REVIEW: Chapin Theatre Company's 10 Minute-ish Play Festival

By Cindi Boiter

I wish I could tell you that if you’re looking for a fun time in the theatre this weekend you should make your way out to Chapin Theatre Company’s new space for the 5th year of their 10 Minute-ish Play Festival. But it would all be a tease unless you’re one of the lucky folks who grabbed a ticket to one of the upcoming three performances before they completely sold out! And THAT alone is a big enough hint to tell you how fun and entertaining this sequence of performances is!

Produced by Lou Clyde and Jim DeFelice, CTC’s 10 Minute-ish Play Festival offers the audience a total of 8 short plays written by SC playwrights and directed and performed by some of the stalwarts of the greater Midlands theatre arts community. Selected from close to 50 scripts submitted before May 31st, these eight plays are clever, innovative, and almost always funny. Playwrights include Jonathan Cook, Lou Clyde, Rae Kostal, MonaLisa T. Botts, Glen Farr, AKR Scott, Eduardo Oliviera, and Susan Demchak with directors Jerry Crouch, Elizabeth Stepp Oliviera, Debra Leopard, Glen Farr, MonaLisa T. Botts, Jane Peterson, and Ivy Munnerlyn.

This reviewer had the pleasure of attending the dress rehearsal for the production Thursday night. It was my first time in CTC’s new space at 830 Columbia Avenue on the way into Chapin where the house was fairly full, considering it was a rehearsal. The space itself says a lot about the perseverance of Jim DeFelice and his board of directors and patrons. (Aside - In an article coming up in the fall issue of the print version of Jasper Magazine,  releasing on Saturday November 8th at Gemini Arts in Columbia, Jane Peterson explores the history of CTC, the conversion from Chapin Community Theatre to its current form, and more, stay tuned to learn more about the tireless dedication of this organization.)

The evening began with the hilarious Don’t Call Me Cupid, written by Cook and directed by Munnerlyn, featuring Hannah Peak, Tyler Zangla, David LaTorre, and Allison Allgood, whose exemplary work shows up in a total of three of the evening’s plays. DeFelice and Clyde made the right decision in opening the fest with Cupid. It’s funny, irreverent, and outside-the-box, setting the stage aptly for the evening to come.

Lou Clyde’s Heartbeat was next up, directed by Jane Peterson and featuring such  a strong performance by Tiffany Dinsmore that I don’t want to miss her next show. Dinsmore demonstrated a wide range of emotions and responses in this very sweet look at pregnancy and family.

Rae Kostal’s Offsides followed, cleverly turning societal expectations of romance and gender orientation on its head and bringing into question institutional biases many of us still adhere to. It was great to see Emily Harrill, who typically works as stage manager actually ON the stage and, again, Allison Allgood was strong, as was Abby Mathias.

Without a doubt, the funniest play of the evening was Taking Care of Business written and directed by MonaLisa T. Botts, who also played the character of Diane. But it was Debra Kiser who stole the show  with her performance of Grace, a dry-witted woman who had been wronged and, though hilariously inebriated, was taking matters into her own hands delivering lines in her best Southern drawl like, “He’s just got a bad case of lead poisoning because he’s got a bullet in him.”

Perhaps the most innovative script of the evening came from writer and director Glen Farr with his futuristic, I’m Dead, Jim. Featuring Frank Thompson, Barry Smith, Will Dowd, and Katie Mixon, I’m Dead, Jim is smart, well written, well directed, and right on the cusp of the reality/illusion divide where we tend to find ourselves these days as humanity contemplates potential new dimensions of existence. Like a brief and comical episode of Black Mirror, Farr was right on the money in offering audiences this play at this time.

Though at times following the arc of the play Sticky-Fingered Sailor by A.K.R. Scott was a little challenging, I was delighted to be introduced to Thurayya UmBayemake in the role of Esme, playing opposite David LaTorre as Jack. UmBayemake is a joy to watch, particularly in this very sweet tale, directed by Debra Leopard.

The Princess and the King, a tale of love and manipulation featuring Barry Smith as an Elvis impersonator, Christy Mills, Mark DiNovo and Len Lesslie, was written by Susan Demchak and directed by Jerry Crouch. With more moving pieces than the other plays, Demchak’s script also gave us the surprise ending that characterized most of the plays in the second half of the production. While Mills was a lot for her colleagues to keep up with, they all rose to the occasion with DiNovo holding his own as a well-dressed thug opposite Mills’ over-the-top camp. And in the end, it worked!

Easily my favorite play of the evening, Debt, written by Eduardo Oliveira and directed by Elizabeth Stepp Oliveira, was  the more serious of the festival’s plays and it gave us the best actors’ performances with Scott Stepp as Jerry Wakefield and Allison Allgood as his wife, Beth. While limited to 10minutes-ish, Debt was tight and succinct but it told a tale that could easily be expanded into a full-length play. It almost felt like what we saw was condensed from a lengthier piece and done so expertly. Kudos to the Oliveiras, Stepp, and Allgood, all of whom got my vote for best play and actors. (There is actually a ballot on which audience members can cast these votes.)  

This review would be remiss if we didn’t mention the stellar performance of the emcee for the evening, George Dinsmore. During what appeared to be off-the-cuff riffs between plays but were surely pre-planned, Dinsmore kept the audience entertained and looking as forward to his interludes as we did to the plays themselves. He was charming, entertaining, and thoughtfully humble, never making the show about him as the emcee—something we rarely see in theatre, but something to be appreciated and recognized when we do.

