This has become the summer of “girl power” in Richmond. When one thinks of plays with all female casts, there are few classics beyond Steel Magnolias or Nunsense. Luckily for Richmond, local playwright Bo Wilson has added a strong entry to that list with a charming original comedy now playing at Hanover Tavern.

Virginia Rep is presenting The Charitable Sisterhood of the Second Trinity Victory Church, a comedy with a script as complex as its title; with numerous twists and dramatic turns broken up with comedy at its best.

The Charitable Sisterhood is a group of women in 1977 Coal Mountain Country Virginia, who get together to help those in need around the world. Every religious denomination has some form of the group (I remember as a child, my mother going to “Sisterhood” meetings) so the characters are in many ways universal and familiar.

Catherine Shaffner shines as the bossy Pastor’s wife, who runs every activity by stealing other’s ideas and then making them sound like her own: “Ladies, here’s what we need to do…” While Shaffner is one of Richmond’s most consistently stellar comediennes, the rest of the cast reaches the high bar that she sets. Their comedic timing is effortless and natural and they each interact so perfectly, you would think they have been doing this together for years not weeks.

Debra Wagoner is Lorraine, a super religious mother of nine, whose deadpan humor is filled with great facial expressions and wonderful asides. Jan Guarino portrays Jan, a hyperactive transplanted northerner, with a smile and supportive word for everyone. Donna Marie Miller is the vixen of the group. Without revealing too much, Miller’s Janet is one part Scarlett O’hara and one part Rhoda Morgenstern. Janet is new to the town and has a couple of secrets that are revealed along the way.

The last member of the group is Riley (Louise Keeton) a stranger who shows up suddenly to help the Sisterhood, while hiding some secrets of her own.

In a play filled with great moments, one highlight is utilizing the singing talents of Wagoner in a rendition of “Put Your Hand in the Hand.”

While some of the plot resolution is a bit contrived, the strong performances of the cast and the fascinating twists and turns of the story add up to one thing. To borrow a page from Bea, ladies (and gentlemen) what we need to do is support this wonderful piece of original local theater.

Photo Gallery

Jan Guarino, Cathy Shaffner, Debra Wagoner	Donna Marie Miller, Jan Guarino, Debra Wagoner, Cathy Shaffner
Donna Marie Miller, Jan Guarino, Debra Wagoner, Louise Keeton, Cathy Shaffner

Photos by Jay Paul

The Cast

• Tina Yates: Jan Guarino
• Lorraine Jensen: Debra Wagoner
• Bea Littleton: Catherine Shaffner
• Janet Murchison: Donna Marie Miller
• Riley Reynolds: Louise Keeton.

The Crew

• Director: Bruce Miller
• Playwright: Bo Wilson
• Stage Manager: Skyler Broughman
• Set Designer: Terrie Powers
• Lighting Design: B J Wilkinson
• Costume Design: Marcia Miller Hailey

Disclaimer: Virginia Repertory Theatre provided two complimentary media tickets to ShowBizRadio for this review.

To prepare to see Hair at Firehouse Theatre, I watched a couple of reruns of “The Partridge Family.” If you are old enough to understand why, then you are also from the Love generation. If not, let the History teacher in me step out and give you a brief history lesson.

The late sixties was a time when America first really explored our collective way of life, our values and our morals. The duality is exemplified in the fact that it was the time of “The Partridge Family,” “The Brady Bunch” and “Mary Tyler Moore,” and also “Love American Style,” Woodstock, and the rock musical Hair. The Vietnam War raged on. College sit-ins, street protests and the military draft all became a part of the American way of life.

It is against this backdrop that Hair first appeared in 1968. Thin on plot, the musical focuses on songs — with over 30 of them shattering cultural norms of the time by discussing sex, drugs, race, religion and war. There is simulated drug use, sex and even brief nudity — all relatively mild in our current culture, but shocking in its time.

The script itself follows a group of hippies who call themselves “the tribe.” Their nominal leader, Claude (Matt Polson) is faced with the dilemma of whether to burn his draft card or go and fight in Vietnam.

The young and exuberant cast is filled with amazing vocal and dance talent. Polson’s pure voice and innocent demeanor carry the show well. Carolyn Meade’s powerful vocals open and close the show with strength. Nicklas Aliff displayed a strong voice and stage presence; however at times his vocals overpowered others when he sang in duets or trios. In this strong cast, I found myself repeatedly drawn to the emotional power Sasha Wakefield put in to every dance number, and the expressiveness Morgan Meadows face exudes every time she is on stage. Maura Burroughs was warm and sensitive as pregnant Mother Earth-like Jeanie.

Director Jase Smith has assembled a top-notch cast and uses the audience and Benjamin Burke’s minimalist stage well (actually the Firehouse removed the stage in lieu of some platforms and Oriental rugs on the floor). Nathan Wunderlich’s lights and Joey Luck’s sound add a great deal to the atmosphere (be prepared for lots of flashes and loud booms). At times it seemed either actors missed their lighting marks or lights weren’t quite set right, as performers stepped in and out of darkness, especially in whole cast numbers. Karl Green’s costumes are period appropriate and visually appealing. Starrene Foster’s choreography is visually exciting and energetic; however, at times it left some of the cast rather sweaty and breathless.

The history teacher in me must come back one more time to encourage those who remember the 60′s to come out and relive that time; and those who are too young to remember to come out and experience a two and a half hour acid trip of a show. You will leave with a tear in your eye, a smile on your face and will be humming the uplifting finale, “Let the Sunshine In.”

Photo Gallery

Photos by Laura Cliburn

The Cast

• Claude: Matt Polson
• Berger: Nicklas Aliff
• Sheila: Grey Garrett
• Jeanie: Maura Burroughs
• Dionne: Carolyn Meade
• Hud: Keydron Dunn
• Woof: Ian Page
• Chrissy: Morgan Meadows
• Dad, Principal, Margaret: Paul Major
• Mom, Hubert: Starlet Knight
• Ronny: Chloe Williams
• Steve: Austin Tate
• Walter: Cory Johnson
• Paul: ReShad Horton
• Suzzanah/Mary: Sasha Wakefield
• Emmaretta: Avia Fields

The Creative Team

Directed by Jase Smith
• Choreographer: Starrene Foster
• Music Director: Leilani Giles
• Costume Designer: Karl Green
• Light Designer: Nathan Wunderlich
• Set Designer: Benjamin Burke
• Sound Designer/Technical Director: Joey Luck
• Production Stage Manager: Nata Marconi
• Props Master: Katherine Wright
• Master Carpenter: Joshua Bennett

The Band

• PianoLeilani Giles
• Keys 2: Starlet Knight
• PercussionBentley Cobb, Jr.
• Lead GuitarGrant Oliver
• Bass Guitar: Joe Barry
• SaxophoneRon Fixx

Disclaimer: Firehouse Theatre Project provided two complimentary media tickets to ShowBizRadio for this review.

The Dixie Swim Club, currently playing at Swift Creek Mill Theatre, is “The Golden Girls,” “Designing Women” and “Steel Magnolias” all rolled into one. This is not surprising since one of the writers, Jamie Wooten, also wrote for “The Golden Girls.”

