Shakespeare's Epic Romance "Cymbeline" - a review by Jillian Owens

When I heard the South Carolina Shakespeare Company had chosen Cymbeline for their spring show, I was excited. This is one of Shakespeare’s least-performed plays.  I had never seen a production, and can’t remember the last time it was produced here in Columbia.

The South Carolina Shakespeare Company describes Cymbeline as an “epic romance,” and I have to agree that it certainly is. From its wildly complicated plot involving murder, kidnapping, attempted murder, gender-bending hilarity, deception, jealousy, battles, and a bizarre deus ex machina plot twist, “epic” seems an apt descriptor for this show.

The play opens in Ancient Britain. King Cymbeline’s daughter, Imogen (played by Katie Mixon) has married Posthumus Leonatus (played by Bobby Bloom) against her father’s wishes. Posthumus is banished, but the two vow to work this all out somehow. Meanwhile, Cymbeline’s new wife, the Queen (played by Libby Campbell Turner) has great plans to make Imogen marry her son from a previous marriage -- the loutish Cloten (played by Scott Means) -- and then to poison Cymbeline (played by Chris Cook) and Imogen in order to secure Cloten’s position as King.

Are you following along so far? Good -- because things are about to get weird. While in exile in Italy, Posthumus encounters Iachimo (played by Wela Mbusi) who  wagers that he can seduce Imogen. Posthumus, full of pride for his wife’s chastity, agrees to the bet. Iachimo meets with Imogen, who refuses his advances. Being the weirdo creepster he is, Iachimo hides in her bedroom to steal a token that will make it look as though he has been successful in his seduction while she sleeps.  Posthumus, not being the forgiving sort, sends his servant Pisanio (played by G. Scott Wild) to kill Imogen. However Pisanio, not being the murdering sort, warns Imogen, who then escapes, disguised as a young man.

What follows is one of the most bizarrely complicated plots I’ve seen since LOST. Someone gets beheaded. Someone is given a potion that was meant to kill them but only makes them seem dead for a bit. A battle is fought and people are imprisoned. And I promise you won’t see the twist at the end coming.

There’s a lot to like about the SC Shakespeare Company’s performance of Cymbeline. As I mentioned before, this play is rarely performed anymore, and it’s very different from most of Shakespeare’s other works. Theories exist that he didn’t even write Cymbeline entirely on his own. Its scarcity makes it a special treat to scholars and enthusiasts alike.

There are also some impressive performances, most notably by Bobby Bloom as Posthumus and Katie Mixon as Imogen. Bloom’s commanding resonance and passion are perfect for his role, and Mixon makes a lovely and surprisingly empowered Imogen. Wild’s role of Pisanio may be a small one, but his moments with Imogen show a beautiful empathy that is impressive to achieve with such little stage time. Scott Means has lightened what could have been a disturbingly dark role in his interpretation of Cloten, and this choice gives this production of Cymbeline moments of much-needed frivolity.

The extremely misogynistic themes of Cymbeline are difficult to watch, though. The men (those who don’t die anyways) have seemingly - and at times literally - earned favor with the gods, whereas Imogen, the most honorable person in the play, is continually victimized, preyed upon, and objectified. The plot is needlessly confusing at times, as if Shakespeare was just seeing how many strange things he could throw into a play. Who knows? That might be the case. You should also be warned that this is a long show, clocking in at about three hours with a 15 minute intermission, so be sure you’re prepared to make a night of it.

Even though I can understand why it isn’t one of the Bard’s most popular works, I admire the South Carolina Shakespeare Company and director Linda Khoury for taking on such a work as Cymbeline and bringing it to a public that might otherwise never see this strange part of his canon.

~ Jillian Owens

Cymbeline runs Wednesday through Saturday, May 7—10, 2014 at 8:00 PM in the amphitheatre in Finlay Park.  Admission is free, although  a donation of $10 is a suggested. If you will attend with a large party, please arrive early for the best seating.  The Finlay Park Amphitheatre is at 930 Laurel Street, Columbia, SC 29201.  So hie thee hence from thy computer screen and sally forth post-haste to Finlay Park!

For more information, please call 803-787-2273 or visit www.ShakespeareSC.org .

Come early (6:00PM) before the Thursday May 8th performance, and you and your family can also enjoy Shakespeare’s Kidz (the SCSC’s new school-aged company, directed by Imogen actress Katie Mixon) as they take the stage with a re-telling of a classic using humor, some modern language, and sword fighting in Don’t Say Macbeth!

Jasper Goes to the Library with the SC Shakespeare Company, Tues. 5/6 at the Cooper Branch!

 

In the latest installment of the popular "Jasper Goes to the Library" series, theatre is the featured art form, with scenes from Shakespeare's Cymbeline performed by members of the South Carolina Shakespeare Company on Tuesday, May 6 at 6:30 PM, at the Cooper Branch of the Richland Library, located at 5317 N. Trenholm Rd., Columbia, SC 29206,  in Forest Acres.

Over the last six months, Jasper – the Word on Columbia Arts – has partnered with artists in each of six disciplines – visual art, film, literary art, music, dance, and now theatre – in special events at different locations of the Richland Library. The goal has been to engage community members, arts enthusiasts, and library patrons in an intimate setting, allowing for them to enjoy presentations by artists, and develop a better understanding of each discipline.

Join Cymbeline cast members and veteran local actors Chris Cook (founder of High Voltage Theatre), Libby Campbell Turner (recalled as the mother in August: Osage County), Katie Mixon (a graduate of the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art) and Bobby Bloom (a finalist for the 2013 Jasper Theatre Artist of the Year) as they present scenes from the play in the intimate setting of the Cooper Branch. This library event takes place at 6:30 PM on Tuesday May 6, 2014, will last approximately 45 minutes, and is FREE!

The South Carolina Shakespeare Company will perform Cymbeline in its entirety live in Finlay Park,  Wednesday through Saturday, May 7—10.

Cymbeline features forbidden love, mistaken identity, banishment, and a magic potion; Shakespeare weaves multiple threads into this endlessly inventive tapestry of ancient Britain. You will also find laughter, betrayal, and of course an evil queen. When the brave princess Imogen is falsely accused of betrayal, she escapes her father’s court and sets forth on a treacherous journey to redeem her place and reunite with her true love—but it might take a miracle or two. Shakespeare companies around the country are re-discovering this stirring and poetic tale. The Shakespeare Theatre in Washington, DC produced the play to popular success last season, and now director Linda Khoury has assembled a top-notch cast right here in SC, and local audiences have a rare opportunity to see Cymbeline.

The title character, King Cymbeline, is played by Christopher Cook. He is joined by Katie Mixon as Imogen, Libby Campbell-Turner as the Queen, Wela Mbusi as Iachimo, and Robert Bloom as Posthumous, with Jeff Driggers as Guiderius and G. Scott Wild as Pisanio. The professional cast is supported by costume designer Alexis Doktor, scenic designer Lee Shepherd, and lighting designer Rufus Carson.

For more information on the performance in Finlay Park, visit http://www.shakespearesc.org/cymbeline.html

The Cooper Branch of the Richland Library is located at 5317 N. Trenholm Rd., Columbia, SC 29206; phone: 803-787-3462.

Crystal Gleim talks with Jasper about "Psycho Beach Party" at Stage 5

Jasper:  Psycho Beach Party represents your debut as director locally, correct?  What's your background?

Crystal Gleim: I have been involved with theater off and on since I was 8 years-old. I’ve acted, staged managed, lighting/sound, and directed. This will be the 12th play I have directed in my life. I am originally from Pennsylvania and got involved with the theater scene here in Columbia when working with Shamrock Shapeshifter Productions on the two runs of Plan 9 From Outer Space. I got involved with Stage 5 Theatre last year when I starred as Golde in Bark! The Musical. From there I assistant directed, staged managed and appeared in Macbeth as First Witch, First Murderer and English Doctor. I then went on to stage manage and play Judge Walker in ‘8’, played Rosencrantz in Hamlet 93, played my favorite role of the year, Marie Lombardi, in Lombardi, and I just finished playing LaVonda in Sordid Lives. I am currently the Assistant Artistic Director and Executive Stage Manager at Stage 5 Theater, and the Managing Producer of Sideshow Productions.

Jasper: You also perform with the Art Bar Players; how did that come about?

Gleim:  I was introduced to the Art Bar Players through some friends and eventually became a regular audience member. It wasn’t until some close friends became players that I was invited to a rehearsal, and the gang has been stuck with me ever since. Improv comedy is something I highly enjoy doing. It’s free therapy for me.

Jasper: What are some challenges you have faced as director?

Gleim: Being a director is never an easy task; however I have to say that it’s been pretty easy going so far (says the lady going into tech week on Easter Sunday.) I couldn’t have asked for a better cast and crew. I specifically hand-picked people that I know I can work with and I knew would be able to help convey the material the way I see it. If I would have to pick a challenge to share, it would be probably handing over stage managing reins to someone else. It’s just in my nature to stage manage, However, I have brought on Trinessa Dubas as my stage manager, and she has been great. She has handled the ever-wanting –to-do-everything-herself me very well!

Jasper:   Psycho Beach Party has a long history as a cult hit off-Broadway, and was previously done at Trustus some 24 years ago. While it could probably be marketed simply with the description "From the author who gave us Vampire Lesbians of Sodom..."  nevertheless, how would you describe the show?

Gleim:  It’s funny you ask that, because I have recently had to explain Psycho Beach Party to several people who have been interested in the work I have been doing. The most recent description I gave went a little something like this:  “Psycho Beach Party is a quirky parody of the beach movies of the 1960s. The lead character is a young girl with multiple personality disorder and she doesn’t even know that she has it. Hilarity ensues has her personalities all come to life”.

Jasper:  How did you arrive at producing this particular show?

Gleim:  The idea to do Psycho Beach Party came about during a Facebook conversation between myself, Brock Henderson, and the late Michael Bailey in regards to shows we would like to produce. Brock suggested Psycho Beach Party, and it just took off from there. Eventually we needed someone to direct it, and Michael had been trying really hard to get me interested in directing something, anything.  So, I stepped up and said I would like to direct the play. Having my comedy background, I thought it would be a fun play to tackle. This production has become a big deal for me.  I sought out performers, crew, and musicians that I really thought would work well together.

Jasper: Tell us about your cast,  and where we might have seen them previously.

Gleim:  Rachel Lewis stars as Chicklet;  some may recall her from Stage 5’s production of Macbeth as the Second Witch, and she has also worked at other theaters locally.  William Boland is the Great Kanaka, and he  has done theater at Workshop and USC as well as several productions at Stage 5 (including directing Hamlet.) Ember Love plays Marvel Ann, and is a local model and talent who was just in Sordid Lives.  Catherine Christian (Mrs. Forrest) is a local actress who has worked with Stage 5 and Village Square.  Marques Moore (Provoloney)  has acted in Pride and Prejudice and Much Ado About Nothing with the South Carolina Shakespeare Company and Night of the Living Dead with High Voltage Theatre, and in Us Grown Men recently at Stage 5.  Erin K. Crenshaw from Irmo High School plays Berdine.  Rachel James Kosbar, who plays Bettina Barnes, is making her return to the stage after a several-year hiatus.   Ellery Jordan Waggoner (Star Cat) is a Chapin High School actor, and Brock Henderson (YoYo) is a company member /actor of Stage 5.

Jasper:  What can audiences look forward to?

Gleim:  I asked my friends Thomas and Ross to create some beach-themed music for the play, and what came about was a great collaboration of three musicians who created original music specifically for this play.   So, cast and audiences will be able to enjoy their very own beach band on stage.  Audiences can expect a wonderfully talented cast, great music, and great laughs.

~ August Krickel

Psycho Beach Party opens this Friday, April 25 at Stage 5 Theatre, 947 S. Stadium Road,  in Stadium Park, and runs for 6 performances only through Sunday, May 4th.  The Facebook "event" page is here. For more information, visit http://mbfproductions.net/ or call the box office at 803.834.1775.

The Play Within the Play Within the Padded Walls: Must-See "Hamlet" at Theatre SC - a review by Arik Bjorn

“Men are so necessarily mad, that not to be mad

would amount to another form of madness.”

~ Pascal, Pensées

There is one place, surely, that Hamlet does not belong—he, who, more than any other character in literature defines modern consciousness and consciences, and from whose troubled lips and bare bodkin tongue issue more coarsely-witted words-words-words than nary a cock can crow at a russet mantle morn.

And that place is a madhouse.

So, then, let us put him there and see what happens!

Let us see if the Prince of Denmark, condemned to an asylum, can drive Ophelia sane.   Let us see if the play within the play within the padded walls of Elsinore makes madness into method.   Such is the daring spectacle that USC associate professor and director Robert Richmond has unveiled for audiences at USC 's Drayton Hall Theatre during the next two weeks (April 18-26), with the Theatre South Carolina season finale, Hamlet.

“You can do Hamlet in ruffles and codpieces, and in the right place, at the right time, it’s exactly the right thing to do,” explains Richmond in pres material.  “But—”

The former associate artistic director of the Aquila Theatre Company, who for the third time is venturing as director to the rotten kingdom of Denmark, need not say more.  Michel Foucault wrote in Madness and Civilization:  “On all sides, madness fascinates man.”  And that, theatergoers, is reason enough.

