Performing Arts – Page 24

ANIMAL CONTROL: People Are Just Animals Who Talk and Wear Clothes

ANIMAL CONTROL: A BAD DAWG TALE

A Theater Review by Julinda D. Lewis

At: The Firehouse Theatre, 1609 W. Broad Street, RVA 23220

Performances: April 17 – May 12, 2019

Ticket Prices: $15/student; $25/military; $35/general admission

Info: (804) 355-2001 or firehousetheatre.org

Richmonders who are familiar with the name Chandler Hubbard probably know him as an actor, but this month Hubbard is making his debut as author of the new play Animal Control for which he received the 2019 Martha Hill Newell Playwrights Fund award. Like most comedies, Animal Control tackles some tough, real-life subjects and their accompanying emotions – anger, blame, justice, and ultimately compassion. Sometimes it’s difficult to decide whether to laugh or cry.

Director Joel Bassin, Producing Artistic Director of the Firehouse Theatre, noted that during the dress rehearsal and first two showings it became obvious that pet-owners were more likely to take the quiet route as they found the issues close to their hearts. Set in a dingy office in the Carson County Pound, the play opens as the center’s newly appointed director, Kim Hawkins (played by the versatile Donna Marie Miller), deals with complaints and repeat offenders. The main offender, a three-legged pit bull rescue named Bailey, who has been adopted by the equally menacing owner, Dan Stanley (played by Arik Cullen who towers over everyone at well over 6’), has allegedly attacked another dog at the dog park.

Adam Turck plays Marc Hanson, the persnickety owner of Winnie – short for Winston, as in Churchill – who files the most damning complaint against Dan and Bailey. Marc (with a “c” he takes pains to explain) has pictures of the injuries his dog sustained and as the tension piles on, Dan’s neighbor, another frequent phoner of complaints, Patty Smith (Lucretia Marie Anderson) also shows up in Ms. Hawkins’ office. All of this is overwhelming for Hawkins, who would rather deal with dogs than people, but she has the dubious back-up of her office associate, Corrine Lowell (Journey Entzminger), an insolent college student who has an affinity for the dogs and an unlikely friendship with her frazzled supervisor.

Bassin directs this eclectic cast of characters with an ebb and flow, a cycle of tension and release that sometimes reaches explosive levels. Expletives fly, Dan towers over everyone, and Corrine is an ever constant presence with her irreverent but much needed wit and sarcasm. Patty seems at first to be an extraneous presence, but she has a key scene with Hawkins and her role is integral to the final resolution. Miller makes Hawkins sympathetic, offsetting moments of indecision with insight and clarity. I’m not familiar with Entzminger, so I’m not sure how much of a stretch it was for her – a junior Business Management student at VCU – to play the insolent college student so convincingly. Surprisingly, she has the final word. Adam Turk is fittingly annoying as the owner of the injured dog, and Arik Cullen, who seemed to enjoy the role of the bad boy, holds the key to the compassionate conclusion.

At the beginning of each scene two actors stand behind the chain link fences on either side of the stage, smoking, texting, or just thinking. While I found this transition interesting, I was distracted by the set. Phil Hayes designed an authentically drab break room that doubles as Kim Hawkins office – with just a folding table for a desk. What bothered me was that the sides of the set were not built all the way out to the theater’s walls, so we could see the scaffold-like edges and supporting brace just behind the chain link fences. I know it’s a set, but I don’t want to see the behind-the-scenes workings. Andrew Bonniwell designed the lighting – no special effects needed here – and Ryan Dygert designed the sound – with dogs barking in the background.

Without giving away too much of the show, Hubbard makes it impossible to take sides by presenting multiple sides of the issue and throwing in a couple of emotionally loaded surprises.

Animal Control is written in three scenes (The Prosecution, The Defense, and The Verdict), with two intermissions and runs a little over two hours, including the intermissions. I thought it was rather well paced, but my partner found it a bit too long. It should be mentioned that neither of us owns a pet, which I think makes a difference. I heard more than one sniffle, that I do not attribute to seasonal allergies, and observed at least one attendee feeling a bit verklempt, waving a hand to ward off tears in the lobby after the show.