The play follows the friendships of five classically southern women, who met on their college swim team in North Carolina. Every August, they hold a reunion at a cottage on the beach in the North Carolina Outer Banks. The action takes place when the women are 44, 49, 54 and 77. It shows how the bonds of friendship and team camaraderie stay with them through the good times and bad; through love and loss; in sickness and in health.

Sheree (Joy Williams) was the team captain, who still tries to run and organize everything. Lexie (Georgia Rogers Farmer) is the “Blanche” of these Golden Girls; forever obsessed with sex and a nip and tuck to stay young and beautiful. Vernadette (Jennifer Frank) is the long-suffering, hard luck case who keeps her sense of humor while weathering everything life throws at her. Dinah (Jody Strickler) is the “Dorothy” of the group; a strong, independent woman who is married to her legal career. Jeri Neal (Jacqueline Jones) comes close to being the “Rose” of the group — sweet, naïve and optimistic.

Tom Width’s direction keeps the dialogue moving and the action flowing as the women throw out the frequent set-ups, zingers and one-liners. While all the women display exceptional comedic timing, Frank’s dead-pan humor brings the biggest laughs. All five also admirably portray the women over 33 years, with minimal time for costume, wig and make up changes between scenes, but it is Farmer who is mesmerizing as she makes Lexie get “younger” through surgical enhancement and then age gracefully and believably.

Width’s set uses the wide, shallow stage well and creates a realistic bungalow feel through accents and terraces. Joe Doran’s lights enhance the set, especially with blue lights representing the reflection from the water. There were a couple of technical drawbacks, however, with lights reflecting off the windows, and extremely long set changes in the middle of each act.

It was also a bit confusing trying to follow the time period, and I am assuming this was a script issue. If the initial scenes are around 30 years ago, then references to cell phone’s charging seemed odd.

The ending, which of course I will not reveal, is touching and sweet without being schmaltzy. The five women of The Dixie Swim Club show that while aging is no day at the spa; you can walk through it with dignity and laughter.

Photo Gallery

Jody Strickler as Dinah and Georgia Rogers Farmer as Lexie	Georgia Rogers Farmer as Lexie, Jennifer Frank as Verandette, Jacqueline Jones as Jeri Neal, Joy Williams as Sheree, Jody Strickler as Dinah
Jennifer Frank as Verandette, Georgia Rogers Farmer as Lexie	Jacqueline Jones as Jeri Neal and Jody Strickler as Dinah
Georgia Rogers Farmer as Lexie, Joy Williams as Sheree, Jacqueline Jones as Jeri Neal	Jennifer Frank as Verandette, Georgia Rogers Farmer as Lexie, Joy Williams as Sheree and Jacqueline Jones as Jeri Neal

Photos by Robyn O’Neill

The Cast

• Sheree: Joy Williams
• Dinah: Jody Strickler
• Lexie: Georgia Rogers Farmer
• Jeri Neal: Jacqueline Jones
• Vernadette: Jennifer Frank

The Crew

• Direction and Scenic Design: Tom Width
• Lighting Design: Joe Doran
• Costume Design: Maura Lynch Cravey
• Sound Design: Paul Deiss
• Stage Manager: Jesse Mattes
• Assistant Stage Manager: Cory Williams
• Props Coordinator: Tom Width
• Wigs: Robyn O’Neill
• Lights/ Sound Board Op: Becky Lussier
• Set Crew: Bob Foley, Jesse Mattes, Cory Williams, Eugene Mason
• Lighting Crew: Becky Lussier, Jesse Mattes, Stephen West

Disclaimer: Swift Creek Mill Theatre provided two complimentary media tickets to ShowBizRadio for this review.

With our long, hot Richmond summer nights; there is no need to sit at home watching re-runs or lame TV pilots. An amazing summer of theater has become even hotter with Virginia Rep’s The Color Purple.

The powerful story based on the Pulitzer Prize-winning novel by Alice Walker (and turned into a 1985 film which introduced the world to Whoopi Goldberg and also starred Oprah Winfrey and Danny Glover) mixes serious topics with laughter and music that works on every level. The singing, the dancing, the acting and the music are all spot on; and each performer is perfectly cast in this technically breathtaking production.

The story follows the lives of two African-American sisters from the days of sharecropping through the 1930′s. One, Celie (Felicia Curry) is shy and unattractive. The younger, Nettie, Katrinah Carol Lewis, is beautiful and self-assured. The old widowed man who they believe is their father, treats them as property, both physically and sexually. Celie, after giving birth to two children by this man who has raised her as her father (and he promptly gives them both away) is sent to live with Mister (Jerold Solomon) an equally mean, abusive and cold widower. When Nettie comes to live with Celie, after tiring of her father’s sexual advances, she fights off a sexual advance from Mister, who then sends her away as well. Throughout the remainder of the plot, Celie seeks to find her sister, her children and her own self-respect, inner strength and inner beauty.

It is difficult to single out performers in this Broadway quality production; but Curry does stand out in her emotionally deep performance. She captures all of Whoopi Goldberg’s charm – right down to the shy, toothy smile, while still making the role her own.

Desiree Roots Centeio likewise is reminiscent of a young Oprah, yet makes the character of Celie’s spirited daughter-in-law, Sophia, a masterpiece of her own as she commands her husband and the stage. Solomon transforms from odious to penitent with skill and believability. Josh Marin brings youthful energy, charm and charisma to Mister’s son Harpo.

All the performers are amazingly true to life as they develop their characters over a span of more than 30 years of their lives. Curry is especially poignant in developing Celie from that shy and confused 14-year-old to a gray-haired, strong woman.

Carolyn Minor Daughtry brings a sultry sizzle to Shug Avery, a Juke singer who both Celie and Mister are in love with.

Comedic stand outs include Ciara McMillian as Harpo’s girlfriend Squeak and Shalimar Hickman-Fields, Stephanie M. Hill and Amanda Montague as three church ladies who serve at times as the musical’s Greek Chorus/narrators.

Director Chase Kniffen keeps the show energetic and visually appealing. Leslie Owens-Harrington’s choreography and Ben Miller’s Music Direction keep the audience enthralled, with huge applause following every number and a standing ovation even before the final number ended.

Ron Keller’s visually interesting set is made up almost entirely of old wood planks which sets the time and poverty. Various forms of doors, windows and clothing hang about to give a generic feel to the entire set. Hopefully, some opening night kinks with the set will be worked out.

Lighting Designer Joe Doran sets the mood perfectly, while also highlighting individual performers and singers. Costume Designer Sue Griffin also enhances the production with lavish costumes for African tribal dancers and club partiers; and simple, basic outfits for Celie and Nettie.

As Shug says, God created the color purple to say “look what I made.” Take the time this summer to enjoy the beauty of Virginia Reps’ The Color Purple to witness the rich, beautiful theatrical art they have made.

