Amanda Steurer and Jesse Weigel. Photo by Phil Baumgaertner/KCPT
As the Judy Collins song "I Think It's Going To Rain Today" suggests, we simians are routinely guilty of mistreating one another. All three winning one-act plays receiving full productions at Key City Public Theatre during Port Townsend's 14th Annual Playwrights' Festival touch on this theme. All three were directed by Heidi Heimarck with sets by Liam Cole.
In his believable play 'Belief", David H. Schroeder uses a composite set when treating both paternal neglect and ageism. Stage left, elder sibling (Colin Coker) politely tolerates the shenanigans (including scene-stealing) of his bratty baby brother (Iain Coates). Their insights into fantasy and reality are poignant. A parallel fitness survival is highlighted stage right between Old Writer (Ian Keith) and Young Writer (Murren Kennedy).
In "Mickey", a descent into darkness, DD Wigley bumps an electric rail that galvanizes us despite loose sparking. Actor blocking is awkward at first and doesn't get much better. The script seems a work-in-progress: overlong for a one-act demo; not sufficiently integrated for a full-length tragedy. The vulnerability of Mickey (Freeman Luoma) does hold us, especially his foiled encounters with saber-rattling Sally (Susan Pratt). The final tableau (Adam Matthew) is hauntingly effective.
In her comedy "The Farm in the Neighborhood," Susan Solley drags the national debate on business ethics smack into the kitchen where she skewers PNWPC (Pacific Northwest Political Correctness.) A surprise bonus are two sublimely ridiculous "scene changes" that could have been handled en passant by exiting actors. Mickey (Amanda Steurer) is convincing as a wounded animal who needs lawyer hubby Gavin (Jesse Weigel) to keep from harming herself or her "lesbian vegetarian" neighbor, Joanie (Rebecca May).
On balance, I give these productions of "Belief", "Mickey", and "The Farm in the Neighborhood" 3 amateur stars.
Reader Comments
Posted: Saturday, February 20, 2010
Article comment by:
Sheila Khalov
In "The Farm in the Neighborhood," the character of Joanie played by Rebecca May is not a Lesbian. She's married and her husband appears in the last scene of the play as they're taking inventory of the house they bought.
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