Julinda D. Lewis is a dancer, teacher, and writer who was born in Brooklyn, NY and now lives in Eastern Henrico County.

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Photo Credits: Tom Topinka

Animal Control.7_Donna Marie Miller, Lucretia Marie Anderson, Arik Cullen, Adam Turck (photo by Tom Topinka) — Donna Marie Miller, Lucretia Marie Anderson, Arik Cullen and Adam Turck

Animal Control.6_Adam Turck, Arik Cullen (photo by Tom Topinka) — Adam Turck and Arik Cullen

Animal Control.4_Donna Marie Miller, Adam Turck, Arik Cullen (photo by Tom Topinka) — Donna Marie Miller, Adam Turck and Arik Cullen

Animal Control.3_Donna Marie Miller, Journey Entzminger (photo by Tom Topinka) — Donna Marie Miller and Journey Entzminger

Animal Control.2_Donna Marie Miller, Journey Entzminger (photo by Tom Topinka) — Donna Marie Miller and Journey Entzminger

Animal Control.1_Donna Marie Miller (photo by Tom Topinka) — Donna Marie Miller

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WOMEN’S THEATRE FESTIVAL: The Best Man in the Government – גּוֹלְדָּה מֵאִיר

WOMEN’S THEATRE FESTIVAL: Golda’s Balcony

A Theater Review by Julinda D. Lewis

At: TheatreLab, The Basement, 300 E. Broad St, RVA 23219

Performances: March 28, April 3, 7, 13 & 18, 2019

Ticket Prices: $25 general admission; $20 for RAPT card holders; $15 for students

Info: (804) 359-2003 or 5thwalltheatre.org

Isaiah 56:5 (NIV)

to them I will give within my temple and its walls
    a memorial and a name
    better than sons and daughters;
I will give them an everlasting name
    that will endure forever.

Golda’s Balcony, a one-woman play about the Israeli stateswoman, Golda Meir, is a heart-touching work of historical fiction by William Gibson. Written in 2003, Golda’s Balcony was Gibson’s second attempt to capture Meir on stage; he was not quite satisfied with his earlier multi-character work, Golda (1977) and it is said that Meir herself saw it and hated it. Meir died in 1978 of lymphoma, and so never got a chance to see Golda’s Balcony.

This is not a pretty play. It is full of war: talk of war; sounds of war; thoughts, feelings, results, and regrets of war. It begins with the start off the Yom Kippur War, in 1973 and Meir, played with heart and gusto by none other than Jacqueline Jones, is clad in a bathrobe, looking every inch the Jewish grandmother. This image is soon dispelled, however, as she is thrust into the midst of an unending and seemingly unwinnable (by either side) war. She sheds the bathrobe for a power suit and takes up the banner of the Jewish state of Israel.

“Survival is maybe a synonym for Jewish,” Meir says at one point. Later, she conjures up the image of a biblical “Abraham messing around with the house maid” being responsible for the ongoing political and religious conflict of two groups of people fighting over one piece of land.

Jones owns this role. During the talkback following the final showing of this work, director Debra Clinton, who worked with Jones during her first performance of this show at Weinstein JCC in 2010, said that the passing of time had made Jones even better in this role, and that at times – when she leaned across the Prime Minister’s desk, for example – she actually looked like Meir. I personally think Jones looks much softer than the images I’ve seen of Golda Meir, but nonetheless, her performance was both emotionally charged and historically eye-opening.

Playwright Gibson, director Clinton, and Jones presented tough, controversial subject matter in a way that opened a door onto the humanity of a world leader – and more than that, they offered insight into a woman operating in a man’s world. Among many nicknames – some less flattering than others – Meir was known as the Iron Lady of Israeli politics and the best man in government.