Reason enough to trade Elizabethan collars for head cages, doublets for straightjackets, Claudius’ throne for a wooden wheelchair.  Reason to transform the Globe Theatre stage into a fantastical sanitarium borne from the imagination of Terry Gilliam and Dante’s Inferno, complete with googly-eyed sock puppets and slide whistles.  Reason to fashion costumes that impossibly join the worlds of Mad Max and Foyle’s War (applause for MFA student costume designer April Andrew), plus soundscapes that magically transport audience members into an eerie Myst-like wonderland (kudos to sound designer Britt Sandusky).

Reason enough to cackle.  To roil.  To twitch.  To gambol in a clown nose.  Perchance to drool.

For four centuries, scholars and critics, actors and audiences, have toyed with Hamlet’s feigned madness—when all this time Shakespeare and other formidable authors like Joseph Heller (Catch-22) and Ken Kesey (One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest) have simply been trying to tell us that while the world might be a stage, it’s also a nuts as knickers loony bin.  Despite civilization’s best efforts to segregate the sane from the insane, the outside world is itself one great big round Marat/Sade.

Throughout the profound experimental success of Richmond’s Hamlet, one is confronted with narrative dilemmas—which are intriguing even when they hit dead ends.  In a ruffle and codpiece Hamlet, all characters have readily-identified roles with respect to Claudius and Gertrude’s court.  But in an asylum Elsinore, the characters have fresh designations as either staff members or inmates.

I applaud Richmond’s choices.  Nearly every player is a detainee.  The few exceptions include Polonius, who, while traditionally played as a babbling pedant, here loosely is crowned warden of the nuthouse, Keeper of the Keys in bloodstained scrubs, and is played with Stanley-Tucci-Devil-Wears-Prada-butchery deft by second year MFA student Trey Hobbs.  Also, Horatio, played with staccato objectivity by second year MFA student Kate Dzvnonik, is a photojournalist of sorts granted unrestricted access to the Elsinore grounds.  Horatio’s camera is present throughout much of the production, recording all, occasionally changing hands, eventually finding Horatio again.

The two other staff members—perhaps it’s better to label them as malleable bureaucrats—are the under-the-radar characters Rosencrantz and Guildenstern, who ultimately inherit Polonius’ key ring following his dinner date with the worms at the hand of Hamlet.  Once R&G exeunt for good, so do the madhouse keys, and with them all hope for Elsinore’s deranged population.  (I could write an essay just on that keychain.)

The experimental nature of Richmond’s production—which excels on every technical level (and for which assistant technical director Christine Jacky and Theatre SC Artistic Director Jim Hunter deserve umpteen accolades)—forces interesting re-readings.  For instance, Claudius might be King of Denmark, but he is no less an inmate than McMurphy in One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest.  Yet in sanitarium Hamlet, Claudius is freed from his normal role as an immobile agent of fratricide, and stalks the stage as a ferocious tattooed sociopath, played expertly and with Hannibal Lecter energy by guest artist and Royal Academy of Dramatic Art-trained actor Richard Sheridan Willis.

On the other side of the re-reading spectrum, the character of Ophelia has less definition in unhinged Hamlet.  Though played masterfully by second year MFA student Laurie Roberts in full spectrum mania descent, from mop bucket shampoos to sock puppet solos, Ophelia’s familial connection to the warden Polonius (and this goes for Laertes too) as well as her romantic association with Hamlet are somewhat difficult to map.

Even the audience itself has a renewed role.  While Horatio’s camera might serve as a metaphorical Panopticon (defined as a circular prison with cells arranged around a central well, from which prisoners could at all times be observed), it is the individual in the seat who truly serves as Denmark’s omnipresent surveillor, free to judge all players as well as Hamlet’s stability.  This makes for intriguing penetrations of the fourth wall, as each soliloquy can be interpreted as a character staring into the inviolable lens of a security camera and communicating one-way with an unseen master.

(As an aside—and be honest, you want to know—I was disappointed in the obvious quality of Hamlet’s famous “to be or not to be” speech, as played to the Panopticon, but was mesmerized by the “what a piece of work is man” monologue, played roughly in the same manner.  Another interesting turn of the experiment.)

And, finally, we come to the title character.  Second year MFA student James Costello is the most talented USC student actor I have seen since Demetrios Troy.  One has few opportunities to play Hamlet, but you would have to look to James Earl Jones’ King Lear or Ralph Fiennes’ Coriolanus to find an actor pour more energy and intent into a role.  Costello’s Prince of Denmark, more Mel Gibson than Kenneth Branagh, also is reminiscent of Brad Pitt’s Jeffrey Goines in Twelve Monkeys:  one minute lucid, then instantly flipping to apoplectic possession at the hands of the Scarecrow-Sock Monkey Ghost.  Whether comically turning a book into a flying birdie or grappling in blood sport chains with Laertes, Costello has complete control of the Panopticon—the mark of any successful Hamlet, and well worth the price of admission itself.

Well, almost finally.  I want to give a lexical standing ovation to every member of the Theater SC technical crew who helped turn the stage itself into a memorable character.  From the human cage vents to the trap door maws, not since The Muppet Show has a stage been so anthropomorphic.  Elsinore herself lives and breathes.  Achtung!

Director Richmond’s Hamlet is a superlative example of educational theater and in my opinion is the first absolute-must-see production in Columbia since he directed Elephant’s Graveyard at Trustus Theatre.  Every flaw is forgivable and quickly forgotten—even the exclusion of the minor character Fortinbras, who to my mind is as structurally critical to Hamlet as Hecate is to Macbeth.  Alas.

I have never seen a Shakespeare production that so consciously reminds me that all of its voices originated in one single human mind.  My ultimate reading of Richmond’s experiment is that Hamlet, in the right light, exposes the mad, mad, mad, mad, sane mind of one William Shakespeare.

As Harold Bloom once wrote, “All that matters is Hamlet’s consciousness of his own consciousness, infinite, unlimited, and at war with itself.”

What a piece of work is a man!   The paragon of animals!

Yet, also: A beast. No more.

~ Arik Bjorn

Hamlet at USC's Drayton Hall Theatre runs April 18-26.  Show times are as follows:  Friday, April 18: 8 pm; Saturday, April 19: 7 pm; Wednesday-Friday, April 23-25: 8 pm; Saturday, April 26: 7 pm and 11 pm (half-price for late night performance).  There is no performance on Sunday, April 20 because of the Easter holiday.

Tickets are $18 for general public, $16 for USC faculty/staff, military and seniors 60+, and $12 for students.  USC Drayton Hall Theatre is located at 1214 College Street on the USC-Columbus campus (on College Street between Sumter and Greene Streets).  Call 803.777.2551 for more information or to reserve tickets.

To read more, visit:  http://artsandsciences.sc.edu/thea/2014/hamlet.html

Timely, relevant, and thought-provoking - a review of the NiA Company production of David Mamet's "Race" - by Jillian Owens

David Mamet is a playwright that has no problem leaving you feeling uncomfortable.  The NiA Company  production at the Richard and Debbie Cohn Trustus Side Door Theatre of his play, Race , is no exception.  Mamet is known for his dark, fast-paced dialogue and sinister plots.  Characters deceive and manipulate each other, all in a struggle for power.  They aren’t motivated by a desire to do what’s good or right per se, but by a desire to win.

The setup of Race is simple.  Three lawyers are defending a white man for an alleged crime against a black woman.  One of the partners is a self-made black man named Henry Brown (played by Darion McCloud).  He is juxtaposed by the slick, snarky, and white Jack Lawson (played by Harrison Saunders).  And because the issues brought up by sex are just as interesting as race, they are joined by their third partner, Susan (played by Ericka Wright), who happens to be black.

The brutal one upmanship that is so common in a Mamet play is more subtle in Race.  There is a level of camaraderie and respect among Brown, Lawson, and Susan (curiously, the only character without a last name).  Usually, when watching a Mamet play, I feel disturbed.  His characters are usually so shockingly sociopathic that you can’t help but feel squeamish.  They seem capable of anything.  The characters in Race don’t quite reach this level.  This would be fine if his characters were written in such a way that they’re given somewhere to go developmentally, but they aren’t.  The language is fast and edgy, with plenty of racial and sexual epithets to keep the audience on its toes – but none of the character’s actions seem all that surprising, and this makes establishing suspense difficult.

Race feels like an exercise in how our prejudices affect our perception of reality.  Was Susan offered her position because she was a woman and black?  Does Lawson truly believe is client is innocent?  Is Brown afraid to voice his own doubts about the innocence of his client out of fear of seeming racially biased himself?  Are any of these people self-aware enough to be concerned about any of these things?

As I said, this is a difficult script, and in my opinion not necessarily Mamet’s best.  Director Heather McCue could have gone with a much easier play, but this is not what the NiA Company is about.  They seek to challenge their audience and themselves, which is commendable.  This puts a great deal of pressure on the actors.  They were all very good, but the text they’re working with doesn’t do them any favors.  McCloud is the most explorative actor in this show as Henry Brown, who is both believable and compelling.   Saunders is quick and cunning as Lawson, but there are moments where he perhaps could have made the choice to give his character moments of weakness that would have made Race much more suspenseful.  The same can be said of Wright’s Susan.  As she never seems to reach a point where she’s in serious danger of losing anything, whether emotionally or professionally, I found it difficult to feel much suspense or surprise at her actions.   Nathan Dawson plays Charles Strickland, a rich and arrogant man who may or may not be a rapist.  Dawson, an Australian, opted for an American accent for this show, although not altogether successfully.  Nevertheless, I commend him for offering moments of vulnerability that left me feeling uncomfortably sympathetic for his character.

The small black box space of the Side Door is completely ideal for this type of small production that takes on some very large issues.  Race is a timely and relevant work that if nothing else, will encourage a lively discussion between you and your friends after the show.

~ Jillian Owens

Race runs for four more performances, April 16-19.  The doors and box office open thirty minutes prior to curtain, and all Trustus Side Door tickets are $20 for general admission and $15 for students. Reservations can be made by calling the Trustus Box Office at (803) 254-9732, and tickets may be purchased online at www.trustus.org . The Richard and Debbie Cohn Trustus Side Door Theatre is located at 520 Lady Street, behind the Gervais St. Publix. Parking is available on Lady Street and on Pulaski Street. The Trustus Side Door Theatre entrance is through the glass doors on the Huger St. side of the building.  For more information or reservations call the box office Tuesdays through Saturdays 1-6 pm at 803-254-9732. Visit www.trustus.org for all show information and season info.

"The Stinky Cheese Man and Other Fair(l)y (Stoopid) Tales " at Columbia Children's Theatre - a review by Melissa Swick Ellington

During my years as a drama teacher, I observed that students loved creating “fractured fairy tales” to perform. Taking a well-known story and turning it into something new, usually to humorous effect, was a guaranteed classroom success. Thus, it was a special treat to enjoy the current offering at Columbia Children’s Theatre and to savor audience reactions of surprise and delight. Directed by Jerry Stevenson, The Stinky Cheese Man and Other Fair(l)y (Stoopid) Tales provides the kind of high quality family production that audiences have come to anticipate from CCT. Adapted by Kent Stephens from the children’s book by Jon Scieszka, with music by Gary Rue, Stinky Cheese Man offers a bright romp through classic stories told in unexpected and uproarious ways. In Scieszka’s Caldecott Honor book (with illustrations by Lane Smith), the title story spoofs the Gingerbread Man, “Cinderumplestiltskin” parodies those two enduring characters, and the “Really Ugly Duckling” becomes…well, check out this show to see (and laugh) for yourself.

The capable cast and crew members bring the comical tales to life with energy and wit. At the performance I attended, children were riveted by the engaging ensemble. B. Scott Vaughan as Jack (of beanstalk fame) guides the viewers through the theatrical experience. Vaughan’s inviting stage presence makes audience members feel like they are part of the journey.  Lee O. Smith creates a sly Foxy Loxy, whose mischievous interactions with Toni V. Moore’s vivacious Little Red Hen ignite lively shenanigans. Julian Deleon delivers a dynamic turn as the obnoxious stepmother to Evelyn Clary’s charming albeit detail-obsessed Cinderella. Elizabeth Stepp revs up the comedy as Rumplestiltskin and the frog princess, while Paul Lindley II becomes the marvelously boisterous and unforgettable Stinky Cheese Man himself. Not only does stage manager Crystal Aldamuy keep the action flowing offstage, she also joins in the hijinks onstage as a helpful Pinocchio.

Costume design choices by Stevenson and Donna Harvey evoke familiar characters with an inventive twist. In particular, the Stinky Cheese Man’s garb proves to be downright hilarious, producing roars of laughter from audience members. Stevenson and Jim Litzinger provide clean, reliable sound and lighting choices. Clever choreography by Aldamuy punctuates key moments, while Lindley’s valuable music direction drives effective vocal performances. Physical humor abounds in this production, with a fast forward/pause/play sequence sending my young daughter and her friend into fits of giggles. My kindergartener recommends, “Kids should come see this show because it is funny and silly!”