Photo Gallery

Felicia Curry as Celie	Cast photo
Cast photo	Cast photo
Carolyn Minor-Daughtry as Shug and Felicia Curry as Celie	Cast photo
Desirée Roots Centeio as Sofia and Josh Marin as Harpo	Cast photo

Photos by Aaron Sutten

The Cast

• Celie: Felicia Curry
• Shug Avery: Carolyn Minor Daughtry
• Mister: Jerold Solomon
• Sofia: Desiree Roots Centeio
• Harpo: Josh Marin
• Nettie: Katrinah Carol Lewis
• Squeak: Ciara McMillian
• Jarene: Shalimar Hickman-Fields
• Darene: Stephanie M. Hill
• Doris: Amanda Montague
• Preacher/Ensemble: Billy Dye
• Pa/Grady/Ensemble: J. Ron Fleming
• Ol’ Mister/Ensemble: Thomas Nowlin
• Church Soloist/Ensemble: Karla J. Brown
• Buster/Chief/Ensemble: Tybias Whitehead
• Young Nettie/Chief’s Daughter: Tyandria Jackson
• Young Celie/Mister’s Daughter: Ayana Williams
• Young Harpo/Young Adam: Donathon Arnold
• Young Olivia/Henrietta: Jada Evans
• Ensemble: Skye Hagood, Anthony Cosby, Taylor Walls, Trent Williams, Courtney Jamison, Alana S. Thomas, Cariel Hughes, Will Anderson, Pamela Shaw, Ashlee Heyward, Jessi Johnson, Andrew Reid, Devante J. Wells, Mike Brown

The Crew

• Director: Chase Kniffen
• Choreography: Leslie Owens-Harrington
• Musical Director: Ben Miller
• Scenic Designer: Ron Keller
• Lighting Designer: Joe Doran
• Costume Designer: Sue Griffin
• Stage Manager: Wendy Vandergrift

The Band

• Conductor/Keyboard 1: Ben Miller
• Keyboard 2: Anthony Smith
• Drums/Percussion:Joe Lubman
• Bass: Derrick Englert
• Guitars: Forrest Link
• Trumpet: Mark Ingraham
• Reeds: Susan Davis

Disclaimer: Virginia Repertory Theatre provided two complimentary media tickets to ShowBizRadio for this review.

With plenty of PG-13 rated Borscht Belt, burlesque-style “nudge nudge, wink wink” spinning humor, Arlington’s Signature Theatre is bringing a musical bauble, the premiere of Cloak and Dagger or the Case of the Golden Venus.

It is musical theater under the confident direction of Eric Schaeffer meant to bring a respite from the real world. And that is a very good thing, given the real world lately.

Cloak and Dagger has a full complement of hard-working purposeful groaners of jokes that Milton Berle may have written, some delightful hip-swinging ala Mae West by way of Harvey Feinstein, and mugs that Sheldon Leonard once played. If those names are fresh in your mind, along with Sunday nights with Ed Sullivan, or a trip to the Catskills, or perhaps the modern equivalent, a cruise ship meandering about. You can have a ball especially if you are in the mood for some anodyne bawdiness.

As the Signature marketing material notes, the storyline is this: “Third-rate detective Nick Cutter is down on his luck when a beautiful blonde bombshell tosses a very intriguing case (and herself) into his lap. For the next 90 minutes, Nick races through every New York neighborhood in this zany, mile-a-minute whodunit.” All in early 1950′s New York City. It isn’t Stacey Keach as Mike Hammer, but as a singing detective.

Four actors play the nearly 20 roles. Well make that two actors play nearly 18 roles. The cast includes Erin Driscoll as Jessica Rabbit, oops, I meant Helena Troy. Driscoll was most recently seen at Signature in The Three Penny Opera. Down-on-his-luck Detective Nick Cutter is played by Signature newcomer Doug Carpenter. The other 18 characters are under the amusing purview of Helen Hayes Awardees Christopher Bloch and Ed Dixon.

Oh, and one other small detail. Dixon also wrote the book, music and lyrics for this world premiere production of Cloak and Dagger. His score of about nineteen numbers, including several reprised songs, is a pastiche of lyrics and melody that mimics the spoofing nature of the production and its off-beat characters. There are plenty of percussion and sax-like notes that emanate from conductor Jenny Cartney and her jazzy four-piece band that includes keyboard, reeds and drums. Colorful orchestration by Jordon Ross Weinhold adds personality to each of the characters.

Some cute songs and their titles include “A Real Woman” with a vamping Mae West (Dixon) and an animated “Shake Your Maracas” (Bloch and Dixon). Driscoll gets to use her lovely, lovely voice in a torchy number entitled “Doors Close.” Carpenter’s beefy baritone opens the show with musical introductions of what the show is about: “The Worst of Times” and “The Best of Times.” Is the score memorable? Not really. But so what.

As for the dialogue; the quips can be witty shtick delivered with a knowing glance to make sure the audience is in on it. The broad pokes at the many different people who make up New York are not meant to harm.

The show is full of old-fashioned, New York City accented car-chase speed playful dialogue. The actors move about the minimally adorned stage (Daniel Conway) through three well-used doors, matching the dialogue delivery speed. There is also a large, sturdy-appearing marquee over the doors that provides a place for large black and white photos of New York City to be seen to set a New York state of mind.

The ever-changing costumes for Block and Dixon by way of Kathleen Geldard are a bright treat of flowing silks, or perhaps polyester, character defining hats, suits with wide lapels, and bemusing cross-dressing attire. And, there is also one very special neon yellow glowing image of the Lady in the New York harbor. Wig designer Anne Nesmith certainly enjoyed herself with her campy selections. As for Driscoll, she is wrapped in a form-hugging, cardinal red pencil dress.

Up for something with amusement, silliness, and banter propelled by a lively score and excellent voices? Then head off to Cloak and Dagger at Signature Theatre. It is a screwball musical to ice you down during this summer heat wave. Marvel at what tongue-in-cheek delivery whether straight dialogue or song can prove; a good time.

Photo Gallery

Helena Troy (Erin Driscoll) sings ‘Doors Close’	Helena Troy (Erin Driscoll) tosses an intriguing case to Nick Cutter (Doug Carpenter)
The Irish Landlady (Ed Dixon) sings ‘A Real Woman’	Manny (Christopher Bloch) sings ‘An Agent’
Helena Troy (Erin Driscoll) sings ‘Chinatown Blues’	Fat Tony (Ed Dixon), Nick Cutter (Doug Carpenter) and Gino (Christopher Bloch) sing ‘Who Put the Mob In’
Stanley (Christopher Bloch) and Helena Troy (Erin Driscoll)	Nick Cutter (Doug Carpenter, center) and Pinsky’s Chorus Girls sing ‘Shake Your Maracas’

Photos by Margot Schulman

Cast

• Nick Cutter: Doug Carpenter
• Helena Troy: Erin Driscoll
• Character Man Two: Christopher Bloch 
• Character Man One: Ed Dixon

Artistic and Design Team

• Book, Music & Lyrics by Ed Dixon
• Directed by Eric Schaeffer
• Orchestrations: Jordon Ross Weinhold
• Music Director: Jenny Cartney
• Scenic Design: Daniel Conway
• Costume Design: Kathleen Geldard
• Lighting Design: Collin K. Bills
• Sound Design: Lane Elms
• Wig Design: Anne Nesmith
• Stage Manager: Julie Meyer

Disclaimer: Signature Theatre provided two complimentary media tickets to ShowBizRadio for this review.