“We intend to live. Our neighbors intend for us to die. There’s not much room for compromise.” These words refer to the Palestinian-Israeli conflict but seem to apply as well to recent and current headlines in the US and right here in the state of Virginia.

Golda’s Balcony – a term that refers both to the physical balcony on which the elderly Meir sat to tell this story and to the nickname for Meir’s nuclear weapons facility – is not without moments of humor. Periodically, as melancholy cello music plays, Jones breaks the fourth wall to snap, “I can do without that music.” Near the end of the journey – about ninety minutes of intense drama, with no intermission – we learn that the music is connected to both Meir’s husband, Morris, who was a music lover, and her son, Menachem Meyerson, who was a professional cellist. The story-telling was both a powerful tribute to women, and a heartfelt performance by Jones.

The quartet of one-woman shows that made up the Women’s Theatre Festival concludes with final productions of Margaret Joyner’s Message from a Slave starring Pamela Archer-Shaw on April 19 and Theresa Rebeck’s Bad Dates starring Maggie Bavolack on April 20. Charlayne Woodard’s Pretty Fire, starring Haliya Roberts, closed April 17. I believe the Women’s Theatre Festival – a co-production of 5^th Wall Theatre (Carol Piersol) and TheatreLAB (Deejay Gray) was a new concept here in Richmond, but I hope it won’t be a one-time event. The stories were compelling, the performances stellar, and I hope new audiences were introduced to the richness of Richmond theater.

Julinda D. Lewis is a dancer, teacher, and writer who was born in Brooklyn, NY and now lives in Eastern Henrico County.

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Photo Credits: Destiny Martinez Photography

Jacqueline Jones

The Women’s Theatre Festival Team

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SEVEN HOMELESS MAMMOTHS WANDER NEW ENGLAND: Who Needs a Sub-heading After That?

Seven Homeless mammoths Wander New England: & Alternative Kinship Structures!

A Theater Review by Julinda D. Lewis

Richmond Triangle Players

At: The Robert B Moss Theatre, 1300 Altamont Avenue, RVA 23230

Performances: April 10 – May 4, 2019. (Opening Night – April 12)

Ticket Prices: $10-35

Info: (804) 346-8113 or rtriangle.org

Some works of art just defy categorization. Seven Homeless Mammoths Wander New England by Madeleine George is described as a comedy, but even though there is no lack of humorous moments, the play’s focus on complicated relationships and the academic community make it so much more. There are actually three entwined stories that are related but barely connect onstage, and each has its own cast of characters.

The main story revolves around the volatile relationship between a hyperactive, middle-aged college administrator, Dean Wreen (Annie Zanetti); her former lover Greer (Shaneeka Harrell), a professor of philosophy who has stage four cancer; and the Dean’s new, young lover, Andromeda (Meg Carnahan), a recent graduate of the university and new age apprentice. Wreen invites Greer to move in with her and Andromeda while Greer undergoes experimental treatment for her cancer, leading to awkward moments of stifled and raucous love-making between Wreen and Andromeda and tests of jealousy and monogamy involving Greer and Wreen, Greer and Andromeda, and Wreen and Andromeda.

The three women are each so fascinatingly different, but I was particularly drawn to the character Greer. Harrell has a deep, rich voice and a malleable face that speaks volumes even when her mouth isn’t moving. But it should come as no surprise that Harrell is so physically engaging, as she has extensive experience working with two of my all-time favorite dance companies: Bill T. Jones/Arnie Zane Dance Company and Urban Bush Women.

Meg Carnahan was appropriately spacy as Andromeda – whom Greer initially called by a variety of celestial names, other than her chosen one – but there’s more to Andromeda than aimless passion. She is at odds with the Dean about closing the dusty and underutilized natural history museum and becomes active in the protests to save the museum. Her obsession with watching reruns of “Friends” leads to a memorable moment of tenderness with the bristly Greer, and even brings the three women together in unexpected kinship.