Rather than retread timeworn ground by retelling the same old yarns, these theatre artists aim to “change it, derange it, do anything but bore us.” And do they ever succeed: traditional characters embrace the Giant’s declaration of “fee fi fum fory” to make up “my own story.” Stinky Cheese Man imparts the delightful message that established narratives can be reinvented and infused with vibrant originality. By sharing this well-crafted production, CCT may inspire young audience members to create their own imaginative versions of well-known stories. Why stop at “once upon a time” when you can try “time upon a once”?

~ Melissa Swick Ellington

There are three more days to catch The Stinky Cheese Man and Other Fair(l)y (Stoopid) Tales:

- Friday, April 4: 8:00 p.m. (which is a Late Night (ok, CCT shows generally start at 7 PM, so this is late for them!) Date Night for Mom and Dad, and young-at-heart adults.  There will be a cash bar available, so if you don't have kids, or just want a night out on your own, do not miss this performance. - Saturday, April 5: 10:30 a.m., 2:00 p.m., 7:00 pm. - Sunday, April 6: 3:00 p.m.

For ticket information, call (803) 691-4548, or visit http://www.columbiachildrenstheatre.com.

Choreographer Christy Shealy Mills talks about "Hello Dolly," opening in Blythewood April 2nd

Columbia is undeniably a theatre town, and it's no longer limited to the downtown area.  Every few years, theatre enthusiasts in the Midlands see a need and an opportunity, and another group is born. Lexington, Chapin, West Columbia and Forest Acres are all home to thriving performance groups, and now Blythewood joins the mix.  Choreographer Christy Shealy Mills took a moment to talk with Jasper about the upcoming production of Hello Dolly, the debut presentation of the Blythewood Community Theatre.

Jasper:  How did this group get its start?

Mills:  The folks in Blythewood have wanted to get their own theatre group going for years, and finally found someone willing to take a stab at directing, Rachel Tefft.   Out of the forty something cast members, about 1/3 of them have taken part in previous Midlands area productions. The rest are all newcomers. This new local theatre group will draw in people who might not otherwise get involved in such offerings.

Jasper:  You're actually commuting to choreograph this show, right?  How did you become involved?

Mills:  I live in Prosperity in the corner of Saluda County and have three dance studios, in  Lexington, Batesburg, and the one in my backyard, as well as satellite classes at Town Theatre in Columbia.  I am not sure how I became involved with Blythewood, other than the director , Rachel Tefft , whom I had never met, called me back in November and asked me , and said I was highly recommended.  I don't know where that came from, but the flattery worked.  She wasn't even sure which of three shows they were going to do, but I knew something about Hello, Dolly and was familiar with most of the music, and hoped it would be this one. I didn't know at the time just how much choreography that would be - it's a good thing I like challenges.

Jasper:  Have you always been a dancer and teacher?

Mills:   I have been dancing since I started classes at the age of three. My first ever performance,  I did the entire routine with my back to the audience. I don't remember ever NOT wanting to do this as a career. As a matter of fact, I do remember as a high school freshman taking a career aptitude test, and complaining to my parents at dinner that night that there was no career choice of dance instructor mentioned. My dad, looking quite horrified, said "a DANCE TEACHER? Why would you want to be a dance teacher? Dance teachers are kind of...tacky."  That cemented my career choice, and I have been trying to live up to that opinion ever since.

Jasper:  Which groups have you been involved with locally?

Mills:  I first become involved in community theatre with George Boozer's fabulous Lexington Arts Association revues starting about 1972 or '73.  That was REALLY community theatre. This Blythewood group  reminds me of those fun productions - all these rookies not having a clue what they are getting into, and just how much that theatre bug is biting them with each and every passing day. It was the same way in Lexington. Those huge musical revues caused me to make friends and memories that will last a lifetime.  Plus, I learned about theatre, and increased my dance, music and even history knowledge. Once I had the first of my four children, I stopped doing theatre until 2010, when I was blessed to be a part of Town Theatre's Annie.

I did choreograph some full length musicals for Lexington High School during the baby years, and have done lots of pageant choreography. And, of course, I have been teaching dance since I was 14.  I choreographed Gilligan's Island - the Musical and portions of Nunsense Jamboree for On Stage Productions, but the first full length show I choreographed was Dirty Rotten Scoundrels at Town Theatre. It was quite an undertaking, but Scott Blanks was such fun to work with - a creative genius. Now that I think about, all the the directors I have worked with have that genius touch. I guess that is why they are directors, huh?

Jasper:   Hello Dolly certainly has a rich history, based on Thornton Wilder's hit comedy The Matchmaker, based in turn on an older Austrian work, based on an older English story, but this is the most famous version, and the one with all the familiar songs.  Why this particular musical?

Mills:    The reason this was the choice (of the three possible shows  that were being considered) was the casting - after the great turn-out at auditions, Rachel could see that she had the right leads for Hello, Dolly, so that did it. It is huge undertaking.  I was a little worried, because there is no canned music, so working with live musicians introduces a whole new element to the works. I love live music, and it never ceases to amaze me how musicians who have never played together before can come in a week before the show opens and make it happen.  We have been sort of feeling our way as we go with this first show.

Jasper:  Hello, Dolly was a huge success when it first debuted, winning a record-setting 10 Tony Awards (including best musical, best score and best book) and running for over 28oo performances, another record at the time; its movie version won three three of the seven Oscars for which it was nominated.   There have been a number of successful revivals on Broadway since then - why do you think the play still resonates with contemporary audiences?

Mills:   It's just a fun, colorful, lively trip into yesteryear - a delight for the ears and eyes.  The music its timeless.  “It Only Takes a Moment" - a song about love at first sight - is lovely and rings true no matter the era. The tunes will have the audience tapping their toes and humming on the way home. I know these songs have been in my head for months.

Jasper:  Tell us about your cast, and where we might have seen them before.

Mills:  Kathy Seppamaki-Milliron (Dirty Rotten Scoundrels at Town Theatre, Legally Blonde at Workshop) plays Dolly Levi.   Emily Clelland (Chicago at the  Kershaw Fine Arts Center) and Zanna Mills (Shere Khan in The Jungle Book at Town Theatre)  alternate as Ermengard.  Rachel Arling (Annie at Town Theatre) plays Minnie Fay. William Ellis (Albert in Bye Bye Birdie at Westwood High) plays Barnaby. Annie Laurie Sutton-Rumfelt (Annie  and Joseph... at Town Theatre) plays the most spirited Ernestina there could possibly be.  Taylor Diveley plays Ambrose and has appeared in several Columbia Children's Theatre shows.   Dan Reyes (Horace Vandergelder), Sara Bailey (Mrs. Malloy), Nicholas Sargent (Cornelius) and Eric Bothur (Rudolf) are all newcomers.

Jasper:  What are some challenges you have faced as choreographer?

Mills:   I had never actually seen Hello, Dolly, so when people kept referring to the "waiter's dance," I thought they were talking about the big "Hello, Dolly" song.  I am a one-day-at-a-time kind of person, and was just working on the routines when the director told me to.   So when I finally noticed in the score the music for “Waiter's Gallop" - the one with no lyrics - I thought that was just an interlude piece for the band.  I can't quite remember how I came to realize that it was actually an eight minute dance routine for only the waiters!  I probably went into shock and have blocked that moment from my memory. But my spirited twelve dancing waiters have been motivational for me. In hindsight, I should have started that routine first instead of last, but it has come together and hopefully will entertain the audience. I don't want to give away all our secrets, but let's just say there's tap dancing , baton twirling, juggling, some upside down antics, perhaps some unicycling ( still trying to get the unicycle functional) and some hoochie-coo.  I thought the other challenge would be getting the entire cast to waltz, but they are such troupers, it was a piece of cake. All fun stuff, and I am going to miss this group come April 6 (the last performance.)

Blythewood Community Theatre's production of Hello, Dolly runs Wed. April 2 through Sunday April 6 at Westwood  High School.  Tickets can be purchased online at www.brownpapertickets.com or at the door.

~ August Krickel

"Who Killed the Boss?" returns to Theatre Rowe in Richland Mall

In preparation for the feature on Theatre Rowe Productions (aka Columbia Dinner Theatre, and the Southeastern Theatrical Arts Bandits, or S.T.A.B.) found on pg. 8 of the current print edition of Jasper, I attended a performance of James Daab's Who Killed the Boss? back in January. As detailed in the article, a fair number of this relatively new group's performances are a combination of dinner theatre and participatory murder mysteries, although other productions have included classics like Of Mice and Men, the upcoming Sunshine Class Social Committee (not a mystery, but still a dinner theatre performance, opening March 28th) and Six Dance Lessons in Six Weeks (neither a mystery nor a dinner show, opening May 16th.) After a run of a few weekends, the mysteries then become part of the group's repertoire, and will periodically return, either at the home base in Richland Mall, or at any number of locations on the road (see www.scdinnertheatre.com for dates and hosting venues.) This weekend, Who Killed the Boss? returns with a vengeance, as befits any tale of tongue-in-cheek murder and mystery.  These shows are produced and presented for fun, since the dinner, the experience of an evening out with family or friends, and the interaction with the cast is as much or more of the end goal than anything else, so it's hard to do a traditional theatre review. Here then is more of an account of what you can expect. Arriving at the performance space upstairs at Richland Mall, I naturally wonder, as anyone who grew up in Forest Acres often does, not only who killed the boss, but who killed the mall?  Thankfully Theatre Rowe, their nearby neighbor Columbia Children's Theatre, and of course the movie theatres on the roof are ensuring that there is plenty of liveliness in the space where many of us once haunted Miri's Records, the Happy Bookseller, the Colonial store, the Liggett's drugstore, Woolworth's, and of course the air-conditioned, rocking-chair theatre.  Founder/owner/principal director (and frequent actor in performances) Philip Rowe greets me at a reception desk just inside, and this is where any details on reservations, tickets, etc. are worked out.  Usually, however, this has been already done over the phone, after you have made your reservations either online or by phone, since the mechanics of ensuring the right number of dishes for the right number of people make advance planning a necessity.  My choices this evening were simple - lasagna, or veggie lasagna, along with salad, rolls, and dessert.  There is usually a veggie choice, and since the menu changes nightly, you may want to make sure what the featured entree is, in case you have some special dietary need. Beer and wine are extra, and can be ordered from your server at your table.

A lovely young lady shows me to my seat, and introduces herself as Amanda, the intern. Sweet, I think - the theatre has gotten big enough to have interns!  A quick check of my program, however, reveals that there are three actors credited as "Amanda."  Lesson One: everyone is already in character when you arrive, and most often your server is also one of the cast.  Lesson Two:  most roles are double and triple-cast, meaning that depending on the dynamics of who is playing opposite whom, you may see a very different show than what someone else saw the night before.  The play begins, and as I'm told is common with this sub-genre of entertainment, especially in works by Daab, a scenario is quickly established to explain the dinner/audience scenario.  Here, we are all employees of National United Technology Services, and the setting is the annual office party. Previous/future titles include like Marriage Can Be Murder (similarly set at a wedding reception) and Murdered by the Mob (set in a speakeasy), so there's always some excuse for food and drink to be consumed. In keeping with the office setting, the characters - who will soon be our suspects - engage in a team-building exercise, which involves... you guessed it: serving dinner to a large group of people.

Amanda the intern, played by Aleesa Johnson the night I attended, is sweet, young, naive, and hot. The role would normally be played by a blonde bombshell, a la Loni Anderson in WKRP, perhaps a tall, leggy super-model type, and/or a bubblehead, whereas Johnson is petite, tan, and perky. Which allows her to play with the character's lines, which are written broadly and almost generically, so that a wide variety of performers can do the role. Her cluelessness derives not from being dumb, but from being innocent: she marvels at how nice everyone is, like the IT guy who comes by her desk every day to spend time working on her computer, and the boss who promotes employee wellness by giving her shoulder runs daily. Bill the IT guy (Jesse B. Thompson in this performance) is of course a computer geek, which one would imagine as either an older guy, a la Les Nessman from WKRP (there are a lot of similarities to that classic comedy here) or perhaps Leonard from The Big Bang Theory. Thompson, though, is likewise a good-looking young 20-something, so he too plays with his characterization, using thick glasses, conservative dress, and a shy manner to portray a different kind of geek. Rowe himself plays Rob the sales guy, another WKRP type, whose cocksure manner is grudgingly tolerated due to his generation of the majority of the company's revenue. Rowe gets the lion's share of the laughs as a sort of smarmy, macho, annoying tool, and I'd love to see him play some gangster in Murdered by the Mob, or in The Altos, a Sopranos spoof produced last fall, and sure to return at some point.

Helen the office manager would normally be a controlling queen bee, in the vein of Joan from Mad Men, but Lisa Buchanan portrays her as more of a mother hen. Which is a great set-up for some of the comedy, when the ostensibly matronly figure unexpectedly lets down her hair to proposition another character. (Although I still recall Buchanan lasciviously writhing before me in another audience-interaction show years ago, when she played a particularly depraved Transylvanian party-goer in the original Rocky Horror at Trustus.) William Antley and Marcy Francis play the boss and his wife. Given the title of the show, it's no secret that the boss will be murdered, and Antley will return later as a different character to help the audience solve the murder.

