25. September 2010 by admin.

WEEK 3 of PNWF: INTERESTING MIX

F. J. Hartland

The Pittsburgh New Works Festival offers up an eclectic mix for the third week of its 20th Season.

There’s a family drama/comedy, a short farce and a serious exploration of race relations.

The bill of one acts opens with Salty, Sour, Bitter, Sweet by local playwright Paula Martinac.  Set in an upscale restaurant, the play focuses on a situation with which many families must face: the deterioration of a parent.  Dad Harry’s (Don Anderson) mind is failing; Mimi’s (Rachel Dillinger) siblings have decided that she should be the one to take him in.  After all, they have spouses and children;  Mimi “only” has a partner and a dog (and a one-level condo).

Anderson does a wonderful job depicting the befuddlement of Alzheimer’s disease.  Dillinger does a fine job capturing both the love and frustration faced by many caregivers.  Michael S. Krcil plays the put-upon server Patrick.  Martinac has done a outstanding job depicting the family’s predicament—all while find the moments of humor.  The script could easily be expanded into a much longer play.

Next up is Fine by Butch Maxwell and directed by John Lane. 

It’s a brief piece (and I don’t want to give away the essence of the piece), but Harry J. Roth and Erica Hughes (and director Lane), do a fine (pun intended) job of making the most of the humor in the script.  Despite the strong performances, Fine is really more of a skit than a fully realized play.

The events surrounding a lynching from the 1930’s comes back to haunt four young women in the 1950’s in Rhythm of Revenge by Kathleen Conner Combass.  It is the largest cast on stage during this season of PNWF (eight), and director Dek Ingraham does a skillful job bringing this powerful drama to realization.  Some of the performances are dynamic; unfortunately, some are not.  Sadly, it keeps the play from reaching its full strength.  Combass’s script serves as a painful reminder of the ugliness of hatred and prejudice.  It brings this bill of one-acts to a close that leaves you thinking long after the curtain has fallen.

The variety of plays in Week 3 shows just one of the strengths of the Pittsburgh New Works Festival.  You can catch a wide range of genres all in one sitting!

Week 3 continues through Sept. 26.

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20. September 2010 by admin.

I’ll Take Tea, Thanks

F. J. Hartland

I don’t drink coffee.  I don’t like the taste…don’t even like the aroma.

Just seeing the title of the newest CLO Cabaret offering Triple Expresso should have told me everything I needed to know.

Set in 2002, Triple Expresso takes place in a coffeehouse where Hugh Butternut (played by Dane Stauffer) is celebrating his 25^th anniversary at the piano.  He is joined by his former show business partners Bobby Bean (played at the performance I saw by Brian Kelly) and Buzz Maxwell (played at the performance I saw by Christopher Hart).  The three re-count the disasters of their lackluster entertainment career.

Written by Bill Arnold, Michael Pearce Donley and Bob Stromberg, the style of Triple Expresso is reminiscent of Forever Plaid.  There’s lots of schtick and shlock.  The difference is Forever Plaid gives you classics songs in addition to the slapstick.

Oh, there’s a vaudevillian quality to Triple Expresso with singing and magic tricks and shadow puppets and lots (and lots) of bad jokes.  And the cast is working hard, very hard…almost too hard to get this cornball material across.  At times, it’s almost embarrassing.

Don’t get me wrong.  There are funny moments (the shadow puppet play is one), but the thing that kept me entertained through most of the two-hour show was trying to answer the question, “How has this dreck run for 14 years?”

I still don’t have an answer.

The set by Nayna Ramey is bright and colorful, and Michael Klaers’ lighting is effective.

I never thought I’d say this, but Triple Expresso made me miss S’Wonderful.

Triple Expresso continues through January 9 at the CLO Cabaret.

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18. September 2010 by admin.

LOOK!  IN THE SKY!  IT’S A MOVIE!  IT’S A PLAY!

F. J. Hartland

When his son is killed in an accident, a distraught man fills the void in his life by obsessing over the JFK assassination—specifically, a man seen holding an umbrella on November 22, 1963.

This is the basis for The Umbrella Man, the current offering from The Rep.

Written by Edward J. Delaney and based on his screenplay, The Umbrella Man is billed as “a staged screenplay.”

My question is…why stage a screenplay?  Why not make a movie?  Isn’t that what screenplays are for?

And like most films, one can predict the ending after the first few minutes.

Directed by Robert A. Miller, The Umbrella Man looks very much like a film.  In fact, the major element of Stephanie Mayer Staley’s set (other than packing boxes and black chairs) is a huge movie screen.

The scenes are short and episodic.  Many of the large cast (13 in all) have a scene or two and never appear again.  The talents of such engaging Pittsburgh actors as Jarrod DiGiorgi, Michael Fuller, Erika Cuenca, John Shepard, Ted Brunetti, Sr. and Gregory Johnstone are pretty much wasted in “cameo” roles.

David Cabot does do a noteworthy job playing the sorrow and confusion of the devastated father.

Robert Haley gives the identical performance he gave in earlier productions, such as That Championship Season and 36 Views.

Lloyd Sobel’s lighting has a film noir quality; Steve Shapiro’s sound is overpowering at times and actually hurt my ears.

Obviously, I am the minority opinion as the Friday night audience gave the show a standing ovation.