Annie Zanetti, whose performance I most recently admired in a Whistle Stop Theater production of The Little Match Girl, gave the same commitment to Dean Wreen as I remember her giving to previous roles. And while it was fascinating watching her navigate the nuances of her past and present love relationships, one of the most notable scenes was with David Clark, The Caretaker of the university’s little museum that was the object of academic and personal controversy. Stopping by The Caretaker’s office to offer him an alternative position, he silently offered her a flask from his desk drawer, and Dean Wreen unexpectedly accepted. She poured out her soul to the man who had, up until then, acted as the play’s raconteur, and left his office more than a little tipsy. I think she walked home.

Clark has a solo role as a sort of narrator, keeping the audience informed of updates in the progress of the plans to shut down the university’s museum – home to seven rare mammoth skeletons, and a few dioramas of indigenous life – by reading aloud from the local newspaper. The details of planned student protests and the activities of the local town council are both informative and amusing, as read with gusto by Clark.

The final section of this trilogy is the strangest and, in some ways, the funniest – or at least the oddest. Maura Mazurowski and Ray Wrightstone play Early Man 1 and Early Man 2, respectively. They are figures in the museum’s dioramas who give voice to the random students who come into the rarely used museum. In fact, the museum is so rarely used that it has become a favorite rendezvous spot, where students can engage in romantic activities in relative privacy – except for the supposedly unseeing eyes of the mammoths and the diorama figures.

Listening to the two caveman-like figures speaking in the vernacular of modern-day students is both amusing and disturbing. In fact, it takes, like, a few scenes to figure out what’s really going on here. To make these supporting characters more challenging, they are allowed to move only their mouths, while maintaining their frozen poses.

Relationships, commitment, change, love, and passion fuel Seven Homeless Mammoths Wander New England and its tightly knit and eclectic cast. Lucian Restivo’s direction provides a variety of pacing choices. The women’s characters ring true, right down to their rituals and bickering The Caretaker’s character provides direction and humor, and the diorama characters are. . .well, different.

Chris Raintree’s multileveled set provides separate work and living spaces although I’m not sure if the ancient refrigerator was just something Dean Wreen was holding onto out of eccentricity or of it was a true marker of the time period. Perhaps it was a metaphor for the complications of her life.

Seven Homeless Mammoths Wander New England might not be everyone’s cup of tea, but if you like satire and droll humor, and have an interest in alternative kinship structures, you ought to go see this production.

Julinda D. Lewis is a dancer, teacher, and writer who was born in Brooklyn, NY and now lives in Eastern Henrico County.

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Photo Credits: John MacLellan

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WOMEN’S THEATRE FESTIVAL: The Bug Guy is Looking Pretty Good

WOMEN’S THEATRE FESTIVAL: Bad Dates

A Theater Review by Julinda D. Lewis

At: TheatreLab, The Basement, 300 E. Broad St, RVA 23219

Performances: March 30 & April 5, April 11, April 16 & April 20, 2019

Ticket Prices: $25 general admission; $20 for RAPT card holders; $15 for students

Info: (804) 359-2003 or 5thwalltheatre.org

Fresh off another one-woman show (if you disregard the two supporting angels in RTP’s An Act of God), Maggie Bavolack is tackling another comedic role, this time as a single mother and idiot savant restaurateur in Theresa Rebeck’s Bad Dates – a play that features more than two dozen pairs of shoes and a mysterious shoebox full of cash. Briefly referencing Imelda Marcos, our heroine admits to owning 600 pairs of shoes, including designs by Jimmy Choo, Joan & David, and Chanel. (The red stilettos are hot, but I personally prefer the purple suede platform pumps.)

Bavolack plays Hayley Walker, the successful manager of a restaurant whose Romanian owner is in prison for money laundering. She is divorced and has a daughter named Vera (who is described in the first act as 13 years old and later in the second act as 12 years old), a ride or die friend named Eileen who is her bartender, and a brother named BJ who gives her dating advice.