The plot exposition is very much like any episode of Murder, She Wrote, with personalities and motives developed over the course of the first two scenes, just done with lots of comedy.  Actors roam around the space, sometimes sitting down in a spare chair at your table. It's more than theatre-in-the-round - it's like 3-D, total-immersion-theatre. In the particular piece, I'm told later that there isn't nearly as much interaction with the audience, but in some cases, actors will engage you in conversation, asking you about possible clues, or giving you the chance to interrogate them. The show begins at 7 PM (although the house - and therefore the bar - opens around 6:15.) Salad comes out after the first scene, followed by the main course at 7:40 just when the murder happens. A long intermission allows for leisurely consumption of dinner, followed by the investigation, a break for desert, your chance to try to solve the mystery, and your check (if you had drinks or anything extra) arrives by 8:30 or so, followed by the big reveal of the killer, and you're done by perhaps 8:45.   Lesson Three: if you turn in some silly wisecrack along with your guess as to the murderer's identity, like, oh, let's just hypothetically say something like "because I want to see her in handcuffs," your reasoning is likely to be read aloud to the audience. But that's encouraged.  Anyone who correctly ID's the killer wins a prize, often a discounted ticket to another show.  The food was good, and the overall experience was fun. Clearly both the cast and the audience were having a good time. Obviously, you don't go to a murder mystery looking for Shakespeare (although I still think Who's Killing the Capulets? would make for a great concept) but you won't be disappointed if you simply want a nice family evening out, with dinner and a show.

The night I attended in January had a smaller audience, as it was towards the end of the production's initial run.  It was a nice mix of all ages: a couple celebrating a birthday, a young husband and wife and their in-laws, a larger group enjoying couples' night out, some folks on dates, and a few individual attendees just there for fun. Other performances sell out quickly, meaning a hundred or more people in attendance, many often part of group reservations. Meals are provided by A&J Catering, a side project of the chef at the Clarion Townhouse, meaning that there is no on-site kitchen - the meals are delivered, making those reservations in advance crucial. Who Killed the Boss?  returns for two performances only this Friday, March 21, and Saturday, March 22.  Entree choices include chicken marsala and sautéed tilapia with chardonnay sauce, along with rice pilaf, and sautéed squash and zucchini. Mmmmmmm.  Tickets are going fast, so call 803-200-2012, or visit www.scdinnertheatre.com for information.

~ August Krickel

"Biloxi Blues" at Workshop Theatre - a review by August Krickel

Last spring, Workshop Theatre audiences were introduced to the young Eugene Jerome, a horny, wisecracking, young teenager with a sensitive, intellectual side in Brighton Beach Memoirs. The alter-ego for playwright Neil Simon in his acclaimed and semi-autobiographical "Eugene trilogy" (also referred to as the "BB trilogy"), Eugene has now matured. Into a horny, wisecracking older teenager with a sensitive intellectual side. It's 1943, and he's in boot camp in Mississippi, experiencing Biloxi Blues. Director David Britt returns with a strong and age-appropriate young cast to track this next step of Eugene's journey. The tone is intentionally uneven, alternating between classic sketch comedy, sweet romance, and intense, character-driven drama, and the language and themes are at times as R-rated as you'd expect from the setting, but it's an amazingly honest memoir from Simon.

As Eugene, Jason Fernandes strikes the perfect tone as a young man in the process of finding himself. He still has an incredible gift for wordplay and funny observations about life, which, as in the earlier play, he often delivers to the audience directly, narrating the play's action which stops long enough for him to break the fourth wall. Yet Eugene now knows he wants to be writer; he's read all the great authors whom he hopes to emulate, and in his journal, his observations on life and human nature are fairly deep and insightful. Matthew Broderick played the role on Broadway to great acclaim just before filming Ferris Bueller's Day Off, and Eugene is a wittier (if less mischievous) Ferris, if Ferris were a Jewish New Yorker. (In one of those "Awwww" moments, Broderick evidently brought cast mate Alan Ruck, who played Pvt. Carney on Broadway, along to Hollywood, where Ruck played Ferris's best friend Cameron.) Fernandes's bio indicates he is from Long Island and a freshman in college, so he already has the accent and age down pat.  Resembling a young Adam Sandler, he successfully navigates the tricky jumps in tone from wisdom to naiveté to working the crowd like a Borscht Belt comedian.

Another standout in the cast is William Cavitt as Wykowski, ostensibly the gung-ho bully in Eugene's platoon. Unrecognizable from the dapper British gentleman he played in High Voltage's Dracula last fall, Cavitt also excels at revealing the humanity in what could have easily been a stereotypical stock character. Stephen Canada also has some good moments as sad sack Carney, and like Cavitt, does a great job with capturing the Northern accent. Canada and Fernandes have a surprisingly touching scene which shows how clearly, yet simultaneously subtly, Eugene is growing up.  Seemingly insulting Carney as untrustworthy due to his constant vacillation, Eugene explains that they are both about to be in combat situations where decisiveness can save their lives, which is a very mature observation for a kid just a few weeks into basic training.

As local hooker Rowena, Jennifer Moody Sanchez is appropriately sexy and vampy, showing trace elements of compassion as she realizes that she will be Eugene's first. (As above, part of the honest nature of this play is that we find ourselves rooting for an innocent kid to lose his virginity to a hooker.) Her Southern accent drips with magnolia blossom honey, much like Park Overall's film portrayal, and almost seems too extreme, but we've all known ladies from that era who drawl with great pride, plus this is a memory play, and that's surely how all Southern accents sounded to both Simon and Eugene.

Winsome Haley Sprankle shines as Daisy, the adorable sort of red-headed Catholic school girl that we'd all go fight Hitler for in a heartbeat. Her scenes with Eugene are a great example of Simon's excellence with dialogue:  Eugene, as the surrogate for the playwright, has the advantage of a middle-aged Tony-winner from the 1980's writing his snappy lines, while Daisy speaks like the heroine of a 1940's war movie.  The way they flirt at a USO dance by bonding over literature is just incredibly well-written, and well-acted by these young performers: he is familiar with Fitzgerald's Daisy Buchanan and Henry James's Daisy Miller, she counters that she also likes Tolstoy's Anna Karenina and O'Neill's Anna Christie, and of course he points out that he likes writers named Eugene. That's the basis for true love right there, or what passes for it when millions of young men were shipping off to war, with no guarantee of return. Fernandes, Cavitt, Canada, Sanchez and Sprankle are also uniformly strong with projection.

A pivotal subplot involves misfit Pvt. Epstein (Colby Gambrell) and the harsh discipline of Drill Sgt. Toomey (Lee Williams.) Eugene acknowledges Epstein's criticism that he is too much of an observer, recording his life experiences with a writer's skill, but rarely taking the lead. Both characters suffer from the anti-Semitism of the era, but Eugene finds a way to blend in via his wit and social skills, which is a recurring theme, and source of guilt, for many Jewish authors. Eugene rarely jokes in his diary entries, and writes that he admires Epstein, but suspects that he is a homosexual, which bothers him - and it bothers him that it bothers him. Which is about as eloquent and honest a line as I can imagine.

Toomey goes through the expected tyrannical procedures familiar to us from a hundred movies, and from the war stories of our fathers and grandfathers, but again, Simon shows his dramatic gift via tiny nuances of characterization: no matter how harsh Toomey is on his men, the one time he will come to someone's defense is if anyone within the unit is anything but supportive of his fellow soldiers. And sure enough, halfway through the play, no one is complaining about the physical rigors of boot camp any more, and the aggressive barracks-room banter has acquired a sort of rough camaraderie and acceptance. Epstein is often called the central character of the piece, but Gambrell rushes a lot of his lines, and more often cedes focus to Fernandes. Williams likewise has got the right anger and aggression for Toomey, but I never quite accepted him as a tough non-com, although he'd make a terrific rigid captain or major. That said, he is quite convincing in an unexpectedly tender moment when the platoon loses one of their own, calling the youth "son" as only a leader can.   Williams has had a baptism by fire in his first two years of local theatre, tackling challenging roles in works by Henley and Albee, and I look forward to more from him in the future. I also suspect that a few run-throughs with a live audience by the time you read this will have given Gambrell the opportunity to even out a little of his delivery.

As above, several scenes are Simon's chance to lend his considerable comedic talent to vintage skits about fresh recruits bantering with their drill sergeant, and GI's with a weekend pass at a whorehouse. Other scenes, however, are genuinely moving drama, with Simon demonstrating that his career could have gone in the direction of his idols like Fitzgerald, had comic genius not been his meal ticket to fame. Simon is of course famous for his comedies, but we need to remember that he has more Tony and Oscar nominations than any other writer in the world. He has won the Pulitzer, and four Tony awards, including one for this very play, which beat out  Tracers, As Is, and new works from August Wilson and David Rabe, for best play in 1985.  The juxtaposition of jokes and raw emotion may be a little unsettling for those looking for The Odd Couple, as will the language and frank sexuality, but the pay-off is worth it.

A couple of random notes: I commend the male cast for fully committing to their roles - all sport military buzz-cuts, significantly helping the show's authenticity, and all manage to do some intense push-ups on stage while not dropping a single line.  Also, full disclosure, I may not be entirely impartial here, because a lifetime ago I played Eugene's older brother in the third play in this trilogy, and when Eugene declares that there must be at least 52 sexual positions, since he once saw a pack of dirty playing cards, I instantly thought "Well, his brother had to have given him those!"

Biloxi Blues runs through Sat. March 29th at Workshop Theatre; call the box office at (803) 799-6551, or visit http://www.workshoptheatre.com/BiloxiBlues.html for ticket information.

~ August Krickel

"See Rock City & Other Destinations" at Trustus: A Stage-cation Well Worth the Trip - a review by Arik Bjorn

Americans are suckers for a good travelogue set within the boundaries of their own white whale nation. Perhaps this is because so many of us spend most of our lives in some little corner of the vastness that is the Fruited Plain. For millions, just a trip from Manhattan to Coney Island, or from a one gas station town in North Carolina to Lookout Mountain, Georgia, represents an odyssey. And a visitor from Niagara Falls may as well be an extraterrestrial being to someone living in far-off Roswell, New Mexico. As I drove home from Trustus Theatre’s production of See Rock City and Other Destinations—tempted to put the pedal to the metal and drive north on I-95, past South of the Border and to wherever life takes me—I couldn’t think of any other significant musicals with expedition as a central theme. (Sorry, Oh! Calcutta! doesn’t count.) Yet there are so many great American travel books. My favorites include Umberto Eco’s Travels in Hyperreality and Bill Bryson’s A Walk in the Woods. But every American travel narrative, in my opinion, bows to the greatness that is John Steinbeck’s Travels with Charley. (Charley was Steinbeck’s trusty French standard poodle.)  There are many diadem quotations in this book, but this one is a true gem: “We find after years of struggle that we do not take a trip; a trip takes us. … The certain way to be wrong is to think you control it.”

And that is the message at the heart of Adam Mathias and Brad Alexander’s award-winning production (2011 Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Musical, Outstanding Book and Outstanding Lyrics), presented in yellow-golf-sweater and tour-guide-khaki splendor by veteran director Dewey Scott-Wiley. As Scott-Wiley states: “We may embark on these journeys looking for escape…these destinations have the power to open our hearts and minds to real change.”

Steinbeck would agree.

In short, See Rock City presents separately parceled stories about average Americans pursuing humble dreams against the backdrop of popular tourist destinations: two strangers eating pie en route to a breathtaking view in the title town, Rock City; a conspiracy theorist seeking otherworldly companionship and self-validation near Area 51; a chemistry of multi-generational coupling before the normally unromantic backdrop of the Alamo; sisters celebrating ice, whales and ashes on an Alaskan cruise ship; two “d!ckheads” discovering forbidden love during a Coney Island freak show ride; and a bride-to-be barreling with nervous laughter at Niagara Falls.

The trick to nailing any stage expedition is set design. I admit I was nervous at first when I sat in my cozy Trustus seat and beheld the minimalist design that included not much more than two red diner stools. But once the curtains opened, Baxter Engle’s amazing three-screen projection design turned the entire stage into an animated album of famous American landmarks: the Space Needle, Wrigley Field, the Golden Gate Bridge, etc. The projections continued throughout the show, providing the patron with a believable sensation of “being there.” In fact, during the Niagara Falls vignette, I practically felt water spraying on my chest—then realized I had spilled Cabernet on myself. (Still, though, adult beverages in the comfort of one’s seat. Go, Trustus!)

Another major success of the production was the musical trio of Randy Moore (musical director, piano), Ryan Knott (cello) and Jeremy Polley (guitar). Moore makes a spot-on choice by concentrating on strings and conjuring the spirit of Woody Guthrie and so many other American road-trip artists. In fact, halfway through the production my mind couldn’t shake sounds gone-by of Neil Young’s "Harvest Moon;"  I could practically taste the beef jerky of road trip yore.