Some reviews can be a struggle. What new can be written about Nobel Prize winning playwright Samuel Beckett (1906-1989) and his masterworks about the human condition? As for Beckett’s allusive, yet curiously poetic, Happy Days what might it say for contemporary audiences in these current times. Does the “old style” of existentialism still set the mind aflutter?

Let’s be clear, the 1961 Happy Days is theater with deeply drawn substance to chew on especially for those with an affinity for post-WW II “Theatre of the Absurd” chops. As Scena Literary Manager Anne Nottage wrote in program notes, the “Theater of the Absurd” was hell-bent “to shake audience from their conventional viewing habits.”

As Nottage wrote, playwrights like Beckett wanted to force audiences “to think about the absurdity and unresolved issues in their own lives.” For Beckett’s Happy Days Scena Theatre Artistic Director Robert McNamara wrote in his program notes that the play “presents us as audience with an astonishing central image…a veritable earth goddess.” She is living in “a kind of post-nuclear” world, hungering for with “mutual need and dependency.”

For your reviewer, recent new events brought images to mind of a genderless central protagonist as a POW or a prisoner of the state locked away in some hole of a maximum security prison, with sleep deprivation the main tool of control by an unseen force. The prisoner must find a way to survive until, well just until. So the ritual of talking, with words pouring forth gives a semblance of living.

Legendary DC actor and multi-Helen Hayes recipient, Nancy Robinette is a confident actor to behold in her role Winnie in Happy Days. She takes on her character who is entombed in the earth up to her chest in Act I and in Act II finds herself swallowed by sand up to her neck. Robinette spends her time before us as a sad eyed prophet with long bursts of optimism and a bright smile to carry her through her sun-lit, yet dreary day. No matter the nature of her miserable day, it is a happy day that she conjures in her mind even as tears are so close.

We are drawn to Robinette’s simple humanity as Winnie; the naturalness of her presentation. It is as if being stuck in a mound of sand is to be expected. Vocally her tone is a paint brush of words, with diction tight. Some words are drawn out in a hissing long breath as she often pronounces the phrase “the old style.” And yes there are little jokes, some about sexuality, that bring her and the laughter.

Visually the lines on Robinette’s face are the lines of a life lived. Her eyes, oh her eyes! They are matched and move to the words she speaks so smoothly. Her eyes are heavily covered with a thick cobalt blue eye shadow which can make her eyes small and sorrowful and then burst into being large moons of happiness. And she is just stuck in place at the center of the audience’s attention.

Between a piercing bell for waking and a bell to announce time for rest, the character Winnie struggles to pace her day. She tries to stay alert and even has a routine to brush her teeth and put on make-up. Well, at least while she can move her arms to reach her close-by leather hand bag.

Winnie’s only human contact is Willie (a loud, annoyed, very precise Stephen Lorne Williams), her husband or partner. He is largely unseen to the audience and not seen at all by Winnie until a few short critical moments as the play reaches its end. He lives in a small cave out of Winnie’s view from her high mound of earth. One trait that Winnie admires about her Willie is his ability to sleep which she cannot. She calls it a “marvelous gift.”

In Act I, actor Williams is seen a few times, but only from the rear. From what the audience sees, he is dressed in quite informal attire, with a straw hat covering his bald pate. In the final moments of the play the audience finally sees Williams as he crawls up the mound toward Robinette in full formal attire including spats. As he reaches up toward Robinette, he becomes frozen almost touching her hand. Or is he reaching for the gun that is also near-by? With his last word; “win” he brings a final outburst of words and humming of a waltz from Robinette. And darkness falls.

Scenic designer Michael C. Stepowany has given the audience a desolate, dun-colored waste land; a dry desert of a landscape barren of life. There is a mound in the center for Robinette and a backdrop of a blue sky with one fair weather puffy cloud, which a photographers would relish. Multiple Helen Hayes nominated lighting designer Marianne Meadows provides halogen white-hot lighting worthy of a New Mexico desert, with a hint of amber to highlight the set’s sand and pebbles surrounding Robinette.

The costume design by Alisa Mandel gives Robinette a matronly look. She is in a dark blue dress along with a strand of large pearls around her neck. Robinette is topped-off with a little pill of a hat with some eye-blinking ostrich feathers shooting up from the front. Filled to the brim is a black leather hand bag, just in Robinette’s reach during Act I. Inside is a bevy of items by way of props designer Joyce Milford.

Denise R. Rose’s sound design has a most piercing buzzer bell to wake character Winnie as well as to inform her when it is time for a moment of rest. It certainly startled the audience at the performance.

“So little to say, so little to do, and the fear so great,” says the character Winnie. Yet she finds a way to go on looking ever forward to other Happy Days. That is, should tomorrow come for her.

Your reviewer is brought back to Bob Dylan’s “Sad Eyed Lady of the Lowlands” with its final refrain, “who do they think could bury you?” For Robinette’s Winnie as created by Beckett, sorrow is always breaking in, just as she finds a reason to be optimistic even as she is buried ever so slowly.

Photo Gallery

Nancy Robinette in the lead role of Winnie	Stephen Lorne Williams as Willie and Nancy Robinette as Winnie

Photos by Don Summers, Jr.

Cast

• Winnie: Nancy Robinette
• Willie: Stephen Lorne Williams

Artistic and Design

• Director: Robert McNamara
• Scenic Designer: Michael C. Stepowany
• Costume Designer: Alisa Mandel
• Lighting Designer: Marianne Meadows
• Dramturg: Gabriele Jakobi
• Sound Designer: Denise R. Rose
• Stage Manager: Lena Salinas
• Production Manager: Michael Sperber
• Properties: Joyce Milford

Disclaimer: Scena Theatre provided two complimentary media tickets to ShowBizRadio for this review.

What good is sitting along in your room? Come hear the music play. That’s what three generations of my family did for Father’s Day, enjoying the renowned musical Cabaret at Richmond Triangle Players cabaret-like atmosphere.

Director Penny Ayn Maas, who appeared for five years on Broadway in the last Broadway revival (before the current one), uses the small, intimate RTP stage to her advantage, creating a two-level set. The lower level is where most of the action takes place; while the upper level houses the band and some of the performers at the Kit Kat Klub Cabaret.

For those not familiar with the plot of the play (or the 1972 movie starring Liza Minnelli and Joel Grey) Cabaret juxtaposes the horrific changes in 1930′s Germany with the insular life inside the Kit Kat Klub.

British Cabaret singer Sally Bowles (Nicole Foret Obertleitner) meets American writer Clifford Bradshaw (Stevie Rice) who has just arrived in Berlin. Bradshaw has already met Ernst Ludwig (Evan Nasteff) on the train to Berlin. Ludwig refers Bradshaw to rent a room in a Boarding House run by a single old woman, Frauline Schneider (Jeanie Rule). A sub-plot follows Schneider’s doomed romance with elderly Jewish fruit vendor Herr Schultz (Doug Schneider).