We hear Vera’s rock music selections emanating from her room each time Hayley goes to ask her fashion advice and all the communications between Hayley and the unseen Eileen and BJ take place on Hayley’s animal print princess phone. At one point Hayley produces an actual phone book – something my friends aged 30 and under may have never seen, much less used – but I wondered why she was using the yellow pages (which listed business numbers) when she appeared to be making a personal call to her cheating boyfriend’s home (residential numbers were listed in the white pages). Bad Dates was first produced in 2003, when both wired and cell phones were in use in many homes, but the telephone, the phone book, Hayley’s eclectic wardrobe, and the nondescript setting make it difficult to identify the time and place.

The heart of the play revolves around Hayley’s horrible dating experiences which range from fantasizing about the “bug guy” at a Buddhist party where everyone sat in the rain to a date with a gay lawyer that her mother arranged to a short-lived relationship with a man named Lewis who seemed like the perfect guy until he failed to show up one night. Hayley doesn’t just have bad luck with men, she’s been out of the dating game for a long time and some of the men she meets are perfectly awful!

Bavolack evokes endless chuckles discussing Hayley’s trials and tribulations while parading through a seemingly endless collection of shoes and changing clothes several times with ease – without benefit of a mirror. But even with the intimacy of the TheatreLAB Basement space, I often felt that Rebeck’s script was lacking. Hayley addressed the audience, breaking the wall, but Rebeck never really allowed her to connect with the audience. Director Melissa Rayford kept the pace moving, and I enjoyed Bavolack’s effortless familiarity with the material, but the script just seemed to lack consistency and did not take advantage of opportunities to connect more closely with the audience.

Speaking of inconsistencies, the set (I did not see a designer credit) featured a single bed with a nice comforter and a comfortable looking hassock, but the dressing table and chair were scarred and battered, and Hayley’s closet was just a metal clothing rack. A simple black curtain separated Hayley’s room from the rest of the apartment which seemed to be a dark, windowless space that could have been in a basement. I would have expected at least a nice rug and painted walls for a woman who was managing a successful restaurant. This threadbare setting made the line, “Brooklyn, it’s not as bad as you think it is,” seem quite odd. Later, describing a scene in a Manhattan police station, Hayley says, “What we see on television is really quite accurate.” The same cannot be said of Bad Dates. It is quite amusing, but somewhat less than accurate.

Julinda D. Lewis is a dancer, teacher, and writer who was born in Brooklyn, NY and now lives in Eastern Henrico County.

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Photo Credits: Destiny Martinez Photography

Women's Theatre Festival.1 — The Women’s Theatre Festival Team

PINOCCHIO: Bright and Shining Son

Pinocchio: The Nose Knows

A Theater Review by Julinda D. Lewis (with input from Emmitt, Kingston & Soleil)

At: Virginia Rep’s Children’s Theatre at Willow Lawn; 1601 Willow Lawn Drive, RVA 23230

Performances: Mach 29 – May 5, 2019

Ticket Prices: $21

Info: (804) 282-2620 or virginiarep.org

The third production of the Virginia Rep Children’s season at Willow Lawn is the children’s classic Pinocchio. I’m glad I usually take children with me to these shows, because our perspectives are often vastly different.

First, a disclaimer. I am truly glad that Pinocchio is played by a real person, Bridget Sindelar, who last appeared on this stage as Ginny/Little Blue in The Little Engine That Could. I find articulated marionettes creepy – almost as creepy as ventriloquist dummies. Sindelar adopted a herky jerky walk, like a windup toy about to wind down, with uplifted elbows to mimic the posture of a marionette.

Sunday afternoon found a nearly full house for this show, with book, lyrics, and direction by Bruce Craig Miller, who will soon start his new job as head of the Chesterfield Cultural Arts Foundation. Running a little under one hour with no intermission, Pinocchio is recommended for ages 4 and up, and that seems about right. There were a few criers in the audience, but most of the young attendees were enthralled. My 4-year-old grandson Emmitt was fully attentive. As always, he is especially fond of the musical numbers. His favorite was “The Eating Song.”