Thousands of hours of effort go into every stage production, and every reviewer shouts curses at his or her limited space to credit those who deserve praise. The entire See Rock City troupe is worthy of accolades for acting and song; same for all of the technical staff. Truly outstanding are the voices of Kendrick Marion as Cutter the “motherf&%#er” prep school student and Kevin Bush as Jess of the Rock City-bound jalopy. I’ve seen Matthew DeGuire in many a role on Columbia stages, but it’s well worth the price of admission just to see him as a carney in lumberjack plaid and as Grampy, channeling the voice of post-stroke Anthony Hopkins in Legends of the Fall. Vicky Saye Henderson and Kyle (happy birthday!) Collins demonstrate ballet-like romantic chemistry, and it was a pleasure to see USC bioinformatics doctoral candidate Chase Nelson prove that science and the arts can mix—just don’t tell his Ph.D. advisor that he camps out in the New Mexico desert waiting for aliens. And stealing the first act is a “green jar from Home Depot,” tossed back and forth by Henderson,  Linda Posey Collins, and Caroline Jones Weidner; what it contains, you’ll have to travel to Trustus to see.

See Rock City & Other Destinations is a weekend-worthy stage-cation and a wonderful theatrical reminder that setting sail for somewhere else, letting a trip “take you,” is what life is all about. Who knows what you’ll discover when you get yourself to the theater.

See Rock City & Other Destinations runs March 14-April 5 (Thursdays through Sundays) with all performances beginning at 8 p.m. with the exception of 3 p.m. matinee performances on March 23 and March 30. (There is no matinee on March 16.) Tickets are $27 for adults, $25 for military and senior, and $20 for students. Half-price Student Rush-Tickets are available 15 minutes prior to curtain. Trustus Theatre is located at 520 Lady Street in the Vista. Call 254.9732 for more information or to reserve tickets. Parking is available on Lady Street and on Pulaski Street. The Main Stage entrance is located on the Publix side of the building. To learn more about Trustus Theatre , visit www.trustus.org . The Thursday preview performance of See Rock City & Other Destinations was a “Dining with Friends” fundraiser to benefit the AIDS Benefit Foundation of South Carolina. Kudos to this group for its excellent philanthropic work!

~ Arik Bjorn

"The 39 Steps" at USC's Longstreet Theatre - a review by Jillian Owens

Do you enjoy mystery, intrigue, espionage, ridiculous accents, and fast-paced gender-bending craziness?  Do you also happen to be a fan of the films of Alfred Hitchcock? If your answers to these questions is no, just stop reading this right now (because I  probably don’t like you very much). If your answer is yes, you’re in luck! Based on the 1935 Alfred Hitchcock classic of the same name, The 39 Steps (adapted by Patrick Barlow from the novel by John Buchan) at USC’s Longstreet Theatre is almost word-for-word the same script as the film.

The plot is simple. An innocent man by the name of Richard Hannay (played by Josiah Laubenstein) meets a beautiful German woman who turns out to be a spy. She ends up murdered in his apartment, but in her last breaths warns him that he must save England from an act of terrorism that could happen at any time. He ends up blamed for her murder and must try to stop this nefarious scheme without getting caught by the police who are hot on his trail. But there’s a twist! While the words and plot are essentially the same, the play veers off into being a zany comedy that reminds one of Monty Python or Benny Hill. Oh yes...and the multiple roles of the play are played by just 4 actors.

You might think this sounds like a mean-spirited jab at Mr. Hitchcock, but it isn’t. It’s more like poking fun at a dear old friend. Overdone and campy with silly sight gags and bawdy physical comedy, The 39 Steps is hilarious. While we only see 4 actors, the multitudinous technical crew is working its crazed magic behind the scenes, with rapid-fire costume, lighting, sound, and set changes. 22 of Hitchcock’s other works are referenced in this production as well...can you spot them all?

I was a bit nervous as I entered the theatre. This production of The 39 Steps appeared  to be cursed. The ice storm of the previous week led to every theatre technician’s worst nightmare...not being able to work for five days when your show is supposed to be in technical rehearsal the week before your opening. Whether the treacherous ice that shut down USC was a result of some unsuperstitious sort uttering the name of The Scottish Play or just lousy luck, the 50+ cast and crew members of The 39 Steps were in a bind. When department chair Jim Hunter explained all of this in his pre-curtain speech, I groaned a little inside. Was this basically a pre-emptive apology for what was going to be a sloppily-executed production?  I’m pleased to say: Jim, you can scrap that speech. All of the around-the-clock last-minute building and tweaking paid off, and The 39 Steps went off without a visible or audible hiccup.

The two guest co-directors, Jim Helsinger and Brad DePlanche,prove to be a dynamic duo in executing an extremely demanding production. The set by Xuemei Cao is gorgeous and ever-changing, but it almost seemed too large for the play. The lighting design by Ashley Pittman and the sound design by Britt Sandusky were no small feats either. I’m going to do something that almost never happens in theatre reviews and congratulate the Stage Manager, Lacey Taylor, for managing and calling an extremely difficult show under some pretty scary circumstances.

But what good is a technically spot-on show without the actors to bring the story to life? Josiah Laubenstein is a fine and upstanding Richard Hannay with a talent for physical comedy. Melissa Reed handles the roles of his multiple love interests (with multiple accents) with endearing panache. Still...my favorite scenes in this production were with James Costello and Trey Hobbs who played countless characters. It’s rare to see two actors who have such a great comedic chemistry together. I overheard several audience members (who apparently don’t read their programs) ask, “Are they brothers?”

The 39 Steps is one of the funniest shows I’ve seen in over a decade, and definitely one of my favorite Theatre South Carolina Productions. Unfortunately, this show has a very limited run and this is your last weekend to catch it, which I hope you will. You’ll have a frightfully fun time.

~ Jillian Owens

Show times are 8pm Wednesday-Friday, and 7pm Saturday. There is an additional half-price late night performance on the final Saturday, March 1. Tickets for the production are $12 for students, $16 for USC faculty/staff, military personnel and seniors 60+, and $18 for the general public. Tickets can be purchased in advance by calling 803-777-2551 or by visiting the Longstreet Theatre box office, which is open Monday-Friday, 12:30pm-5:30pm. Longstreet Theatre is located at 1300 Greene St.  For more information about The 39 Steps or the theatre program at the University of SC, contact Kevin Bush via phone at 803-777-9353 or email at bushk@mailbox.sc.edu.

"Puss in Boots" is the cat's meeow! A review of the new show at Columbia Children's Theatre

Columbia Children’s Theatre brings back a hit play from their very first season, and audiences will enjoy a wild and clever journey with the current production of Puss in Boots. The lively tale chronicles the adventures of a suave cat and his master Tom as adapted from the original Perrault story by director Jerry Stevenson. In Stevenson’s version, Puss and friends cavort through the Old South, complete with lavish costumes and splendid scenic elements. Cast and crew deliver high quality performances at CCT, and this solid production is no exception. Children will enjoy sassy Puss in Boots and his companions, relishing the rollicking slapstick humor and broad characterizations, while adults will snicker (and snort, truth be told) over the more sophisticated wordplay.

Columbia’s beloved storyteller Darion McCloud played the title role at the performance I attended. His infectious charisma infuses the character with irresistible charm and saucy swagger. With McCloud at the helm, the entire cast achieves energetic commitment and memorable magnetism. In the central role of Tom, Paul Lindley II creates an appealing character that pursues “riches beyond compare” through a riotous escapade guided by the wily Puss in Boots. Along the way, the pair encounters a vivid assortment of villains and heroes portrayed by top-notch actors, including Denzel Devereaux (Lee O. Smith), Miss Sassafrass St. Simmons (Toni V. Moore), Prissy Pat (Elizabeth Stepp), Voodoo Vickie (Kendal Turner), and Governer O’Grovener (Julian Deleon). Matt Wright and Stepp deliver memorable performances as Tom’s dim-witted brothers Buford and Shuford. Bonita Peeples plays the role of Puss in Boots at certain shows, and her captivating portrayal of several other parts in the performance I attended suggests her certain success in the title role.

Stevenson (Director) and Evelyn Clary (Assistant Director) have crafted a strong production that looks great and will “wow” audiences. Clever staging, inventive scenic design, and impressive costumes invite viewers into an entertaining version of the Old South. Donna Harvey and Stevenson achieve considerable success with costume design and construction, particularly with many actors playing more than one role. Crew members pull off a complicated production with nary a hitch, thanks to stage manager Crystal Aldamuy and light board operator David Quay.

While physical humor abounds in this production, the cunning use of words provides much hilarity as well. McCloud’s rapid delivery of a speedy recap of the entire plot is astonishing. Word-based jokes (“catastrophe,” “catapult,” “catwalk”) appeal to viewers of all ages. During the “chipmunk” sequence, my preschooler laughed himself silly; the kid actually exhausted himself with full-on belly laughs. (Go see the show and you just might do the same.) As the actors keep young audiences engaged with visual surprises, they also challenge children’s minds with thought-provoking words. My six-year-old guffawed at wordplay with “Grovener” and “red rover,” while her parents chuckled at Gone with the Wind references. The convoluted plot can be a bit perplexing to follow, especially during the fast-paced conclusion, but this will not diminish audience affection for Puss in Boots.

Opportunities for audience involvement include children providing Puss and Tom with “gifts for the Governor” as well as more informal moments, such as an onstage drum roll that inspired my four-year-old son to join in with his own impromptu drumming. After a vibrant performance, actors demonstrate admirable energy when interacting with the young audience members during the post-show autograph session. (This “meet and greet” opportunity has become such a highlight for my kindergartener that she now proclaims “Time to get autographs!” during every curtain call.)

Check out Puss in Boots and add a delightful spark of warmth and laughter to your winter weekend. At CCT, theatre artists love kids, and they inspire kids to love the art of theatre. Visit http://www.columbiachildrenstheatre.com for ticket information; the show runs through Sun. Feb. 16.

~ Melissa Swick Ellington

A heart-warming tour of "Second Samuel" - a review of the new show at On Stage Productions

There may be snow and ice across most of the southeast, but there is warmth to spare in the little town of Second Samuel, GA (so named after the Yankees burned the first town down) where colorful Southern eccentricity blends with a timely message of tolerance and acceptance. Pamela Parker's Second Samuel has been produced at dozens of theatres, from Wetumpka, AL, to Perth, Australia, and off-Broadway by this production's director, Robert Harrelson. Harrelson, the founder of On Stage Productions in West Columbia, has a nice little under-the-radar hit on his hands, and it only runs through this Sunday at the On Stage Performance Center, at 680 Cherokee Rd.

Our narrator and tour guide is B-Flat (Sam Edelson), an appealing, innocent young man (or older teen) given his ironic nickname by piano teacher Miss Gertrude for his lack of musical ability. (His actual surname is "Flatt," first initial "B.") B-Flat is just a little slow, or what they used to call "simple" in the play's 1949 setting. Think Jethro from The Beverly Hillbillies, or Eb from Green Acres, just more loveable. As played by Edelson, one imagines that B-Flat is probably just awkward and perhaps dyslexic, with minimal education. His description of his hometown's quirks is fairly eloquent and insightful, in the manner of Big River's Huck (another under-educated outcast thought to be simple), and one local accurately observes that the boy may have more sense than anyone else. Plus his big heart makes up for any intellectual shortcomings. Like Steel Magnolias, the local ladies gather to chat at the beauty parlor, while the men convene at "Frisky's Bait and Brew," the kind of place where you can get a Nehi and a Moon Pie as easily as a cold beer or a shot of whiskey. Every character would be at home in Mayberry, Hooterville, or Faulkner's Yoknapatawpha County. I mention these iconic rural settings from fiction not to imply that author Parker is necessarily influenced by them, but rather to note that she is working in an easily recognizable tradition, with all the stock character types - archetypes even - that we expect. What she does with them, however, is quite creative, and caught me completely by surprise.

1949 was the summer that the beloved Miss Gertrude died, and the play's action commences with preparations for her funeral, as everyone recalls how she touched so many lives in some way. Assorted plot twists transpire, taking the broad, southern-fried comedy of the first act into slightly more serious and meaningful territory in the second. Hilarious characters still are funny, but they face decisions that will define just who they are, both as individuals and as a community. A good parallel might be socially conscious sitcoms from the 70's like All in the Family, or warm family-themed shows from the 80's (e.g. Family Ties or The Golden Girls) where outrageous characters engage in outlandish antics, but there's still an "Awwwww" moment at the end.

