael Fisher is the most
entertaining as the cautious to the point of paranoia tutor, but doesn't have
much to do beyond his one big scene. None of the women in the cast seem able
to make much of their roles.
With seventeen scenes, the play cries out for a set
design that won't require scenery and furniture shifts between each one, but
this production finds the cast members or stage hands hefting a couch on
here, carrying a table off there all too often. Some of the scene changes
are covered by video projections, but the delay seems a problem nonetheless.
Edwards seems unable to find the key to creating momentum and the pace
rarely varies, which gives the problem of pauses all the more impact.
Written by Ray Bradbury based on his own novel.
Directed and with adaptations of video material by Mark Edwards. Design: Kay
Sullivan (set and lights) Mark Edwards and Peggy Jones (costumes) Kristine
Cornils (properties) Karen Schlumpf and Brian Farrell (fight choreography)
Mark Edwards and Cathy Ryan (sound) Mark Edwards and Liz Miller (music) Tim
Novak and Phillip Dang (video) Bob Morrison (photography) Peggy Jones (stage
manager). Cast: Manny Arguenta, Alex Bastani, Jennifer Calhoun, Rhonda
Carney, Jacqueline Chase, Ricky Clarkson, Cody Crenshaw, Michael Fisher,
Gabbriella Herzberg, Caitlin Hurwit, April Lee, Sam McCrea, Michael Parks,
Charles Robertson, Tyler Robinson, Anthony Van Eyck. |
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February 10 - 26, 2006
Romeo and
Juliet |
Reviewed February 11
Running time 2:55 - one intermission
Shakespeare transposed to 1960s
Click here to buy the script |
Peggy Jones directs Shakespeare’s romantic tragedy with a high sense of
concept - not always something that makes a four hundred year old play
better. In this case, it makes it different and actually highlights some of
its more complex, less frequently emphasized messages. However, it doesn't
compensate for the lack of discipline, experience and skill of its
performers. Of course, community theater productions such as this one are
precisely where some performers get the experience and develop the skills
that will serve them and their audiences well in future productions, but few
show much polish as of yet. There are flashes of emotion and instances
of impressive stage presence, but they are too few and far between in a
lengthy production where the director's concept and what she does with it is
the most intriguing factor of the evening.
Storyline: Somewhere in America in the 1960s,
a white Romeo Montague falls in love with a black Juliet Capulet and they
secretly marry just as their families’ feud hits its peak. Romeo is banished
for killing Juliet’s cousin and Juliet is promised to another. In a ruse to
avoid that fate she takes a potion that leaves her seeming to be dead.
But
Romeo, not having received the message explaining the plan, believes she is
dead and kills himself. When she awakes to find her lover dead she, too,
takes her own life. The families, with grief on both sides, reconcile.
Jones' concept of placing the action on the
streets of an American city during the time of Vietnam and Civil Rights
struggles is well thought out, and highlights some aspects of the script
beyond the story of star-crossed young love. With the feuding families of
different colors, the hatreds are immediately recognizable to modern
audiences. Romeo's suicide isn't accomplished with dagger or poison but with
a syringe, arguably one of the iconic objects of the 60s. Finally, Jones
uses the recordings of the Beatles not only as scene and time setting
incidental music, but as commentary as well. The pre-show music is early,
innocent Beatles ("Love Me Do" "I Want To Hold Your Hand and "She Loves
You"). As the story progresses and the tragedies pile up, the score advances
to the more mature output of Lennon and McCartney with slayings set to
"Helter Skelter" and the message of the final scene nicely wrapped up in the
final Beatle quote "In the end the love you take is equal to the love you
make."
Alex Avila makes a modern Romeo with a virile
energy and youthful vigor that nearly overcomes the limitations of his
capacity for delivering Shakespeare's iambic pentameter in meaningful doses.
Unfortunately, Danielle Eure doesn't have such vigor or energy going for her
as Juliet. Cody Crenshaw brings a strong stage presence and an effective
understanding of the role to the part of Mercutio while Paul Morton overdoes
much of the heightened anxiety of Friar Lawrence.