The entire play is overseen by the Emcee at the Kit Kat Klub (Chris Hester). Maas makes an interesting directorial choice in making the Emcee less dark and menacing than in the movie and earlier productions; and more of a god-like figure watching over the action from the band stage and interacting at times with the other performers as more of a puppet master. As the play, and the history it captures, turns darker, the Emcee remains the voice and face of optimism and hope — right to the end. Hester is perfectly cast in this adaptation as he masterfully maintains the Emcees’ likeability and charisma and immerses himself in the role. Likewise his pleasant vocals are spot-on and he capably carries the role as the show’s voice and narrator.

Obertleitner does not have Liza Minnelli’s powerful belting voice, but compensates with strong dancing and acting chops — making Sally even more eccentric than Minnelli’s performance. I’m not sure if it was a directorial or acting choice, but I do wish Obertleitner hadn’t remained stagnant behind a microphone stand for powerhouse numbers like “Maybe Next Time” and the signature “Cabaret.” The lack of movement or even hand gestures eliminated some of the potential emotional content.

Rice carried off the innocence and initial naiveté of Bradshaw well. His character (and the audience’s) awakening to what was going on in Germany was well-developed in his performance.

Nasteff perfectly portrayed the changes in Ludwig as well, starting as almost a comedic German version of Steve Martin and Dan Akroyd’s “wild and crazy guys,” then becoming a Nazi officer and clearly delineating him as a hateful representation of all that was evil in Germany at that time.

Rule and Schneider carried the heart of the production, as two empathetic figures caught in the hatred and fear of their time. Their beautiful voices and tender and heartfelt performances added a whole other dimension to the story.

One other stand out was Lanaya van Dreisen as Fraulein Kost whose powerful vocals (and accordion playing) in the haunting “Tomorrow Belongs to Me” built to the climax of Act 1.

Michael Jarrett’s lights enhanced Frank Foster’s simple two-tier set and artistically added to the emotion of several numbers through shades of yellow, blue and orange. Holly Sullivan’s costumes (or at times lack thereof) perfectly set the time and characters.

“Life is a Cabaret;” and as the Emcee says “leave your troubles outside” because life at this Cabaret at RTP is a beautifully staged, well-cast production.

Photo Gallery

Cabaret	“Come hear the music play!”
Nicole Foret Oberleitner as Sally Bowles

Photos by John MacLellan

The Cast (in order of appearance)

• Emcee: Chris Hester
• The Kit Kat Girls
  • Lulu: Lesie Pumphrey
  • Texas: Bethaney Bagley
  • Fritzie: Lanaya van Dreisen
  • Helga: Brianne Chin
• The Kit Kat Boys
  • Victor: Andrew Etheredge
  • Bobby: Dan Cimo
  • Hans: Mahlon Raoufi
• Sally Bowles: Nicole Foret Oberleitner
• Clifford Bradshaw: Stevie Rice
• Ernst Ludwig: Evan Nasteff
• Fraulein Schneider: Jeanie Rule
• Frauline Kost: Lanaya van Dreisen
• Rudy: Mahlon Raoufi
• Herr Schultz: Doug Schneider
• Max: Andrew Etheredge
• Gorilla: Brianne Chin

The Kit Kat Band

• Piano: Kim Fox
• Drums: Steve Raybould
• Bass: Pete Dennis
• Clarinet: Michael Goldberg
• Accordion: Lanaya von Dreisen
• Flute: Brianne Chin
• Trumpet: Mahlon Raoufi
• Boy singer: Christopher Chavez

The Crew

• Director/ Choreographer: Penny Ayn Maas
• Associate Director: Keith Fitzgerald
• Musical Director: Kim Fox
• Stage Manager: Sharon Gregory
• Assistant Stage Manager:
• Production Manager:
• Set Designer: Frank Foster
• Lighting Design: Michael Jarett
• Associate Lighting Designer: Cody Richardson
• Costume Design: Holly Sullivan
• Costume Assistant: Alex Valentin
• Dance Captain: Brian Baez
• Sound Design: Joey Luck

Disclaimer: Richmond Triangle Players provided two complimentary media tickets to ShowBizRadio for this review.

Occasionally a production of a familiar show can completely change how that it is perceived and performed. Such was Joseph Papp’s 1980 Central Park production of Gilbert and Sullivan’s The Pirates of Penzance, in which Kevin Kline reinvented the role of the Pirate King as an athletic, comic swashbuckler. Coming at a time when the venerable D’Oyly Carte company was on its last legs, artistically as well as financially (having seen some of their touring productions here in 1976 and 1978, I can testify to the former), Papp’s production reinvigorated Pirates for late 20th century audiences.

Like any innovation, however, a groundbreaking production of a show can evolve into old hat. For most of 30 years, directors of Pirates productions seemed to feel compelled to replicate the Papp production, even those parts of it — like its hyper-vaudevillian approach to the Sergeant and his policemen — that never worked well. Fortunately, with the passage of time, productions have begun to find their own footing once again. I saw a very competent traditional take on Pirates by the Madison (Wisconsin) Savoyards two summers ago, and the current Victorian Lyric Opera Company (VLOC) production in Rockville is a very lively effort both the musical and staging aspects of which succeed delightfully.

Director Felicity Ann Brown (who is also part of the choreography team, along with Helen Aberger and Amanda Jones) makes the show move fluidly. Not for this Pirates the dreaded “G&S two-step,” which has passed for movement in too many productions. The choreographic highlight is a production number version of the Pirates’ “Come friends who plow the sea” in the second act, which with its two planned encores — including brief Fiddler and Chorus Line moments and a variety of kick lines — earned the loud approval of the near-capacity Saturday night crowd.

Brown made other creative choices that worked beautifully. Among the female chorus members were four older ladies, who played chaperones to the younger women. When Frederic is singing “Oh is there not one maiden breast…,” the chaperones do their best to contain their charges’ enthusiasm, causing the maidens’ “Oh no, not one” to make the most theatrical sense that I have ever seen.

Even by standards of Gilbert’s topsy-turvy world, the Major-General’s second act number “Sighing softly to the river” makes remarkably little sense. Brown wisely upstaged the Major-General’s gyrations and uber-silly lyrics by having two tree set pieces moved about by Pirates, while befuddled policemen tried to keep pace with them. Shortly afterward, Brown tops this with a smoothly executed rope trick, in which the Pirates’ capture of the girls morphs into their capture of the police.

Musically, music director Joseph Sorge’s full orchestra performed with excellent attention to tone, dynamics, and tempi: Gwen Earle on oboe and percussionist George Hutlin had particularly nice moments. Sorge conducted a lovely rendition of the a capella “Hail poetry,” with the cast in an appropriately choral formation. The quality of the choral singing, by both the men’s and women’s ensembles, was high throughout, even in those numbers involving substantial movement.