A friend noted that everyone seemed perfect for his or her role. A few of the cast are clearly newer to acting, while some have been shining in lead roles for decades, especially at community theatres in Lexington and Chapin, but everyone plays a specific type convincingly. Parker's dialogue flows very naturally, and all the cast has to do is go where the words take them. Debra Leopard and MJ Maurer are especially convincing as histrionic ladies with big hair, while Courtney Long as pretty young Ruby has fewer lines, but is always enaged in the action on stage. As Leopard and Maurer squabble with the town troublemaker (Anne Snider) Long is giggling silently at every word, indicating how seriously the audience should take them. David Reed as the local funeral director has some inspired comic moments. Full disclosure: he and I did a show together 20+ years ago, and so I am familiar with his real voice and mannerisms. Here he affects the soft, high voice of a prim Southern gentleman, and creates a very believable character. Some of the show's biggest laughs come from physical comedy where Reed is drinking, while the beauty parlor ladies are screaming: everyone's pace and pitch is perfect, while Brandon Moore's split-second timing on light cues makes everything flow at a lively pace. Also deserving of praise is the sincerity that A.T. Marion brings to the pivotal role of "U.S." In rural 1949 Georgia, the challenges faced by U.S. as a person of color are obvious, and Parker never sugar-coats the historical context. U.S. wisely explains to B-Flat that each of them is different, but then, who isn't in some way? The charm of the town, and the play, is the way in which the town's residents ultimately look out for their friends. (They even pretend to believe the man who swears he was kidnapped by Nazis from a U-boat off Myrtle Beach , when everyone knows this was a story concocted to explain a week-long bender.)

The space at On Stage, a former retail shop that probably specialized in country-western attire, is limited, and director Harrelson does an excellent job of blocking, given the close quarters. More importantly, he has cast the right types to bring out the depth and nuances of the work, which can be enjoyed at face value as a variation on Mayberry or Vicky Lawrence's Momma's Family, or taken at a much deeper level.

On Stage Productions is now in its fourth season (see the current print issue of Jasper - vol. 3 no. 3 - for some details on its origin) and is a wonderful little gem that's not nearly as out of the way as you might think. From downtown Columbia, you simply cross the Blossom St. bridge and head out Charleston Highway, veering on to Airport Blvd. Cherokee Lane is the right just before I-26, which it parallels, and you're there in not much more than 5 minutes. When my friend Melissa saw and reviewed their last production, her young daughter told her "This looks like a fun place to do a show," and I heartily agree.

Second Samuel runs through Sunday, Feb. 16th - visit http://www.onstagesc.com for ticket information.

~ August Krickel

Jasper talks with Aquila Theatre Artistic Director Desiree Sanchez about Fahrenheit 451, coming to the Harbison Theatre at Midlands Technical College, February 7th

Harbison Theatre at Midlands Technical College will host a stage adaptation of Ray Bradbury’s classic novel Fahrenheit 451, presented by by New York City’s Aquila Theatre Company on Feb. 7, 2014 at 7:30 PM.

Desiree Sanche, Aquila's Artistic Director and the director of this play, filled Jasper in on the company and this production.

Jasper:   Tell us about the roots of Aquila.  Why is touring an integral part of that mission?

Desiree Sanchez:  Aquila Theatre was founded in London in 1991 by Peter Meineck while he was a student at University College London. The company at that time was called The London Small Theater Company and was primarily focused on Greek plays. Meineck formed the company with intention of bringing the greatest classical works to the greatest number and making Greek Drama both relevant and moving to its audience. Touring was a major component to this mission as it brings the work to a much wider audience.

Jasper: "Aquila" is Latin for "eagle" - why that choice for a title?

Sanchez:   We wanted a name that we couldn’t outgrow. It needed to be a name that was informed by the work and not the other way around. The eagle represents strength, leadership and beauty. Its Latin representation is both beautiful in its expression and classical in its origin. In Roman times, each legion had a designated legionary whose job was to carry an emblem of the aquila through battle. This eagle was a symbol of honor to the Romans, and it was the duty of the head legionary to assure that the aquila was never captured. We at Aquila Theatre see ourselves as artistic leaders who are committed to maintaining a high artistic standard, and never forgetting our mission not only to spread classical drama, but to continue to push the canon of what is a classic. We not only perform Greek and Shakespeare plays, but also Heller and Bradbury. I think people now associate Aquila with artistic excellence.

Jasper:   As you say, Aquila has presented classics from classical antiquity (The Iliad, Oedipus, The Birds, etc.) and from Shakespeare as well as adaptations of modern classics (Jekyll and Hyde, 6 Characters In Search of An Author, and now Fahrenheit 451.) What makes something a "classic," and why are these works so important for modern audiences?

Sanchez:    We like to think of a classic as piece of work that has had a lasting impact on the psyche of our culture. Each of these works you mention, which we have performed, has its own unique way of expressing fundamental questions of who we are and how we got to be this way. Classics often have allowing often suppressed questions of society and ourselves to the surface. For whatever reason we are compelled to watch others play these questions out.

Jasper:   This adaptation is by Bradbury himself, correct?  

Sanchez:  Bradbury did write this adaptation in 1979. It has not been produced very often. Though I did not see it, there was a production in the city in 2006, which was well received. Beyond the occasional amateur production, it has not been produced often.

Jasper:   How challenging is taking a show on the road, nationally?  I gather this show is being alternated with Twelfth Night, with both done in some cities, and it's a cast of only seven actors.

Sanchez:    That is correct. We have a cast of 7, and they all play multiple roles in both shows. This means that our actors have to be very versatile, disciplined and hardy.  The road is not for the faint of heart. There is a lot of time on the road, and the length of the tour is six months with a month off in December. This is a big country, and a lot can go wrong getting from point A to B, or in our case California to NY, Florida to Canada. For all its difficulty, our actors seem to get a lot from the tour. They definitely form close friendships with each other, and get to see some incredible parts of the country. They also can really hone their acting skills. It’s rare for an actor to have the opportunity to perform in rep for that stretch of time anymore. They always come back with amazing stories and it tends to be a tour they never forget. I always take it as a good sign when we get people who want to keep coming back.

Jasper:  We assume that the set has to be fairly minimal, and obviously easy to put up and take down and pack into the truck.  What are the mechanics?  How do you travel from venue to venue, and what sort of tech support do you have?

Sanchez:  We travel in a large but comfortable passenger van with a small trailer attached to the back. We try and keep our set creatively compact. Design is key. We have a Technical Director, Stage Manager and two assistants to the technical director. Our crew is highly skilled. Each venue is different. The local crews range from union to non-union to even student crews on occasion. This means our crew has to be able to deliver the same show with the standards no matter what the level of experience the local crew has. Our TD is very good at knowing how to adjust our equipment needs in each venue to get a top-notch Aquila show delivered on time.

Jasper: Aquila has a special relationship with Columbia and USC; how did that come about?

Sanchez:   Yes, Peter Meineck was an assistant professor of Classics at USC in 1998. He brought Aquila to South Carolina when it became a joint US/UK Equity company. The actors came from London and New York and stayed in Columbia during the summer and opened their shows at the Koger Center. Aquila worked with the school’s Masters program in design and had an internship program with the MFA acting program. Two actors from USC joined the company and Nate Teraccio, a USC undergraduate in the Honors College and one of Peter’s students also joined the company as a technician and rose through the ranks eventually becoming the company manager. Nate now works as the production manager for Jazz at Lincoln Center in New York City, Thorne Compton, who was chair of the Theatre and Speech department and Peter Sederberg, Dean of the SC Honors College at that time, were instrumental in hosting Aquila at USC. After two years at USC Peter was offered a professorship ay NYU and Aquila was offered a company in residence position there. Three or four Aquila shows that went on to tour internationally and play long runs in New York were created at the Koger Center.

Jasper:  Burning and banning books comes and goes in America, and seems to have died down in the last few years.  Nevertheless, censorship is a HUGE issue for this country, as is intellectual freedom.  Why will this play/novel and its themes resonate with modern audiences, especially younger theatre-goers who may not be familiar with the work, and may not remember the Red Scare and the McCarthy era?

Sanchez:   I think resonates with our current society as it not only focuses on book burning but the over saturation of media, technology, reality TV and the lack of interest in anything that cannot be captured in a single headline. One of Bradbury’s characters in the play, Faber, has a great quote about the ban on books: “Remember the firemen are rarely necessary. The public itself stopped reading of its own accord.” This play is probably too close to home for many of us. In our present society, I don’t think its censorship or intellectual freedom that’s the problem, but rather the general lack of interest in knowledge and history. There is definitely an inertia that is present in our culture, which allows for censorship and intolerance to thrive. Real education purely for the sake knowledge is not valued in our culture. We learn to perform for standardized tests, universities are pressured to cut their humanities classes so that they can make way for more “useful” subjects. History lessons are practically extinct in the elementary schools.  It is no wonder we rank 26^th in the world. No new curriculum will ever be able to change this unless it can change the way we think as a society.

.......................

From press material:

Fahrenheit’s protagonist, Guy Montag, is a fireman whose job is to hunt down and burn outlawed books, as well as the houses that contain them. He goes about this occupation undeterred until he considers his enforcer role in the oppressive, dystopian society.   Through Montag, Bradbury questions the impact of information technology on literature and society. The ubiquity of cell phones, laptops and tablets makes Bradbury's work more relevant today.

Katie Fox, Director of Theatre Operations at Harbison Theatre, said “While we may not debate censorship as heavily as we have in the past, the effect of technology on our lifestyle and relationships has never been more prevalent.  When I learned that Aquila Theatre Company, one of the best touring theaters in the country, was producing the stage version by Ray Bradbury, I knew it was perfect for our college and community.”

Published in 1953, Fahrenheit 451 is an early Cold War-era novel written against the backdrop of McCarthyism and the threat of a communist impression on America known as the Red Scare. During the McCarthy era, thousands of Americans were accused of being communists and communist sympathizers and were subjected to invasive investigations. Bradbury was concerned about censorship — and the threat of book burnings.

Harbison Theatre’s 2013-2014 Signature Season features eleven shows; view the entire season here: http://www.harbisontheatre.org/2013-2014-season/. Fahrenheit 451 is presented on Feb. 7, 2014 at 7:30 PM. Tickets are $22 and can be purchased at www.HarbisonTheatre.org. Buyers may also order tickets via phone at 803-407-5011, or in person at the Harbison Theatre Box Office, Monday through Friday, 9 -4. The box office also will open two hours prior to each show during the season.

~ August Krickel

"Clybourne Park" at Trustus Theatre - a review by August Krickel

Bruce Norris's Clybourne Park, currently running on the Thigpen Main Stage at Trustus Theatre, is by definition an important play; any winner of a Tony Award, an Olivier Award (England's Tony) and the Pulitzer Prize for Best Play, automatically commands and deserves attention. The show is also an unofficial (but direct) sequel to Lorraine Hansberry's groundbreaking A Raisin in the Sun, one of the earliest dramas to realistically address issues facing modern African-American families.  Raisin was nominated for multiple Tonys too, won the NY Drama Critics' Circle Award for Best Play in 1959, and ran for several years, appealing to both black and white audiences; its plot centered around a black family's plans to buy a house in a white Chicago neighborhood.

Clybourne Park's first act depicts the conflict that was meanwhile taking place in the sellers' living room, and its second act fast forwards to 2009, where the same actors play different characters engaged in similar wranglings over real estate that are really all about race and class. Well-written, well-crafted, and thought-provoking, Norris's script is also funny, disturbing, upsetting, provocative, and frustrating. Top-notch acting and direction ensure that the author's themes and issues are presented with clarity and eloquence, but the ultimate message may be that we have not progressed nearly as much as a society as we like to think.

In 1959, Bryan Bender, Lucas Bender, and  Erica Tobolski portray a wholesome middle-class family who could be Ward and June Cleaver's neighbors. Their banal and affected chatter hides a family tragedy, which makes them eager to sell their home to the first bidder. Neighbors (G. Scott Wild and Rachel Kuhnle) and the local minister (Bobby Bloom) break the news that the buyers are a "colored" family, and drag the housekeeper and her husband (Ericka Wright and Wela Mbusi) into an increasingly volatile argument over integration. 50 years later, the neighborhood is considered traditionally African-American, and at risk of losing much of its cultural heritage to gentrification. Wild and Kuhnle now play high-strung yuppies who imagine  themselves to be liberal and progressive, while Wright and Mbusi, representing the neighborhood association, are a seemingly pleasant, reasonable couple who discover how easily their buttons can be pushed when it comes to race. Norris seems to be saying that while these characters (and by implication, Americans) can co-exist peacefully in certain circumstances, at the same time there's much left unsaid, rather than ever honestly dealt with or resolved.

Norris's script makes good use of contemporary vernacular and modern speech patterns where people talk over one another and cut each other off mid-sentence.  Director Jim O'Connor keeps action and dialogue flowing at light speed, and his cast excels in making every word seem natural. Several actors adopt believable Northern accents, although to my ear some sounded more reminiscent of Minnesota, a la the film Fargo, than the Chicago natives I've known, but there are references to the characters' German and Scandinavian roots, and the effect works either way. Tobolski's suburban Suzie Homemaker in the first act, clad in a lovely dress and a frilly apron, is almost a comic stereotype, but there's a legitimate reason for her demeanor. Bryan Bender is a master of Midwestern reserve in the first act, then switches to broad comedy in the second act as a whimsical and quirky workman.  Kuhnle gets some of the sharpest barbs and meatiest character mannerisms to play with, while Wild's performance is the most believable and nuanced. His character is the only one in the second act to make some effort to address the real issues at hand, although he botches this attempt terribly. Still, his hapless frustration is likely to strike a familiar chord with many in the audience, as his attempts at political correctness reveal biases he never realized.  Christian Thee's set design of a typical 1950's living room seems simple, indeed minimalistic, yet its inventiveness becomes apparent in the second act. Panels and units within the set are quickly replaced during intermission to seamlessly depict a half century of urban decay. Also of note is Baxter Engle's sound design: assorted cell phones, radio broadcasts, and unseen construction equipment sound exactly as they should.