The fight scenes are well choreographed by Al
Myska and are kept brief enough to avoid making excessive demands on the
performers who may not have had much training in stage combat. Some
productions of this play feature lengthy duels, usually with swords. Not
only would such scenes be anachronistic in this 1960's concept, they would
highlight the limitations of the performers. Here, instead, highly physical
struggles with short knives works to the advantage of both the concept and
the performers.
Written by William Shakespeare. Directed by
Peggy Jones. Fight choreography by Al Myska. Design: Bob Ciccottelli (set)
Susan Schulman (costumes) John Larmett (lights) Peggy Jones (properties and
music) Bob Morrison (photography) Kay Sullivan (stage manager). Cast:
Chancellor Agard-Wilson, Manuel Argueta, Jr., Alex Avila, Jacqueline Chase,
Ricky Clarkson, Kristine Cornils, Dick Costello, Lindsey Caroline Crabill,
Cody Crenshaw, Tricia Daniels, Danielle Eure, Michelle Evans, Gail Frazier,
Rashard Harrison, Gabriella Herzberg, Caitlin Hurwit, April Lee, Amanda
Mandigo, Jeri Marshall, George Mayfield, Paul Morton, Carolyn Piccotti,
Charles Robertson, Jeida Robertson, Keila Robertson, Tyler Robinson, Daniel
Staicer, Cal Whitehurst, Laura Wood. |
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January 16 - 25, 2004
The
Crucible |
Reviewed January 18
Running time 3 hours 10 minutes |
Tapestry seems to be hitting some sort of stride as they settle in to the
slightly too big theater at the Nannie J. Lee Center. The facility is head
and shoulders above their previous playing spaces and the stability of being
able to program shows well in advance and the knowledge that they will have
a fine hall in which to present their work must make it easier to attract
new talent to their company. This solid community theater production of
Arthur Miller’s searing drama is directed by D. Scott Graham in his first
effort at Tapestry, and features a satisfying performance by Tapestry
first-timer Greg McCay in the leading male role of John Proctor.
Storyline: Arthur Miller’s drama uses the historical record of the hysteria
that resulted in the Salem Witch Trials of 1692 to explore issues that were
very much on his mind when it was written in 1953. That was the height of
the hysteria over allegations of communist infiltration with the
Army-McCarthy hearings, the Alger Hiss case and Hollywood blacklisting.
Graham takes a measured, almost leisurely pace for much of this lengthy but
fascinating play. He flanks it, however, with two high-energy scenes. The
opening scene in which Reverend Parris (played here by a slightly stiff
Colby Mills) spies the wild explosion of the children’s emotional release as
they dance in the forest is as impressive as is the final, heart-rending
scene in which McCay makes clear the anguish and torment that Proctor feels
as he is faced with the choice between dishonesty and death. In between some
of the scenes bog down in the effort of some of the cast to get their
tongues around much of Miller’s stylized dialogue.
McCay’s passion is well matched in the performance of Liz Williams as his
wife. Their parting when she is arrested on suspicion of witchery is
particularly touching. Two of the girls involved in the making of the
madness that captured Massachusetts are central to the piece and each is
portrayed in marvelous performances. Meredith Richard captures the growing
confusion of the wavering witness, Mary Warren, and Julia Stemper is
fascinating to watch as her Abigail Williams controls much of the course of
events in a scandal that gets out of hand and costs her everything for which
she is scheming.
Graham also seems to be responsible for the simple but eloquent set design
which is dominated by a subtle stack of unbalanced platforms mounted by a
door frame that could well suggest a gallows. Chuck Martin, who has just
been nominated for a WATCH award for his fight choreography for Tapestry’s
2003 production of Macbeth provides another set of moves for the
struggles in the homes and the courtroom.