Jeffrey Gates, as the Pirate King, was far and away the outstanding soloist. With a robust, yet subtle, baritone voice, as well as a dynamic stage presence, Gates commanded his scenes, whether in a solo number like “I am a pirate king” or playing well with others in “A paradox.” For “Poor wandering one,” a Mabel needs to have the same sort of coloratura chops as Cunegonde in Candide’s Glitter and Be Gay. Keely Borland passed that test. (Courtney Kalbacker plays this role in alternate performances.) Stevie Miller, Amanda Jones, and Rachel Ackerman nicely supported Mabel as the three female chorus leads.

In any Pirates, an important challenge faces Mabel and Frederic in the second act. Having been typically silly G&S characters throughout, their exaggerated romantic and duty-bound natures, respectively, driving their comic excess, they must suddenly and credibly handle the score’s sweetest moment, the touching duet “Ah leave me not to pine.” Borland was able to generate the requisite emotion, physically as well as vocally. As Frederic, Timothy Ziese was as fresh-faced, enthusiastic, and guilelessly dutiful as one could ask for, also contributing a pleasant tenor voice to the proceedings. He might have connected more solidly with scene partners at times. In “Ah leave me not to pine,” though, while Mabel focused on him and her relationship with him, Ziese was oriented straight out to the audience, diminishing some of the feeling the song can convey.

Wendy Stengel as Ruth and George Willis as Major General Stanley were not as strong vocally as the other principals. Stengel had a rather thin sound. G&S patter baritones are not expected to be pure singers, of course, but Willis struggled noticeably with pitch at times. While not the most graceful actor ever to assay the role, Willis had great fun with an encore to the “I am the very model of a modern major-general” that spoofed current pop music. Stengel had excellent energy and moved well in the “A paradox” scene.

Ruth is Exhibit A for Gilbert’s chronic disdain for middle-aged women (47 years old: the horror). Sometime it would be fun for a director to reimagine her as a relatively hot, toned 40-something in pursuit of a cute young thing. Think “How Stella Got Her Groove Back” visits Penzance. But that would be a different production.

Samuel is a supporting role that can often disappear. To his credit, Rick DuPuy made his character’s presence felt, and he handled his solos in “Pour, oh pour the pirate sherry” and “Come friends who plow the sea” creditably. As the Sergeant of Police, Tom Goode was vocally adequate and brought an appropriately schlumpy presence as the hapless leader of as decrepit a bunch of bobbies as one could imagine.

Denise Young’s costume deigns for the women accented the director’s contrast between the younger and older chorus women, with the younger women in variously colored pastels while the chaperones were in uniform, subdued grayish dresses with thin stripes. As the lead, Mabel wore white. Generally, the ladies’ and pirates’ costumes were colorful and flattering to the actors, with the Pirate King and Major General being in different sorts of striking red uniforms. The combination of the Major General’s 50s sitcom-style pajamas and his plumed military hat in the second act was humorously effective. Only Ruth’s costume was ill-conceived, giving her an unnecessarily awkward look. The costumes for the policemen were baggy, which, intentionally or not, suited the way they were played.

The production sported some nice prop moments. Carl and Jane Mayott provided dolls and teddy bears for the young women in the opening scene of act two and newspapers with a period look for the young women to appear to read during “How beautifully blue the sky.” My favorite, however, was a large, multi-hued parrot hand puppet that one of the pirates carried throughout, manipulated to look as if it were joining the singing. My only regret is that the bird did not get an individual bow in the curtain call.

Director Brown also designed the set, which, despite some quirks, functioned well in facilitating interesting and balanced stage pictures and movement. Among the quirks was, in act two, a model house the style of which was more Virginia colonial than Cornwall. On the stage left side of the cyc was a drawing of a large 18th century-style man-o-war, hardly the sort of ship that Victorian-era pirates (had there been such) would have chosen. The second act set included grave markers for “Porter” and “Murgatroyd.” Brown correctly gauged that G&S fans — especially of a show the libretto of which cites “that infernal nonsense Pinafore” — would find a cross-reference or two irresistible.

VLOC was the area’s second G&S-centered group to be formed, starting life in the late 1970s as a splinter group of the older Montgomery (later Washington) Savoyards. With the apparent demise of the Savoyards — a casualty not only of economic troubles but also of considerable muddle concerning its niche in the local theater scene — VLOC stands as the only local company specializing in operetta. The success of this Pirates, both artistically and in terms of drawing an audience, is a hopeful sign that VLOC can continue to prosper by maintaining its focus and quality.

Director’s Note

Earlier this year, I heard actor John Lithgow speak at The University of Maryland. He told a story of an orchestra that had been playing a particular piece in rep all season, and was getting bored with it, and it showed in their rehearsal. Just before a performance, the conductor addressed the orchestra, and told him that he understood their frustration, but he wanted them to go out and play for two specific people in the audience: The person who is hearing the piece for the very first time, and the person who is hearing it for the very last.

In directing this show, I’ve tried to keep that perspective in mind. There are those of you who were probably brought here by a friend or a parent or grandparent and are hearing Sullivan’s music and Gilbert’s jokes for the very first time today, and then those of you who have seen countless productions of Pirates in your lifetime and are bound to make comparisons between this and all of the other productions you’ve seen. My hope is that we will provide something for everyone in this audience, providing entertainment for you no matter what your level of Pirates expertise.

Pirates is the first Gilbert &Sullivan show I ever saw. I was a student at Westtown School, a Friends school in Pennsylvania, and our class was taken to see the middle school’s production. I thought it was a very fun and silly show, but I did not retain much of the plot. Still, my grandmother, upon hearing I had seen the show, impressed upon me that this was something very important. She herself had played Ruth in a production at the very same Quaker school in the 1930′s. A family legend stands that my great-grandfather had started the G&S tradition when he came there as a teacher in the 1920′s, as a way to sneak some music into the rigid curriculum at a time when Quakers were not quite sure if music and theatre were appropriate uses of student time. I’m sure that Gilbert’s cleverness with words, Sullivan’s history of writing music for the church, and the rigidness of Victorian values displayed in the G&S canon helped to grease the wheels needed for approval.

This family tradition carried on to me when I first graced the stage as a sailor, complete with stipple-brushed beard, in H.M.S. Pinafore at age twelve. I got involved with building sets for the first time, helping to hoist a giant mast and rigging on stage, I climbed up into the catwalk to focus lights, I cut off pants and glued ribbons on hats to make sailor costumes, and was fully enveloped by full range of the magic of theatre for the first time. To this day, I remain that involved, even when my primary duty is as director, because I love that feeling of creation of every little piece of the magic.

After that first production of Pinafore, the music and words were permanently engraved into my mind. I didn’t realize the significance of this until a few months later, when I was watching the cartoon Animaniacs and the segment “H.M.S. Yakko” came on and I realized I had been let in on this incredible extended inside-joke specifically for Gilbert & Sullivan fans. Sure the cartoon was goofy and full of slapstick that any child would be amused by, but I could identify all of the score as pieces of H.M.S. Pinafore and Pirates, and I understood that “I am the very model of a cartoon individual” wasn’t just something from a kids show…this was an exclusive club I had been allowed into…a shared culture of the performing arts. This membership lets people in on the G&S allusions that are seen in The Simpsons, Pretty Woman, West Wing, Family Guy, Star Trek: Insurrection, and far too many more to list. Gilbert & Sullivan is part of our cultural literacy that warrants passing on to future generations. Thank you for being here today, and keep passing it on.