While the script has many genuinely funny moments, it's ultimately a dark and wicked satire of society's attitudes and misconceptions about race, and a number of uncomfortable questions are raised, explored, yet never answered. Forcing an audience to think about, and sometimes laugh at, important topics that are more easily ignored is sufficient reason to admire and embrace Clybourne Park as a work of literature and social commentary. O'Connor and his cast add a necessary and welcome human touch, bringing difficult characters to believable life.

Clybourne Park runs on the Thigpen Main Stage at Trustus Theatre through Saturday, Feb. 8; contact the box office at 803-254-9732 for ticket information, or visit trustus.org/.

~ August Krickel

(This review also ran this week online at the Free Times.)

Village Square Theatre Pours a Cup of Ambiton with "9 to 5: The Musical" - a review by Melissa Swick Ellington

The Lexington County Arts Association presents an enjoyable production of 9 to 5: The Musical, running through this weekend at the Village Square Theatre.  With music and lyrics by Dolly Parton and book by Patricia Resnick, the musical is based on the 1980 film. The show explores the power of friendship in the struggle against workplace discrimination, as three unlikely allies band together to take revenge on a sexist boss and to revolutionize office life in the process. Audience members will recognize the familiar voice of Dolly Parton as the friendly, down-home guide through 9 to 5: The Musical.

Director Brandi Owensby, musical director John Norris, and producers Leslie Dellinger and Courtney Long are at the helm for this Village Square offering. A capable production team includes choreographers Wes Williams and Kaitlyn Yaworksi, technical director Shepherd Pinner, stage manager Aryel Toup, and costume designers Heidi Willard, Nancy Huffines, Gina Calvert, and Barbara Bise. Highlights of their achievements include the complex and humorous staging of a vengeance fantasy sequence, costumes that evoke character traits effectively, and simple sets that get the job done.

In the role of company veteran Violet, Janice Holbrook blends maternal empathy with a sardonic, no-nonsense demeanor. Her mentorship of the office newcomer Judy (Rachel Rizutti) builds a sincere connection that bolsters the emotional life of the show, while Rizutti’s convincing character development and lovely singing voice invite audiences to invest in Judy’s theatrical journey. As irrepressible “Backwoods Barbie” Doralee, Susie Gibbons overcomes stereotypes to craft a resonant portrayal of a savvy and resourceful woman. Audiences will savor the first glimpse of this trio’s combined strength as their powerful delivery of “I Just Might” revs up the show.  The three women soar in the rallying cry “Shine Like the Sun.”

Andrew Coston plays Joe the accountant with sincerity and sweetness, sharing a particularly appealing vocal approach to “Let Love Grow.” Harrison Ayer commits to the role of sexist boss Franklin Hart, oozing cringe-worthy sleaze that makes skin crawl and stomachs churn. Robin Saviola brings humanity to Roz, the coworker who yearns for the man others condemn as a “sexist, egotistical, lying, hypocritical bigot.” A large ensemble of employees generates a credible depiction of bleak misery in the office “bullpen” that transforms to hopeful empowerment in the second act’s workplace metamorphosis.

Uneven sound choices interfere with the performance at times. Cleaner sound design and less cumbersome set changes would benefit the production considerably, but these are minor quibbles in light of the enjoyable theatre experience provided by Village Square. At the matinee I attended, it became very clear that the audience appreciated the performance: Doralee’s threat to Hart (“change you from a rooster to a hen”) prompted an audience member’s spontaneous affirmation, “God bless country girls!”

9 to 5: The Musical uses humor and music to illuminate disturbing problems. While it might be tempting to write off the show’s central conflict as indicative of a different era, the play’s themes resonate today in immediate as well as global ways. While wrestling with uncomfortable social realities, viewers can tap their toes to charming songs and chuckle over unpretentious humor. Tough issues wrapped up in a sassy package? Thank you, Dolly Parton.

Performances will run through Sunday, January 26 (Friday and Saturday nights at 7:30 p.m. and Sunday at 3:00 p.m.). Ticket prices are $19.00 for adults and $15.00 for children and can be purchased at www.villagesquaretheatre.com or by calling the box office at 803-359-1436. Village Square Theatre is located in Lexington just off highway 378 at 105 Caughman Road. Parental guidance is appropriate for 9 to 5: The Musical because of adult situations and language.

~Melissa Swick Ellington

"9 to 5" opens at Village Square Theatre in Lexington; "Elvis Has Left the Building" opens at Town Theatre

The new year is upon us, and that means theatre is coming alive everywhere.  Love, Loss, and What I Wore continues its sold-out run at Trustus Theatre (but you can read the Jasper review here) while Workshop Theatre continues with Crimes of the Heart (you can read What Jasper Said about it here.)  Town Theatre and the Lexington County Arts Association are opening news shows this weekend - some advance press material is below!

The Lexington County Arts Association  will be pulling back the curtain of the corporate world this January at the Village Square Theatre.  Pushed to the boiling points by their boss, three female co-workers concoct a plan to get even with the sexist, egotistical, lying, hypocritical bigot they call their boss.  They conspire to take control of their company and learn there’s nothing they can’t do — even in a man’s world.  Set in the late 1970s, 9 to 5 - The Musical is a hilarious story of friendship and revenge in the Rolodex era. Outrageous, thought-provoking, and even a little romantic, 9 to 5 - The Musical is about teaming up and taking care of business.   The production is brought to the stage by the team of director Brandi Owensby and musical director John Norris. The talented cast features a quirky ensemble, a hodgepodge of comedic supporting characters, and Susie Gibbons as Doralee, Janice Holbrook as Violet (Debb Adams, understudy, shown in the press photo), Harrison Ayer as Franklin Hart, and newcomer Rachel Rizzuti as Judy.  The show is a crowd-pleasing hilarious romp about teaming up, getting credit and getting even with the boss. And who hasn't mused about that?

9 to 5 - The Musical, with music by Dolly Parton and book by Patricia Resnick, is based on the 1980 hit movie Nine to Five. The show will be opening at Village Square Theatre beginning on Friday, January 17 and running two weeks through Sunday, January 26. There will be three performances each weekend (Friday and Saturday nights at 7:30 p.m. and Sunday matinees at 3:00 p.m.). Parental guidance suggested (adult content, language). Ticket  prices are $19.00 for adults and $15.00 for children and can be purchased at www.villagesquaretheatre.com or by calling the box office at 803-359-1436. Village Square Theatre is located in Lexington just off highway 378 at 105 Caughman Road (behind Bojangle’s and Firestone Auto Care).

Meanwhile, across the river over at Town Theatre,  it’s 1970, and Elvis Presley is missing. His manager, Colonel Tom Parker, needs his star for an extremely important live performance. (You see, he owes a certain mobster a bit of money). Oh, and the show is in 24 hours. When the search for the real Elvis proves fruitless, he looks for the next best thing -- an Elvis impersonator, but where can he find one that he can pass off as the real Elvis? What has the real Elvis been up to anyway? The answers to these questions, and much more, will be revealed as Town’s version of this hilarious comedy unfolds.

Andy Nyland (9 to 5) recreates the manipulative Colonel Parker with Therese “Resi” Talbot (Les Miserables) as Trudy, his long-suffering secretary. Charlie Goodrich (The Foreigner) and Chip Collins (Annie) take the parts of Roscoe and Candy. We simply cannot tell you what they do – you’ll just have to see it to believe it! Last but not least is Mary Miles (Miss Saigon), the saucy and fearless news reporter who simply will not take “no” for an answer. The play by mother and son team, Duke Ernsberger and Virginia Cate, is actually based on a true event in the life of Elvis Presley. Aside from that fact, the story you are about to see is totally fictitious (at least as far as we know!). You’ll want to check out our playbill for the background. You will be amazed! So come, laugh and have a good time with this bit of “folklore” surrounding the life of The King of Rock and Roll. This riotously funny story will have you wanting more and keep you guessing until the end. Elvis Has Left the Building runs Jan 17 - Feb 1; curtain Wed.-Sat. is at 8 pm, with Sundays at 3 pm.  Adults - $20; Seniors over 65/active duty military/full-time college - $17; Youth 17 and younger $15.  Box office: 803-799-2510, or visit www.towntheatre.com.

"Crimes of the Heart" - a review of the new show at Workshop Theatre

Tennessee Williams meets Steel Magnolias meets Charmed. That's how Crimes of the Heart might be pitched for a tv miniseries, as the power of three sisters reunited by family crisis enables them to navigate the murky swamp waters of Southern Gothic dysfunction. Beth Henley's dark comedy (or witty drama, depending on your perception) was all the rage in the early '80's, winning both the Pulitzer and the Critics' Circle Award for best play, receiving multiple nominations for Tony awards and Oscars (for its screen incarnation) and running for 535 performances on Broadway.  In ensuing years it has become a staple of regional and community theatre, due to its small cast, simple set, and easily-accessible-themes of love, loss, conflict and reconciliation among family members. These themes, being universal, have been addressed in other works before and since, and as a result, much of the material seems awfully familiar, but director Jocelyn Sanders has chosen a talented cast for her revival currently running at Workshop Theatre, and they ensure a spirited and lively evening of fun on stage.

The Magrath sisters can't get a break.  Their mother notoriously committed suicide when they were children, after their father abandoned them; the grandfather who raised them now clings to life in a hospital. Eldest sister Lenny (Allison Allgood) faces becoming a spinster as she turns 30 in small-town Mississippi in 1974, while free-spirited, scandalous middle sister Meg (Katie Mixon) is recovering from a failed show business career and a stay in a psychiatric hospital. Meg's return coincides with the arrest of youngest sister Babe (Erin Huiett) for the attempted murder of her abusive husband. As the play opens, we learn that even a beloved family horse was struck by lightning.  This all sounds pretty grim, yet most of the show plays like a situation comedy, as if Tennessee Williams had penned a terribly wicked episode of Designing Women. Lenny is a more functional version of The Glass Menagerie's Laura or Summer and Smoke's Alma, with Meg and Babe high-strung variations on Blanche Dubois.  (If in parallel time streams Blanche had either set out for California, or married a rich lawyer, only to give in to her penchant for young boytoys.)  Mixon portrays Meg fairly seriously, allowing the laughs to come naturally with the lines, while Allgood goes for a more comic interpretation, while nevertheless revealing assorted wounds and vulnerabilities.  Huiett faces the biggest challenge. In the notes I took during the performance, I see that at three different times I wrote "This is a woman on the edge."  Huiett employs an array of vocal mannerisms and affectations to convey a person repressing deep emotions, and some work better than others.  There's a detached, upwards lilt to much of her delivery, yet to me, it's indicative of her very tenuous grasp on stability.  Babe chooses each word very carefully, fearful that she may reveal too much about the shooting and what led up to it, and more fearful that recalling certain events may send her off the deep end.  It takes getting used to, but there is great power in her performance, especially in a riveting monologue midway through the show.  Huiett admirably sustains tremendous highs and lows over the course of more than two and a half hours. (There is only one intermission, in between Acts 2 and 3, so be forewarned.)

Denise Pearman, George Dinsmore and Hans Boeschen (alternating in his role with Lee Williams) do good work as supporting characters; all function as plot devices to provide exposition, and to give one or more sisters a challenge or obstacle to overcome, yet each performer has some good bits. Dinsmore, as Meg's ex-boyfriend, becomes frustrated as he falls into familiar patterns of behavior; the actor flails his hand with unspoken emotion and powerlessness, giving a visual echo to the thoughts we know are within.  Pearman is the sisters' nosy neighbor/catty cousin, and perfectly captures the parochialism of a small-town "Ladies' League" member. (Interestingly, her hair is far more beautiful than her nature. Bless her heart.) Boeschen is growing as an actor, and is convincing as a rookie lawyer determined to save Babe from jail, while trying to resist his attraction to her. Although as Huiett observed in a tv interview promoting the show, good luck with that.

Director Jocelyn Sanders has successfully helmed a number of big-cast, big-budget musicals in recent years, but is back in her comfort zone of character-centric drama, with plenty of opportunity to focus on characterization, line readings and mannerisms.  At times the sisters, each histrionic and often hysterical, talk at once in rapid fire, but then Sanders will allow for a long and uncomfortable period of silence, to accentuate a particular emotion or realization. The entire cast does well with body language. Characters find themselves alone on stage, sometimes pacing frantically, or engaging in frenzied stage business, alternating with quiet and meaningful moments of reflection. The action takes place in the kitchen of the Magrath family home, with a finite number of places to locate the actors (a table, some chairs, the counter, a cot placed by a stairwell) yet Sanders keeps her cast moving rapidly yet naturally. She also creates some interesting stage pictures, as when Lenny, ostensibly the eldest and most grounded, rests her head in the lap of her younger - and ostensibly more troubled - sister, looking for comfort and reassurance.