Written by Arthur Miller. Directed by D. Scott Graham. Design: Charlie Rizor,
Leslie Byers and D. Scott Graham (set) Ember Martin, Leslie Byers, Denise
Marios (costumes) Carlyn Lightfoot, Peggy Jones (properties) Chuck Martin
(fight choreography) D. Scott Graham (lights) Andrea Johnson (sound) Carlyn
Lightfoot (stage manager). Cast: Tom Aberant, Stephen Alexander, Leslie Anne
Byers, Kat Goodway, Teddy Gron, Phillip Hylton, Mildred Langford, Bud
Larkin, Chuck Martin, Greg McCay, Colby Mills, Carolyn Piccotti, Anne
Rechter, Denise Reid, Meredith Richard, Angelia Rorrer, Brittany Rorrer,
Julia Shapiro, Rachel Simms, Aimee Snow, Julia Stemper, Liz Williams.
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January 10 - 26, 2003
Macbeth |
Reviewed
January 11
Running time 2 hours 15 minutes |
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Tapestry’s most visually satisfying production in memory is its impressive
effort to tackle one of the theater’s most challenging plays. That they
succeed as well as they do is a testament to the growing maturity of this
tenacious company. Formed in the 1990s, the company has now taken up
residence at the Nanny J. Lee Center after years of performing in church
halls and pick up locations. Director Ember Martin has joined Tapestry’s
team for the first time and her work here gives reason to anticipate good
things to come. She maintains a narrative clarity in this work that makes
the sometimes sprawling story comprehensible. She draws comfortable
performances from a large cast and provides a number of impressive stage
pictures.
Storyline: With
prophecies from three witches ringing in his ears and driven by his wife’s
ambitions, a Scottish lord kills his King and assumes the throne only to
find that he must commit other murders to keep it. As guilt eats at him and
at his wife, he is cornered and killed by one of his own intended victims.
Martin fills the hall with
witches. They crawl out of the audience, cackle from the aisles, scamper
over the lip of the stage and hover in the background throughout the story.
She punctuates key points with battle and sword fight action choreographed
by Chuck Martin whose similar work for The Arlington Players’ Richard III
walked away with the 2000 WATCH Award for choreography. Her Macbeth is a
welcome newcomer, Tom Nunan. Both he and his Lady Macbeth, Liz Williams,
approach their characters’ ultimate insanity from different sides, she
driven mad by the collapse of her certainties while he is all but overtaken
by his own fears before being dispatched by Rick Rodgers, a slightly
melodramatic but still powerful Macduff.
Martin’s approach works as
well as it does because of the design work of Jarret Baker, who came up with
the single platform set, and D. Scott Graham who provided the flexible
lighting design and the atmospheric soundscape of music and sound effects.
Given the budget constraints on a production of this type, Leslie Anne
Byers’ costume design must have been extensively augmented by cast member
contributions, but there is a notable consistency to the look of the
costumes. The makeup which Martin and Byers collaborated on, on the other
hand, seemed to lack that fine touch.
The Kauffman Auditorium in
the Lee Center, while a major improvement on past spaces for Tapestry, poses
significant problems for a community theater troupe. Not the least of these
is the large number of seats that must be filled before it doesn’t seem
empty. It is an echoey space as well, which placed increased importance on
Martin’s emphasis on actors’ enunciation and Graham’s choices of sounds. The
intrusive announcement welcoming the audience and asking that cell phones be
switched off, while welcome at most performances, seemed a magic-killer
taking place after the gradual beginning of this production. Perhaps it was
required by the management. But it still seemed to work to defeat the effort
to get the show underway with subtlety.
Written by William
Shakespeare. Directed by Ember Martin. Choreography and fight direction by
Chuck Martin. Design: Jarret Baker (set) D. Scott Graham (lights, sound)
Leslie Byers (costumes). Cast: Tom Nunan, Liz Williams, Rick Rodgers, D.
Scott Graham, Ric Andersen, Linda Deutsch, Kathryn Funkhouser, Paul
Funkhouser, Gregory Gardner, Phillip Hylton, Tracy Johnson, Peggy Jones,
David Mahl, Chuck Martin, Robert Nelson, George Redden, Charlie Rizor,
Jeffrey S.E. Sculley, Julia Shapiro, Dan Staicer, Tom Wedemire, Liz
Williams, John Downing, Leslie Anne Byers, Elizabeth Darby, Marian Lane,
Carolyn Lightfoot, Anne Rechter, Denise Reid, Aimee Snow, Julia Stemper,
Kimberly Stowell. |
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July 6 - 14, 2002
Jefferson Morris One-Act Festival |
Reviewed July 6
Running time 1 hour 45 minutes
Price $10 |
Perhaps this theater company has some special affinity for one-act plays.