I guess I’m old-fashioned.  If I want to see a movie, I’ll go to Loew’s Cinema.

The Umbrella Man continues through September 26. 

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17. September 2010 by admin.

LET’S EAT!

F. J. Hartland

Week Two of the Pittsburgh New Works Festival is bound to make you hungry.

It’s all about food!

There’s a play about two bread bakers sandwiched in (pun intended) between two plays set in restaurants.

The evening kicks off with Fetish by Joseph Talarico and presented by The Red Masquers.  A British couple meet for a blind date.  They’re complete opposites—but they do have one thing in common.  A shared sexual fetish.  The handsome Justin Mohr gives a moving performance—especially when he confesses the shame he feels about his fetish, and the delightful Allison Fatla scores big laughs with her inappropriate table manners and talk.  Playwright Talarico has written a most unfortunate “time passes” pause into the script.  Not only does the break hurt the rhythm of the piece, it also makes it two VERY different plays that never truly reconcile; the script never really leads to a “pay off.”

Produced by McKeesport Little Theatre Bread by Randy Gross tells the story of two bakers—one American, one Iranian—who communicate via text messages. Their lives are different, yet eerily the same.  Director Chuck Penick has gotten charming performances from Robert O’Toole (as Ike, the American) and Bruce E. Travers (as Ali, the Iranian).  Both men are widowers; each has a child.  While the play has great promise, playwright Gross has resorted to a “dues ex machine” conclusion that seems a little too “pat.”  Also, Ryan Baker and Emily Cordes are forced to act characters that are written in a flat, single dimension.

Directed by lance-eric skapura and produced by Thoreau, NM—a Production Company, the bill of one-acts concludes with Pete Barry’s Sex with a Mathematician.  Again, two mismatched souls meet on a blind date in a restaurant.  Both possess great minds.  Sara Fisher plays “Sara,” a sexy and edgy mathematician while Andy Coleman portrays “Nikolai,” a conservative actuary.  Barry’s word play is witty and clever, and Fisher and Coleman prove they are up to the challenge. Kudos to director skapura, who has made the potentially static situation of two people sitting and talking in a restaurant visually interesting.  The two main actors (as well as Chelsea Forbes, who plays the server) keep the play light and frothy and fun!  The script could be tightened though by cutting about five minutes, but otherwise is fresh and laugh-out-loud funny.

Week Two of the Pittsburgh New Works Festival continues through Sunday, September 19.  See pittsburghnewworks.org for information.

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10. September 2010 by admin.

This week, local novelist and playwright Paula Martinac takes over the duties of OUT theatre reviewer. 

The Joy of One-Acts

By Paula Martinac

Pittsburgh New Works Festival (PNWF) opened its 20th mainstage season on September 9 at the Father Ryan Arts Center in McKees Rocks with three one-act plays tackling big ideas and big emotions.

Unbelievably, two decades have passed since Donna Rae founded the festival as a venue for new, unproduced short plays. Since then, PNWF has achieved a national reputation - this year, playwrights from Alabama to New York City (and a couple of Yinzers, too) are in the lineup.

Week 1 in the four-week schedule kicked off with James McKelly’s “The Joy of Theft,” produced by Heritage Players and directed by Carol Schafer. James Justus (John E. Reilly), who pens an ethics column for a newspaper in a Southern city, confronts an ethical dilemma of his own: what advice to give to an elderly woman who thrives on shoplifting.

McKelly’s dialogue is intelligent and literary, and leaves the audience with much to ponder about “the epic chess match we’re having with the Grim Reaper.” But aside from the aging thief, Emily (Cathy Gialloreto), the characters are sketchy; six are just too many for a short play. And if you forget to read your program in advance, you’ll probably be confused about who Emily’s confidante is; although aided by the director’s blocking, the element doesn’t work. This is McKelly’s first play, and with revision, could be a strong reflection on the helplessness of aging.

Next up was the dark comedy “Call Back,” by Jim Hinkley, produced by The Theatre Factory and directed by Nate Newell. Alan Montrose (J. Alex Noble) is a middle-aged actor up for the part of a much younger man in a play by Jennie B. Allen (Pam Farneth). The two engage in personal and professional banter about Alan’s ability to lie to a woman, which the part calls for. Jennie is at first a voice of authority in the darkened house, but the dynamic shifts when she arrives onstage.

Noble is first-rate as Alan, oozing smarmy charm. But the repartee goes on a bit too long compared to the denouement, which is quick, not all that original and a shade sexist.

Local playwright F.J. Hartland is back for a record 10th year with PNWF, with “Shaving Lessons and Half-Windsor Knots.” Produced by CCAC and directed by PNWF veteran Lora Oxenreiter, the play is a series of tender reminiscences over time by a son (Jim Scriven) about his father (Dan Krack) as the young man shaves and gets dressed one morning. And that’s about all I can say on plot without giving too much away.

The sweet, nostalgic tone of the play is aptly set at the opening with a music video of Paul McCartney’s “Put It There.” Krack gives a moving portrayal of the ideal parent who always has your back; the actor himself was teary-eyed at curtain call.

PNWF’s Week 1 continues through Sunday. For tickets and the complete schedule: http://www.pittsburghnewworks.org.

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