Randy Strange's set is up to his usual level of excellence. A glimpse of a tree outside the kitchen window is well-lit by Barry Sparks's lighting design, which incorporates subtle shades of violet and blue to remind us of the time of day during different scenes. Baxter Engle's sound design incorporates a very believable ring for a busy kitchen telephone that thankfully sounds exactly as if it's ringing (instead of a sound effect coming from a speaker somewhere else.) I might add that on opening night the rings were timed perfectly, since nothing ruins a mood on stage like a phone still ringing after the actor has answered it.  Costumes by Alexis Doktor are.... well, I can't say attractive, so let's just say they are quite authentic for the 1974 setting, and are exactly what these characters would think are attractive.

Literary aficionados will surely catch hints and traces of everyone from Faulkner to Eudora Welty and Carson McCullers, while theatre buffs will spot themes addressed in the plays above. Younger audience members will have seen similar plotlines in a dozen or more made-for-cable movies. Still Henley is working in a tradition, and her work, and in particular this work, has influenced a generation of successors and imitators.  Were this the miniseries I imagined above, there would also be preceding scenes focusing on the Magraths' childhood years, and a conclusion where we learn if Babe prevails in court, if Lenny finds a "fella," and if Meg can ever pull it together. Instead, the play ends in media res, with the assurance that the reunited family unit will somehow find the strength to prevail.  Which is almost disappointing, but I thought about the implications over the weekend, and realized the bigger message. As each parental figure leaves, the Magraths' lives slowly unravel, and each sister grabs at some possible escape. Had they stayed together, Babe might never have ended in a bad marriage, or at least might have found the strength to leave it sooner. Lenny seems quite confident and happy when her sisters are around.  Even Meg, who provides most of the liveliness that keeps the family unit going, might make fewer bad choices if she were secure in the knowledge that her (remaining) family loves her.  Indeed, the implication is that the power of three together is more than the sum of its parts. When the sisters laugh and giggle and gossip together, their problems seem smaller somehow, and easy to overcome.  None of that would succeed, however, without the talent of cast and director working in concert to bring out the nuances and themes within the text.

Whether by design or fortunate coincidence, Workshop is revisiting some of the more important plays of the last few decades this season, each representing a particular genre.  Last summer's Doctor Dolittle was a classic tale for small children, while Beehive was a musical revue featuring girl groups from the 60's. Sleuth was a male-centric, sophisticated comic thriller, and here Crimes of the Heart represents female-centric theatre that addresses....well.... affairs of the heart. Up next is a vintage but decidedly male-centric Neil Simon coming-of-age comedy, Biloxi Blues, and the season concludes with a wacky and broadly comic new musical straight from Broadway, Young Frankenstein. That's a nice and representative tour through the repertoire of modern theatre, and exactly what one expects from Workshop.

Crimes of the Heart runs through Sat. Jan. 25th, with a 3 PM matinee on Sunday the 19th.  Call the box office at 803-799-6551 for more information, or visit http://www.workshoptheatre.com .

~ August Krickel

Theatre and passion are always in fashion - the Refashionista reviews "Love, Loss, and What I Wore"

As a lover of fashion, my editor here at Jasper assumed I’d be a great fit to review Love, Loss, and What I Wore at Trustus Theatre.   I was a little worried that this show wouldn’t be for me.  I hate conventional shopping and consumerism (99% of my wardrobe comes from local thrift stores), and I was worried that this show was going to be some sort of Sex and the City knockoff - more style than substance.

Based on the book by Ilene Beckerman, the stage adaptation by Nora and Delia Ephron explores the adventures, loves, friendships, and tragedies of an array of women, and how the fibers of the clothes they’ve worn through the years are forever entwined with their memories and the women they’ve become.  This is something that just about any woman (life-long nudists excluded), can understand.  We all remember what we wore for our first dates and for our first dances.  We remember that really hideous orange leather jacket that seems tres chic in high school, but we wouldn’t be caught dead in now.  Objects have power when tied to memories, and what objects do we share a more personal relationship with than our clothes?  They are expressions of who we are and how we want the world to see us.

The five women of this ensemble cast are Amy Brower, Emily Deck Harrill, Tiffany James, Jodie Cain Smith, and Caroline Weidner.  They each play several different characters, each with their own unique stories.  Some are moving, while others are hysterically funny.  Each actress does a fine job, and with a show like this, where each of the women play off each other in such an intimate way, I would find it inappropriate to point out individuals.   Director Larry Hembree has done a superb job of getting a multitude of compelling characters from his cast.  The renderings of decades of fashions by USC Art student Miranda Fuller give us a visual landscape as we travel through each woman’s life.  That being said, I found a few of the vignettes to be trite and formulaically crafted to elicit an emotional response without any real character development, but overall this show is well-written.

Love, Loss, and What I Wore works well in the intimate Side Door Theatre at Trustus, due to its minimalist requirements.  A cast of five, a few chairs, a bar, and a slightly judgmental guy on guitar (who also happens to be the show’s musical director, Jeremy Polley) are all this production requires…oh yes…and a few drinks to loosen up the memories.

Are you excited about this production?  Do you want to gather your girlfriends and check it out?  Well…I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but Love, Loss, and What I Wore is completely sold out (even after adding on an additional Sunday matinee.)  However, perhaps if you pester Larry Hembree (he’s not just the show’s director, he’s also the Managing Director of Trustus Theatre), they’ll bring it back.  This has happened before. (And there's always the option to call the box office to check on any last-minute cancellations, and/or to see if there is any sort of waiting list in case of no-shows.)

~ Jillian Owens

Love, Loss, and What I Wore runs through Saturday, January 18th, 2013.  Shows on Thursdays, Fridays, and Saturdays start at 8pm. The Sunday matinee on January 12^th will be at 3pm. The doors and box office open thirty minutes prior to curtain, and all Trustus Side Door tickets are $20 for general admission and $15 for students. Reservations can be made by calling the Trustus Box Office at (803) 254-9732, and tickets may be purchased online at www.trustus.org .     Except that as of now, the rest of the run is SOLD OUT.

The Richard and Debbie Cohn Trustus Side Door Theatre is located at 520 Lady Street, behind the Gervais St. Publix. Parking is available on Lady Street and on Pulaski Street. The Trustus Side Door Theatre entrance is through the glass doors on the Huger St. side of the building.     For more information or reservations call the box office Tuesdays through Saturdays 1-6 pm at 803-254-9732. Visit www.trustus.org for all show information and season info.

"A Christmas Carol" for the post-modern, steampunk generation - August Krickel reviews the new show at Trustus

When the pretty young lady, clad in Victorian-era garb but sporting short, natural hair, leans into the microphone and begins beatboxing, you know this isn't your father's Christmas Carol. It's still Charles Dickens's timeless story, however, but with plenty of reinvention from playwright Patrick Barlow, director/scenic designer Chad Henderson, and costumer Amy Lown.   Purists may raise an eyebrow or two at this post-modern take on a holiday classic, while purists of a different sort may wonder why Trustus Theatre is producing a family-friendly, feel-good version of a century-and-a-half-old novella, but there's no question that talent both on stage and behind the scenes ensures enjoyable seasonal entertainment with some decidedly non-traditional story-telling twists.

We're all familiar with Scrooge, but let's focus on Barlow for a moment.  He's best known for a stage adaptation of The 39 Steps, in which three actors played dozens of characters from the Hitchcock film, interacting with a rugged hero whose tongue was firmly planted in cheek; their quick changes of costume, wig, accent and gender, miming or improvising most sets and props while navigating the melodramatic plot and dialogue made for broad slapstick comedy.  Here Barlow uses the same technique, but retains respect for the original flowery prose.

Stann Gwynn, almost unrecognizable under heavy character make-up, plays Scrooge throughout.  The bulbous nose, ravaged face and bushy eyebrows (designed by Robin Gottlieb) are reminiscent of some of the dwarves from the recent screen version of The Hobbit - exaggerated but still believable - but more importantly, they seem to free Gwynn as an actor. He's played older before, he's done accents before, and he's played grandiloquent characters before, but I've never seen those all at once, with such sustained intensity over more than two hours. Avery Bateman, Catherine Hunsinger, Wela Mbusi, and Scott Herr portray everyone else, although the quick changes and jumps from one persona to the next occur fairly naturally.  Actors playing multiple roles is commonplace now on stage, and Barlow only occasionally uses that convention for comedy. Even the use of marionettes to depict young Scrooge and Tiny Tim prompts an initial surge of laughter from the audience, but then plays out in a fairly straightforward manner.  Indeed, I found myself wishing that there were a lot more comedy, even if improvised by the capable cast, especially in the first act. When Hunsinger appears as a sort of sexy, steampunk Spice Girl-turned-nanny in the second act as the Ghost of Christmas Present, the pace picks up, and Barlow occasionally veers away from the original Dickens text to insert jokes here and there, including a hilarious conclusion to Scrooge's dream that breaks the fourth wall unexpectedly.

All four of the mini-ensemble also double (triple?) as singers and musicians, providing mood music in the background via various instruments, and sometimes breaking out into traditional Christmas songs.  Both Hunsinger and Bateman, last seen together in Henderson's production of Spring Awakening two years ago, get to show off their lovely voices, but they actually are even more impressive in their mastery of multiple characters and authentic accents.  Dialect coach Marybeth Gorman (surely helped by Mbusi, a native of the U.K. who has worked with the Royal Shakespeare Company) has ensured a lively mix of credible twangs and lilts that are mainly Cockney, "proper" British, and Irish, but I swear I heard hints of Manchester, rural Yorkshire, and Wales here and there, which was quite refreshing.

A little more on the music:  sometimes, Henderson incorporates modern songs, from artists like Justin Timberlake and Panic! At The Disco. At other moments, the actors perform moody instrumental tunes, developed by cast and director before rehearsals began. Particularly effective are Hunsinger on cello at moments of poignancy and sorrow, and Herr on keyboards, creating menacing chords sung to by Bateman, as Mbusi appears as the Ghost of Christmas Yet to Come.  Henderson uses a Line 6 Delay Modulator to create a number of beatbox and hip hop effects, as well as a Vocalist Live harmony effects processor. The tech gadgetry is certainly interesting; I'm not sure how much it actually adds to the performance, but it certainly livens up the proceedings. What is especially memorable is the production design, which incorporates a painted facade of a London street scene, plus expertly detailed projected images (snow falling, the hustle and bustle of city streets, a clock's face moving forward in time, the logo of Scrooge's business, a time vortex a la Doctor Who) courtesy of Baxter Engle.  Those projections are seen on a large round screen of sorts over stage left, and enhance the setting so much that I'd be happy to see similar effects in future productions. Amy Lown's excellent costumes include elegant Victorian attire, saucy steampunk-chic couture, and an ominous, tattered Christmas Yet to Come that could have been designed by Terry Gilliam.

Not everything works. The audio technology sometimes gets very loud, which is intended as a sort of in-your-face wake-up call to an audience that might get bored by the familiar material, but might be a little intimidating to the youngest or oldest attendees. (The show is completely G-rated, but its intensity, from the apparitions for example, might make this best for, say, age 10 and older.)  Sometimes the music and sound effects clash with the dialogue, and/or make it sound distorted.  The first act drags at times, and could use a lot more of the comedy found the second. A re-imagined Marley, his chains now controlled by the other three actors as if to signify his torment in the afterlife, seems awkward and unwieldy rather than scary.  Christmas Yet to Come is scary, but a Darth Vader-like heavy breathing effect got laughs where there needed to be chills.

This production is a new one, however, simultaneously opening here, off-Broadway, and at other regional theatres around the country, and new works are often revised. What impressed me about Barlow's adaptation is his incorporation of huge amounts of the original language from Dickens, made easily relatable by proficient performers, and his tweaking of its theme to resonate even more with contemporary audiences. Scrooge is no longer simply a cranky old man who had a sad childhood and bad experiences at Christmas; Barlow's Scrooge is now much more of a predatory lender, who seems to take delight in seeing the poverty of his fellow citizens, and gloats over his riches like Alberich and the Rhine gold.  Several of the supporting characters emphasize with great eloquence the "It takes a village" mentality, making it clear that charity and compassion are necessary far beyond the Christmas season.  It's no secret to local theatre-goers that director Henderson likes to liven up material that needs it with inventive staging.  I'd love to see him take this overall production theme - music, costumes, set design - and apply it to some classic of the stage like Shakespeare or Aristophanes.

At this point, one is likely to do one of two things. Either you will say "Wow - a Dickens classic with a twist, actors playing live music, Avery Bateman beatboxing, Catherine Hunsinger playing the cello and dressed as a steampunk babe - I've got to make reservations now!!"  Or all of that that may sound utterly ridiculous.  I must say that I had no real interest in seeing the story of Scrooge yet again, but I enjoyed this production; however, I generally enjoy these performers, and the way Henderson often toys with narrative technique for maximum dramatic effect.  Box office for this show will likely determine whether Trustus experiments more in this direction, or less.  But as I often find myself saying with local productions, either way, the people involved do a great job.

A Christmas Carol runs through Saturday, December 21st; contact the Trustus box office at 803-2254-9732 for more information, or visit www.trustus.org.

~ August Krickel