When asked which characters he liked the most, his first response was the Blue Fairy (played by Renee McGowan) but then he changed it to Pinocchio. He also did not hesitate to let his mom know that he did not like the scene where Pinocchio got tied up with a noose. (It might have been around that time that he moved from his seat to her lap.) The set, by Terrie Powers, also caught his attention, “It looks like a real city,” he said in unsolicited awe shortly after we took our seats.

Kingston, at 10, is the more seasoned theater-goer, but he liked the entire show, especially Tevin Davis as the Fox and Eve Marie Tuck as the Cat. He did not have any problem with the rope scene or even with what I saw as totally improbable, illogical, and unsubstantiated scenes and events. Their mom, Soleil, who between the ages of 7-17 spent more time on stages than in theater seats, acknowledged the inconsistencies, but was most struck that this version of Pinocchio reminded her of the book of classic fairy tales her father and I had bought for her and her siblings. One scene she reminisced about was the scene where Pinocchio and his father Geppetto are reunit4ed in the belly of a giant dogfish – a scenario I did not remember at all. So, thank you, family, for your input. I appreciate your perspectives, but do not fully agree.

From my perspective, I found Bridget Sindelar charming as Pinocchio, but I was repelled by Pinocchio’s bratty behavior. I, too, was enamored of Tevin Davis’s Fox, a rakish character who seemed to have adopted some of the mannerisms of a 1970s Blaxploitation movie pimp. Geppetto, played by Landon Dufrene, seemed underdeveloped, as was the relationship between Geppetto and Pinocchio. The jump from freshly carved puppet to a runaway puppet to real boy was sudden and lacking in explanation. Okay, I know it’s a fairy tale, so logic isn’t required, but still, it seemed to me as if chunks of the story were missing. This is why I think it’s helpful to attend a children’s show with children – especially if I’m going to write about it. They weren’t bothered by, in fact didn’t even notice, any of the things I found lacking or distracting.

Over all, Miller kept the pacing swift but smooth; the time passed quickly. The cast performed with energy and enthusiasm, often making light contact with the audience, asking a question or pointing to a child or two to include them in the decision making process. I liked the opening, with the actors switching between English and Italian to set the scene – but they dropped that after the opening scene. The costumes by Marcia Miller Halley were quite well done and enhanced the fairy tale atmosphere while complementing Powers’ colorful little village set design.

Pinocchio delighted its intended audience and is largely devoid of the double entendre that so many playwrights cleverly insert into children’s plays, apparently in an attempt to keep the attention of the accompanying adults. Like most good children’s tales, there is an underlying lesson or two. In this case, the messages that are woven throughout are about telling the truth and not being afraid to grow up.

Sensory Friendly Performances

A Sensory Friendly family performance will be offered on Saturday, April 27, 2019 at 10:30 a.m. Please see the website for more details: http://va-rep.org/sensory_friendly.html

Audio Described Performances

In collaboration with Virginia Voice, Virginia Rep is pleased to offer Audio Described performances, in which actions, expressions and gestures are described during gaps between dialogue throughout the performance for patrons with low vision or blindness. In addition to live audio description during performances, patrons are also invited to participate in a tactile tour before the performance. An Audio Described performance will be offered on Sunday, April 7, 2019 at 2 p.m. Please see the website for more details: https://va-rep.org/access_for_the_blind.html

Performance Schedule

Evening performances at 7:00 p.m. on select Fridays

Matinee performances at 2:00 p.m. every Saturday and Sunday

Matinee performances at 10:30 a.m. on select Saturdays

Julinda D. Lewis is a dancer, teacher, and writer who was born in Brooklyn, NY and now lives in Eastern Henrico County.