The quality of the work here seems to go up when performing one-act pieces
instead of multi-act plays. The Jefferson Morris Festival is named for a
young local playwright whose one-act plays first went before audiences in
Tapestry productions and now, even when the plays are by others, the
festival still bears his name. In this set there are two plays, one by a New
Yorker who peoples his play with characters out of history, and one by a
professor of theater at American University whose characters are
extraordinarily real.Storylines: Don Juan in Hell’s Kitchen
brings Helen of Troy, Beatrice, Cassandra, Rosalind and Mary Shelly together
in competition for the poet Byron’s affections. The setting for the
interchange between these historical and fictional characters the "Hell’s
Kitchen" neighborhood in a distinctly modern Manhattan where the gates of
hell are, in reality, the 44th Street subway entrance to the A
Train. Sunday Dinner, on the other hand, takes place in the living
room of a modest home as three sisters gather for the meal of the title.
They share memories and dreams, argue and criticize and generally act as
real siblings do. In the process, a gloriously warm portrait of a real
family with strengths and weaknesses is created in a mere 50 minutes.
The humor of New York author Matthew Wells comes through loud and clear
in the staging by director Peggy Jones. His script mines the anachronistic
potential of the concept of having characters from history and classic
literature set down in the modern world. The plot may be a bit far fetched,
but the nice thing about one-act plays is that they can give an author, a
director or a cast the opportunity to play around with concepts that
couldn’t survive a full evening’s examination. So long as the wit sparkles,
harsh judgment can be suspended. Although the performances here tend to hit
the punch lines with excessive zeal, one can still revel in such gems as a
Byronesque ode to King Kong, the dismissal of an affair between a man and
his half-sister as "not incest but sort of outcest" and Byron’s refusal to
go to Chelsea because Milton lives there. But even Tim Pullen, who gets most
of Byron’s material over, can’t make a line about a mid-day meal like "was
this the lunch that faced a thousand lips?" ring true.
All of the slack that the audience may cut Wells because his piece is a
mere one-act play is completely unnecessary in the case of Caleen Sinnette
Jennings’ marvelously structured 1993 play Sunday Dinner. She is the
same playwright whose two one-act plays Playing Juliet/Casting Othello
were so successful as a single evening’s material in a co-production of
Source and Folger a few years ago. Denise Reid directs this staging with
simple blocking that allows the actresses playing the three sisters to
interact through expression and body language. It may help that she is one
of those actresses. She plays the elder sister, a near-spinster whose
memories of her momma and her religion are her life. Erika McKinley is the
image-conscious television reporter and Norleana Mathis is the pregnant wife
of an unemployed man who has apparently always had difficulty supporting her
financially but has nevertheless earned her love and respect. Together, they
create an impressive ensemble.
Jarret Baker provides a serviceable set design for Sunday Dinner
featuring separate rounded panels forming the living room of the sister’s
home while his graffiti-bearing boards and steps for Hell’s Kitchen
is a bit more self conscious and, thus, less effective.
