Ever wonder what it might be like to hang out for a weekend with the casually wealthy? Ever yearn to be part of a clique of old friends who sit around and poke fun at each other for small transgressions such as packing five pairs of shoes for a four day trip or dropping, say, 30K on a Birkin bag? Then meet the people of playwright Molly Moroney’s Kithless In Paradise now playing at the Lion Theatre at Theatre Row. Hosts Tim McCall (David Wirth) and his wife Janice (Liz Forst) open their comfortable San Francisco home – as they do each year – to old friends Phil (Brit Herring) and Polly Barrett (Tracy Newirth) who come from Texas for the yearly shindig. Casual. It’s all very casual. The way they catch up on what’s been going on since they last met, the way they drink and drink … and drink. And drink. The way they bring up their successes as well as their failures. It’s all tossed off casually as they pass around the three thousand dollar bottle of wine and enjoy the hors d’oeuvres. Drop in on them briefly and you’d wish you were one of them. But stay awhile and you’ll start to miss your cramped apartment where the wine may come out of a box but at least you’re guaranteed a far better quality of kith.
Imagine if you could re-visit a tragedy and restore the hope; take away the shadows of doubt, the shudders of despair. Imagine if you could re-visit shabby rooms, where stale air does little but circulate the layers of dust and melancholy, and breath in fresh life imbued with optimism and energy.
Imagine if you could see a classic play such as Tennessee Williams’ The Glass Menagerie from a whole other persective, one of possibility, where the “bitter” of bitter-sweet is removed and all that is left is a revving of the heart at what is yet to come. The Pretty Trapcurrently playing at The Acorn Theatre (Theatre Row) does just that. Written by Williams as one of the earlier drafts of Menagerie it is a sparkling one-act starring Katharine Houghton as the matriarch Amanda Wingfield.
“A good review is never good enough . . . a bad review is devastating . . .”
Critical Mass (written by Joanne Sydney Lessner and directed by Donald Brenner) exposes a dirty little secret of reviewers: for some critics, reviewing is a bloodsport. For those critics who are out for blood, the review itself is an arena for them to not only grind their ax, but to then wield it in an effort to deliver that final blow that will not only cripple an artist’s confidence but – in some cases – kill their entire career as well. Some critics approach their job with a delicious sense of malevolent relish – the more they dislike what they are seeing, hearing, reading or otherwise reviewing the higher they construct their dark tower from which to throw their prey, waiting in anticipation for that satisfying SPLAT at the end of the long fall.
Being the editor and founder of The Happiest Medium has its privileges. I’d like to think that I know how to delegate but I’ll be honest – when an opportunity came up to interview Ms. Alex Bond I took it for myself because I’d been wanting to meet this wonderful lady ever since I’d seen her show Late Nights With The Boys. I was fortunate to also see Ms. Alex Bond in the MTWorks production of David Stallings’ Barrier Island. She is currently playing opposite David in Cody Daigle’s A Home Across The Ocean.
Ms. Bond is one of those rare performers whose light shines out so brightly that you can see her eyes twinkle from the back row. I admit that I was nervous to meet her and sit down with her but, of course, Alex is as warm and dear as she comes across on stage and she not only gave me a great interview but she also shared some deep insight into A Home Across The Ocean.
We sat down for lunch earlier this month while rehearsals for this play were still going on. Now that A Home Across The Ocean is in its last week there’s still time to get your tickets, and I urge you to do so. I’ll let my interview with Alex explain why . . .
I’m sure it happens to you sometimes … You’re walking down the street, pondering the inevitability of change and the hardship it’s apt to cause when you fail to adapt, and other foibles of the human condition…
Then suddenly you realize that the person beside you is reading your mind, and doesn’t like what they see, and is leveling their blaster at you to fire, when …
People go to shrinks for lots of different reasons – from those who go simply to download their gripes, thoughts, disappointments and vexations on a weekly basis to a nonjudgmental party, to those who are grappling with some serious disorders such as acute stress, obsessive-compulsive disorder, addictions of all sorts, panic attacks . . . the list goes on and on. When we meet Tom Blander (Ryan Tramont) we find that his reasons for coming to Dr. Fine (Brad Fryman) are a little different. Tom is convinced he’s possessed by a demon – and please don’t confuse this for the hallucinations of schizophrenia or the multiple personalities of a Dissociative. No . . . Tom is convinced he has a real, living, fulling autonomous demon egging him on to do Bad Things. So begins Christopher Stetson Boal’s Order (directed by Austin Pendleton) now playing at The Kirk @ Theatre Row.
Order - Ryan Tramont as Tom Blander and Amanda Plant as Maisy Blander
Next up in our Oberon Theatre Ensemble Rep interview series is Brad Fryman, the Artistic Director of this esteemed theatre company, who produces the shows, and who essentially decides what will be running season after season. Not only is Brad producing two shows simultaneously at Theatre Row, he is also co-starring in Order, as the anything-but-sane psychotherapist, Dr. Fine. Having co-starred in numerous theatrical productions year after year with an impressive body of work, Fryman continues to strive toward providing the public with thought-provoking theatre, and if this season is any indication, then provoking the senses and minds of audiences are definitely a given.
I had a chance to catch up with Brad in between shows to find out his thoughts on this Summer Rep season and working on Order with Austin Pendleton and Christopher Boal. Here’s what he had to say:
Victor L. Cahn’s new play Embraceable Meat Theatre Row’s Kirk Theatre is attempting to be a tennis match of the sexes where Allison (Keira Naughton) is your egocentric, focused, determined woman, whilst Edward (Scott Barrow) is shy, mousy, and amazing at what he does, which Allison uses to further herself during college and ever after. You wouldn’t think these two would develop a romance together, but they do. And what could have been a flavorful “who would have thought” love story, never catches our fancy due to the underdevelopment of these characters. There is no indication as to why these two belong together.