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Photo Credits: Aaron Sutten

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SHORTS 2019: Small Plays with Dance Make Big Impact

K DANCE PRESENTS SHORTS: Short Plays & Contemporary Dance

A Dance & Theater Review by Julinda D. Lewis

At: The Firehouse Theatre, 1609 W. Broad St, RVA 23220

Performances: March 28-30, 2019 at 7:30pm & March 30 at 4:00pm

Ticket Prices: $25 general; $15 for RAPT (RVA Theatre Alliance) & Students

Info: (804) 270-4944 or firehousetheatre.org

K Dance’s 2019 production of Shorts, five short plays interwoven with choreography by Kaye Weinstein Gary, challenged performers to express themselves through words and dance and treated the audience to a delightfully diverse evening of performances. Now in its seventh year, the Shorts brand appears to have been refined and enhanced in terms of timing (the program ran just under 90 minutes, including intermission), talent (there were some new faces and bodies onstage and off), and technical aspects (the lighting, sound design, and costuming seemed particularly creative).

Jacqueline Jones directed two of the small plays. “Chicks (Biology Etc. Day 3)” written by Grace McKeany featured Dean Knight as Miss Mary Margaret Phallon (I’m surprised he wasn’t Sister Mary Margaret) as a Kindergarten teacher giving life lessons on wholly inappropriate topics, such as sex and adult deception. The lesson relied on word play that resulted in double entendre and other age-inappropriate pronouncements. Knight, by the way, looked the part in what I’ll call light drag – a simple dress and conservative wig.

Jones also directed one of the more serious scenarios of the program. “Just Before the Drop” written by David-Matthew Barnes, featured Kaye Weinstein Gary and Andrew Etheridge in a weird and strangely touching story about a wife who first meets her husband’s male lover right after the husband has jumped to his death from the roof of a building. The encounter occurs on the roof top after the police and ambulance and nosy neighbors have left, and between the delicate steps of a deadly dance discuss which of them will keep their loved one’s shoes.

Luke Schares and Patrick Rooney contributed perhaps the funniest moments of evening as a pair of cockroach brothers who, along with a lone critic, were the only survivors of an apocalypse that apparently occurred in and around a struggling theater. Surrounded by trash and a gigantic candy bar wrapper, the two wore hilariously accurate cockroach costumes – complete with extra legs and arching antenna – designed by Kylie Clark. Reminiscent of the adults in “Peanuts” cartoons who are represented only be a saxophone sound, the critic was represented by a piggish grunt. (“They were not looking in your direction,” a friend reassured me after the show.) This humorous tale by Jacquelyn Reingold bears the improbable title of “Joe and Stew’s Theatre of Brotherly Love and Financial Success.”

But wait, there’s more. The lovely and lithe Mara Elizbeth Barrett and Tim Herrman warily negotiated the roles of a couple attempting to reunite after some sort of unspecified absence or separation. Andrew Etheredge directed the piece which effortlessly integrated contemporary dance movements into the fabric of the story and speaking of fabric, he also designed the actor/dancers’ patterned bodysuits. This was the one play that left me with unanswered questions. Why did they break up? Why did he come back? Without some background information or additional context, “In Transit,” written by Steve McMahon, was decidedly unfulfilling.

Thankfully, this was not the final play. That honor was saved for “The Closet,” by Aoise Stratford. “The Closet” gave us an inside look at abandoned toys. Etheredge, a gruff-voiced toy dinosaur named Bernard was the senior resident of the closet, along with Twinkles, a simple-minded and somewhat annoying “Tubby” toy names Twinkles, played by Katherine Wright with a vertical red pony tail. (You might want to Google “tubby toys” to get the full effect.) These two abandoned toys were joined by a reluctant Bart Sponge (Round Trousers), played by Dean Knight in a button down shirt and khaki shorts with suspenders. Like every good movie villain, he pleaded his innocence until Bernard/Etheredge pulled a confession out of him – thanks to his cigarette fueled gravelly voice, no doubt.

Even though Shorts is a dance theater experience, like most Richmond dance programs it has a short run (no pun intended) of just a few days, so if you’d like to see it – and I think you should – don’t hesitate but purchase your tickets and go – just do it!

Julinda D. Lewis is a dancer, teacher, and writer who was born in Brooklyn, NY and now lives in Eastern Henrico County.