Cast

• Frederic: Timothy Ziese
• The Pirate King: Jeffrey Gates
• Samuel: Rick DuPuy
• Ruth: Wendy Stengel
• Major General Stanley: George Willis
• Mabel: Keely Borland (Courtney Kalbacker in alternate performances)
• Edith: Rachel Ackerman
• Kate: Amanda Jones
• Isabel: Stevie Miller
• Sergeant of Police: Tom Goode
• Young Frederic: Gabriella Jones
• Chorus of Pirates, Police, and General Stanley’s Wards and their governesses:
• Helen Aberger, Brian Beard, Densie Cross, Kayla Cummings, Kris Devine, Tara Hockensmith, Chuck Howell, Rand Huntzinger, Ralph Johnson, Joanna Jones, Josh Katz, Erik Kreil, Lauren Lentini, Carl Maryott, Jane Maryott, Josh Milton, Rowyn Peel, Brian Polk, Bill Rogers, Kevin Schellhase, Sarah Seider, Barbara Semiatin, Ed Vilade, Maria Wilson, Kent Woods

Orchestra

• Violin 1: Steve Natrella (CM), Bonnie Barrows, Peter Mignerey, Irv Berner
• Violin 2: Martin Brown, Edwin Schneider, Cassie Conley
• Viola: Amanda Laudwein, Stephanie Cross
• Percussion: George Hutlin
• Bass: Pete Gallanis
• Flute: Jackie Miller, Louise Hill
• Oboe: Gwen Earle
• Clarinet: Laura Langbein, Laura Bornhoeft
• Bassoon: Steve Weschler, Betsy Haanes
• Horn: Joe Cross, Lora Katz, Gail Hixenbaugh
• Trumpet: Curt Anstine, Rick Pasciuto, Tom Gleason
• Trombone: Steve Ward, Frank Eliot, Al Potter
• Cello: Michael Stein, Sheryl Friedlander, Andrew Nixon

Production Staff

• Producer: Denise Young
• Director: Felicity Ann Brown
• Music Director: Joseph Sorge
• Assistant Music Director: Jenny Craley Bland
• Assistant to the Director: Helen Aberger
• Stage Manager: Douglas Maryott
• Choreography: Amanda Jones, Felicity Ann Brown, Helen Aberger
• Scenic Designer: Felicity Ann Brown
• Costume Designer: Denise Young
• Lighting Designer: Noam Lautman
• Rehearsal Pianists: Jenny Craley Bland, Joanna Jones
• Light Board Operator: Noam Lautman
• Makeup/Hair Designer: Renee Silverstone
• Master Carpenter: Devin Work
• Set Crew/Painters: Helen Aberger, Felicity Ann Brown, Rober Dennis, Kris Devine,
• Ben Dransfield, Alice Drew, Tony Dwyer, Blair Eig, Dean Fiala, Rand
• Huntzinger, William Kolodrubetz, Sarah Martin, Douglas Maryott, Anna Polk, Brian Polk, Bill Rogers, Sarah Seider, Scott Tennent, Ed Vilade, Kent Wood, Timothy Ziese
• Costume Construction: Denise Cross, Stephanie Cross, Rebecca Meyerson, Stevie
• Miller, Felicity Brown, Sarah Martin, Maria Wilson, Lauren Lentini, Kathie
• Rogers, Barbara Miller
• Props: Carl & Jane Maryott
• Photography: Harvey Lavine
• Audition Pianist: Jenny Craley Bland
• Program: Courtney Kalbacker, Denise Young
• Surtitles: Douglas Maryott, Annie Gribben
• Cover & Poster Art: Erika White Abrams
• Publicity: Courtney Kalbacker, Ed Vilade, Felicity Ann Brown
• House Management: Denise Young, Cassandra Stevens
• Set and Costume Storage: Rockville Civic Center

Disclaimer: Victorian Lyric Opera Company provided two complimentary media tickets to ShowBizRadio for this review.

Richmond is so fortunate, not only to have summer Shakespeare in the Park performances, but to have them in the courtyard of the regal Agecroft Hall. The 16th season of Richmond’s Shakespeare Festival, presented by the recently combined Henley Street Theatre and Richmond Shakespeare kicks off with A Midsummer Night’s Dream.

Director Jan Powell has assembled an A-list of Richmond comedic actors who bring life and laughs to this classic complicated comedy. Mischievous Fairies cast love spells that wreak havoc among characters in multiple story lines surrounding the impending marriage of the Duke of Athens.

First there is Hermia (Audra Honaker) who loves Lysander (Charley Raintree) but her mother Egeus (Anne Carr Regan) wants her to marry Demetrius (Dixon Cashwell) who is loved by Hermia’s friend Helena (Maggie Roop).

Then there are the mechanicals – a rag-tag group of amateur actors rehearsing a play written by Quince (Elisabeth Ashby). Among them are Bottom (David White), Flute (John Mincks), Snug (Lucas Hall), Starveling (Eddie Webster) and Snout (LaSean Greene).

In the final story line Oberon, King of the Fairies (John Moon) with the assistance of his mischievous assistant Puck (Raven Lorraine Wilkes) is responsible for casting the love spells on various characters including his wife Titania (Melissa Johnston Price), who is quarreling with him over an Indian changeling boy that she has taken custody of, but he wants as his aide.

Stand out performances include White as Bottom (a pompous actor who gets turned into an ass) and Mincks as Flute (who, as was common in Shakespeare’s time, is cast in the play within a play as a woman). But it is Wilkes’ Puck that truly is the highlight of the show. Her personable Puck commands the stage with an impish smile and an infectious laugh. The elements of slapstick comedy liberally sprinkled throughout the production work well – especially with the Mechanicals and Audra Honaker and her suitors.

Richard Moxley’s set is basic, with interwoven sticks used as the fairy forest where most of the action takes place. BJ Wilkinson has the difficult task of lighting the stage, while competing in Act 1 with natural sunlight. In Act 2, dim blue lights in night scenes contrast with oranges at dawn and pinks in the “magical” scenes to enhance the mood. Virginia McConnell’s costumes are novel; with an early 1900′s type theme that is never quite explained with Shakespeare’s storyline.

Aptly timed, with ambient fireflies (or fairies?) to light up the sky; A Midsummer Night’s Dream makes for a magical early summer evening of entertainment.