Don Juan in Hells Kitchen written by Matthew Wells. Directed by Peggy
Jones. Cast: Tim Pullen, Aimée Meher-Homji, Carolyn Piccotti, Kim Gowland,
Jodi Loveless, Aimee Snow. Sunday Dinner written by Caleen Sinnette
Jennings. Directed by Denise Reid. Cast: Denise Reid, Rika McKinley,
Norleana Mathis, Ironda Campbell. Design: Jarret Baker (set) Stephanie
Fairbanks, Denise Reid, Charlotte Souders (costumes) Jason Loveless and Ryan
Delbridge (lights). |
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January 18 – February 3, 2002
To Kill a Mockingbird |
Reviewed January 26
Running time 2 hours 10 minutes |
The story at the center of this stage adaptation of Harper Lee’s novel is so
simple, so strong and so absorbing that it can make up for many shortcomings
in a production. So it is with this production that has strengths and
weaknesses. But, since the strengths have all been concentrated on the core
story, it makes this an impressive, if mixed piece for the relatively new
Tapestry Theatre Company.Storyline: In a small
southern town in the depression a true gentleman of a lawyer is called upon
to defend a poor black man on a charge of attacking a white woman. Seeing
his strength of character as he does what he believes is right, his children
learn important lessons.
Director Zina T. Bleck has obtained the services of two
fine actors and draws from them performances of strength and simplicity.
Never mind the quality of the performances of others (and some are good
while some are not.) These two are the lawyer and the defendant. Both
approach their roles with quiet dignity, preferring to give subtle clues to
the audience about what their characters are thinking and feeling rather
than awkwardly underlining material they know to be solid enough without
emphasis. Gregory Mangiapane is quietly strong as he proceeds to do his duty
and Eric Grace is quietly dignified if understandably terrified as the trial
scenes progress.
One of the reasons that Harper’s Pulitzer Prize-winning
novel worked so well in the first place, and its stage and film adaptations
have been so emotionally impressive, was her decision to see these events
through the eyes of the lawyer’s children. For this production, three young
performers, Nathan Schwartz, Rachel Simms and Jackie Birnbaum do a credible
job providing that perspective.
Tapestry has begun staging their shows at the Nannie J.
Lee Recreation Center’s large auditorium/theater. It is a great improvement
over their old space in the day room of a church, but it still presents
challenges to their designers. The stage is large, requiring substantial
sets and the hall his noisy and big, putting a premium on the performers’
abilities to project their voices. These challenges weren’t all overcome in
this production but they were well enough met to let the power of Mangiapane
and Grace’s performances and the elegance of Bleck’s simple direction shine
through.
Written by Christopher Sergel based on the novel by
Harper Lee. Directed by Zina T. Bleck. Design: Tim Pullen (set) Vanessa Lee
Smith and Kevin Smith (lights) Susan Schulman (costumes) Scott Olson
(sound.) Cast: Gregory Mangiapane, Candice Baker, Alex Bastani, Jackie
Birnbaum, Eric Grace, John Kirby, Scott Olson, Michael Ratliffe, Nathan
Schwartz, Rachel Simms, Dave Smith, Katie Sutliff.
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October 19 – November 4, 2001
The Importance of Being Earnest |
Oscar Wilde’s last great satire on the customs and curiosities of English
society gets an unfortunately mechanical production in the first offering of
this community theater company’s new full season.
Storyline: Two English gentlemen get caught up in romantic intrigues. The
country gentleman has adopted a false identity for his forays into London.
The city gentleman uses that false identity for a foray into the country.
Between the two of them they stir up a long hidden family secret.
Director Carol A. Strachan’s staging of this light and frothy play gets
off to a slow start but perks up a bit when the ingénues appear late in the
first act and at the start of the second. Laura Hayes and Maggie Glauber do
their best to overcome the inertia engendered Eric Clingan’s stiffness as
the country gentleman and Nathan Clark’s early strutting as the city fop.
The play begins to take on some sparkle during the second act and hits
its stride in the final act, which is quite entertaining. By then, all of
the cast gets into the spirit of the thing and it all ends on a high note.
When the play was first staged, the producer cut one part from the script
– that of a Mr. Gribsby, a solicitor. Strachan has restored the few lines of
dialogue for that character, making this production of some interest to
purists and completists. However, it really only serves to confirm the
original decision to cut the part. Phillip Hylton does about all that can be
done with the part but that really isn’t much.
The set looks unfortunately skimpy on the large stage of the
well-equipped Kauffman Auditorium at the Nannie J. Lee Center at the
southern edge of the City of Alexandria. The production is uneven but
manages to give a view of why this 110 year-old play is still taken up by
companies around the world. |
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