Congratulations to the 30-plus theatre artists of Chapin Theatre Company who put this huge production together, including sound and light engineer Simon Marchant, as well as to the smart and on-the-stick patrons who got their tickets while the getting was good!

Chapin Theatre Company’s 5th annual 10 Minute-ish Play Festival will be staged tonight and Saturday, August 22nd and 23rd at 7:30 pm and Sunday August 24th at 3 pm at 830 Columbia Avenue. For more information on CTC check out their website and look forward to their next production, Dracula: A Comedy of Terrors October 3 – 19, directed by George Dinsmore and featuring Frank Thompson, David Fichter, Katie Mixon, and Debra Kiser with Josh Kern as Dracula.

REVIEW: Torch Song at Workshop Theatre

Torch Song began its evolution as three one-act plays, the first of which, International Stud,  opened off-off-Broadway way back in 1978. It was followed by Fugue in a Nursery the next year and finished with Widows and Children First. The three were combined into Torch Song Trilogy which made its Broadway debut in 1982. Harvey Fierstein’s groundbreaking piece took home the Tony for Best Play in 1983.  In his acceptance speech, Producer John Glines openly acknowledged his lover and the show’s co-producer, Lawrence Lane. This, kiddoes, had never been done before.  

Join me and Mr. Peabody in the Wayback Machine. (IYKYK)  It’s the late 70’s and early 80’s. AIDS has just started to ravage the gay community, aided and abetted by the nonchalance of the straight community. (Thanks, Ron & Nancy. I digress.) We’re just over a decade past Stonewall. In this environment Harvey Fierstein spins the (largely autobiographical) story of one Arnold Beckoff. He addresses issues such as gay marriage and adoption, which were unheard of 40 years ago.  Look how far we’ve come…(hold that thought) 

In Workshop Theatre’s production, Arnold is played lovingly and endearingly by Julian Deleon.  The show opens with Arnold in his dressing room at International Stud, transforming himself into Virginia Ham. (Pay attention to the list of drag names with which he peppers his opening monologue. You. Will. Love.)  Deleon’s delivery of this exercise in self-analysis is fast and furious and funny, and absolutely spot-on. It would be so easy to turn Arnold into a caricature. This piece was, after all, written by and originally starring Harvie Fierstein. DeLeon never steps over that line.  His Arnold is maddening, infuriatingly needy, manic, frustrating, and utterly and completely loveable and heartbreaking.  

Arnold meets one Ed Reiss up in da clurb. Ed is a charming fellow, a school teacher who must be circumspect in all things, as we are not yet a “woke” world. Arnold falls head over heels in love with Ed, because of course he would. Because a Torch Song by definition cannot have a happy ending.  

Ed is set up on a blind date with the lovely and hapless Laurel and falls head over heels into the easy out, which is to marry the straight girl of his parents’ dreams. Ed and Arnold remain “friends.” At Laurel’s invitation, Arnold visits the lovebirds at their farm in upstate New York and brings along his new love, Alan. Interesting conversations ensue.  

Enter Mother. Dear, strict, conventional, conservative Jewish Mother. Hurtful, passive-aggressive, put upon Mother. Debra Haines Kiser plays this role with such conviction and passion. When she makes one jab too many and Arnold can take no more…. I thought I’d accidentally wandered into George and Martha’s study. Kiser and Deleon work beautifully off each other. Their scenes snap, one line on top of another, until we are all exhausted.   

Crouch has assembled a good, solid cast. Brady Davis plays David, Arnold’s soon-to-be-adopted son. His David is such a 15-year-old gay boy – sassy, bitchy, rebellious, outspoken, and very loving. (Can we do something about poor David’s suit? He’s about to be adopted by a drag queen with mad sewing skills. Arnold would not have allowed him to leave the house in a suit two sizes too big.)   

I wish Marshall Spann’s Ed had been more… energetic? Ed is supposedly so charming that both gay men and straight women cannot resist him. I wanted to see more of that charm.  

Beth DeHart’s Laurel is enigmatic. She vows to have fallen in love with Ed and has come to terms with his bisexuality, but has she?  Arnold and Alan visit the farm on her invitation, not Ed’s. To what purpose? Is she proving herself to herself? Is she testing Ed’s dedication to being straight? Is she deliberately taunting Arnold? There is no incorrect answer.  

Taylor Diveley creates a perfectly adorable Alan with whom Arnold cannot help but fall in love.  He’s a smart, gorgeous cocker spaniel puppy. You want them to be together forever and ever and ever. (This is a Torch Song) 

Set, costumes, and music come together nicely.  (Please make a mix-tape of the show’s music and sell it in the lobby). I tried to figure out a way to sneak the kitchen table and chairs out of Arnold’s Act 3 apartment but wasn’t able to make it work.  

I shall now pick a nit. Please. Please. Please. When food and drink are mentioned in a script, have food and drink onstage.  It isn’t that difficult to whip up a pot of instant mashed potatoes to put on plates and have water/tea/coffee in a pitcher or kettle to pour into cups. After all  the tremendous care and effort put into a production, it’s annoying to see actors trying to block the fact that they are serving imaginary food.  

Fierstein has written, and Jerry Crouch has lovingly directed a show about what we all ultimately want - to be loved and respected for who we are.   

Torch Song runs through January 29.