Photo Gallery

The Mechanicals	John Moon as Oberon, Melissa Johnston Price as Titania and Paxton Martinez as the boy
The fairies	Raven Wilkes as Puck
Allison Blanton as Mustardseed and Raven Wilkes as Puck	Raven Wilkes as Puck and John Moon as Oberon
Melissa Johnston Price as Titania, David White as Bottom

Photos by Eric Dobbs

The Cast

The Nobles

• Theseus: John Moon
• Hippolyta: Melissa Johnston Price
• Hermia: Audra Honaker
• Lysander: Charley Raintree
• Helena: Maggie Roop
• Demetrius: Dixon Cashwell
• Egeus/Philostrate: Anne Carr Regan

The Fairy Kingdom

• Titania: Melissa Johnston Price
• Oberon: John Moon
• Puck: Raven Lorraine Wilkes
• Peaseblossom: Patrick Bello
• Cobweb: Catherine Smith
• Moth: Johanna Rozycki
• Mustardseed: Allison Blanton
• Indian Boy: Paxton Martinez

The Mechanicals

• Quince: Elisabeth Ashby
• Bottom: David White
• Flute: John Mincks
• Snug: Lucas Hall
• Snout: LaSean Greene
• Starveling: Eddie Webster

The Crew

• Director: Jan Powell
• Assistant Director: Melissa Rayford
• Production Manager: Austin R. Cooper
• Stage Manager: Hannah Adaway
• Costume Design: Virginia McConnell
• Lighting Design: BJ Wilkinson
• Set Design & Construction: Richard Moxley
• Sound Design: Andrew Craig
• Properties Management: David Plotnick
• Movement Specialist: Kaye Weinstein Gary
• Text Coach: Shirley Kagan

Disclaimer: Richmond Shakespeare provided two complimentary media tickets to ShowBizRadio for this review.

In the “chair force” world depicted in George Brandt’s Grounded we witness the slow grinding boredom of the new way to wage war, punctuated by moments when a pilot feels a God-like rush to take action against the bad guys. The warrior is, at first, a strutting “gung-ho lifer” who initially has no compunctions about wasting a bad guy’s life until more personal issues find their way into the warrior’s mind.

But then the warrior is no longer piloting a high-flying, fancy, F-16, doing unseen damage from high in the blue sky. This warrior is piloting a high technology drone which endlessly surveils and then can destroy someone in the time it takes a signal to transmit half way around the world into the air above Afghanistan…in this case, a bit over one second. Then a silent poof as a missile is launched, destruction happens seen from grey images on a screen.

To some this particular warrior may be an unlikely one. She is an unnamed, grounded pilot. She was grounded after she unexpectedly became pregnant and then became a mother and wife. No longer flying high into the wild blue yonder, she is a drone pilot in a barcolounger an hour’s drive from Las Vegas in the Nevada desert. A desert not unlike what is in Afghanistan.

Grounded is a fairly taut portrayal of this unnamed Air Force Major’s life as she unravels into a break-down into a lock-up awaiting a court-martial. Grounded is not so much a drama about the morality of new warfare methods, nor is it a flashy production full of visual pyrotechnics. In its own way, it is very old-fashioned; a one actor monologue with the pilot (Lucy Ellinson) trying to get inside the audience’s head and stir things up.

Grounded is to be appreciated for Ellinson’s acting prowess over its 60 intermission-free, claustrophobic minutes. The audience comes to know Ellinson’s character as her mind opens up even as she is “locked” away in the transparent box that is her mind. It is her mind-box we peer into as her crack-up slowly begins, taking away her pride, her sense of self and much more.

Now before I go too much further into this review, let me say this, I was once in the Air Force, as an intelligence officer in a war long ago. I was stationed in the Far East and worked in a large windowless box, with some of my unit in a trailer not unlike what is depicted in Grounded miles farther from my own main windowless box. It was a different war, Vietnam, and I was not a “gung-ho lifer.” I recall utter monotony, until events happened which set all into a highly stressed mode. I was often enough the only officer on duty in the world of around the clock shift work. Decisions had to be made. Actions had to be taken. So, Grounded is a show that brought my own memories flooding back.

Under Christopher Haydon’s straight forward direction of Grounded, we first come in contact with the Pilot as she is in a transparent box, by way of set designer Oliver Townsend. She is actively surveilling the audience. AC-DC like rock music (sound designer Tom Gibbons) is blaring. The Pilot is not passive as she stands in her at-ease position even moving into a more swagger laden pose with hands in front, always watching. And the words begin to flow. The grinding down of her pride, her personhood, and the unnerving juxtaposition of killing from a distance only to drive home and be with her husband and daughter.

We see her descent into her own private Hell as her words tumble out, her fists harden, her pilot’s cock-sure strut is no more. Lights flash in the mind box as things happen. In the last gripping five minutes or so of the production, the audience witnesses intimately the Pilot’s actions and inactions. Frozen. Traumatic. Then a black-out leaving the audience to contemplate the issues raised.

As directed by Haydon, who is the artistic director of Britain’s Gate Theatre and directed the show there, Grounded is a well-accomplished production with a rhythm of life working in the stressful conditions that war brings. Some of the technical and acting elements hit quite well. The blaring music to drown out boredom and help to alleviate stress. The pilot’s need for a blatant kind of lusty life to prove herself alive.

This is playwright Brandt’s introductory course into modern, distant warfare. It will not be the last such teaching production from a playwright or screen writer, I am certain. Grounded is not a drama about the larger morality issues of new warfare including the use of drones. It is more an intimate portrait of one particular woman warrior. A warrior who believes totally in “protect and destroy” as an adage. Who thinks being a pilot is being a “rock star.” Who at first wears a flight suit (Oliver Townsend again) as a powerful sexy attire that draws men to her.

In an interview, Grounded playwright Brant is noted to say: “I approached this play with a lot of questions and wasn’t sure where I stood with this new technology and the moral implications of it; I’m happy anytime American soldiers lives are not at risk, but am troubled by some of the moral implications of [drone warfare] and what it’s doing to our standing in the world.”

Grounded is an issue-raising script and performance that doesn’t shrivel away from tough matters. It has its share of tragedies depicting a world rarely shown on stage. It is another import from the Edinburgh Fringe Festival but will strike a different nerve than the vastly different Black Watch that Shakespeare Theatre brought to town a few years ago. Of possible interest for those who see Grounded is a new movie that will be opening soon in DC, that started as a play written by Matt Witten. It had a one performance screening last week at the E Street Cinema. It is called “Drones.”

Studio Theatre’s artistic director David Muse has brought to DC, what is surely to be a growing list of theater productions not unlike what some of us vividly recall from the Vietnam War era. Different wars with new artistic visions and distinct voices.

Note: I recall this from 1970 as my unit (called Able Flight back then) would sometimes sing from Elton Johns’ “Burn Down the Mission” with lyrics by Bernie Taupin:

If we’re gonna stay alive
Watch the black smoke fly to heaven
See the red flame light the sky.
Burn down the mission
Burn it down to stay alive
It’s our only chance of living
Take all you need to live inside.

Photo Gallery

Photos provided by Studio Theatre

Cast

• The Pilot: Lucy Ellinson

• Playwright: George Brant
• Director: Christopher Haydon
• Set and Costume Designer: Oliver Townsend
• Lighting Designer: Mark Howland
• Sound Designer: Tom Gibbons
• Technical Tour Manager: Katy Munroe Farlie
• Studio Technical Director: Robert Shearin

Disclaimer: Studio Theatre provided a complimentary media ticket to ShowBizRadio for this review.