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Photo Credits: Sarah Ferguson

Andrew Etheredge and Kaye Weinstein Gary

Dean Knight, Andrew Etheredge, Kaye Weinstein Gary, Maa Elizabeth Barrett, Tim Herrman, and Luke Schares

WOMEN’S THEATRE FESTIVAL: A Warm Memoir

WOMEN’S THEATRE FESTIVAL: Pretty Fire

A Theater Review by Julinda D. Lewis

At: TheatreLab, The Basement, 300 E. Broad St, RVA 23219

Performances: March 27, March 31, April 6, April 12, April 17, 2019

Ticket Prices: $25 general admission; $20 for RAPT card holders; $15 for students

Info: (804) 359-2003 or 5thwalltheatre.org

5^th Wall Theatre (Carol Piersol) and TheatreLAB (Deejay Gray) have joined forces once again, this time to co-produce the Women’s Theatre Festival, featuring 4 shows in 4 weeks by 4 companies. The festival opened Wednesday, March 27, with 5^th Wall Theatre’s production of Charlayne Woodard’s 1995 autobiographical work, Pretty Fire, directed by Piersol starring Haliya Roberts.

I first remember seeing Haliya Roberts last fall in the Heritage Ensemble production of Living in the Key of B Unnatural. Then she caught my attention again with a strong performance as the assistant producer of a radio show, Linda MacArthur, in the 5^th Wall Theatre production, Talk Radio earlier this year. Roberts has raised the bar and moved to a whole new level with her stellar performance in Pretty Fire.

Woodard’s one-woman play is a warm and familiar memoir of a black woman who, wonder of wonders, grew up in a strong, loving family just outside of Albany, NY – with both parents and two sets of grandparents. The story begins with Charlayne’s premature birth in the family’s bathroom on a snowy winter night. For those who are not familiar with upstate New York, Albany is quite rural. The baby weighed less than two pounds and the doctors had little hope that she would survive the night. She was “blue black and fuzzy” and her fingers were still webbed but her paternal grandfather found the hospital chaplain, went to the chapel, and prayed with confidence and conviction.

Roberts takes ownership of this character so that, as one friend said after the opening, it would be hard to imagine anyone else playing this role. Piersol has staged this show very simply, with just a bench and some lights (credit Erin Barclay) and some very effective and well-placed sound effects (Kelsey Cordrey is the Festival sound designer). I don’t know what Piersol told Roberts, or how much guidance she provided, but whatever it was, it was just right.

Roberts mastered the little girl’s voice, the grandmother’s testimonials and hallelujahs and the mother’s sometimes unconventional and unexpected words of wisdom. She also captured the history and anecdotes with authenticity and accuracy. Her recounting of taking a bath with her younger sister in a large tin tub in her maternal grandmother’s home in Georgia brought back memories of my own childhood, taking baths in a similar tub in my great-aunt’s house on the Eastern Shore of Virginia. The water had to be obtained from a spigot (or in my case, from the backyard pump) and then heated on top of the kitchen stove before being poured lovingly into the tub set on the kitchen or dining room floor.

The revelation of her secret – being bullied and molested by a neighbor who lived between her house and the local grocery store – brought me to the edge of my seat, ready to seek revenge on her behalf. But Pretty Fire isn’t about abuse or defeat; it is positive, uplifting, life-affirming – and there are only four more chances to see it!

BTW, playwright Charlayne Woodard, may be familiar to some as an actress who appeared in the Tony Award-winning Broadway show Ain’t Misbehavin’ and on television in the recurring roles of Janice on The Fresh Prince of Bel Air and Sister Peg, the nun with a mission for prostitutes and junkies, on Law and Order: SVU (2002-2011).

Julinda D. Lewis is a dancer, teacher, and writer who was born in Brooklyn, NY and now lives in Eastern Henrico County.

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Photo Credits:

Haliya Roberts

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BRIGHT STAR: A Bluegrass Musical

BRIGHT STAR: If You Knew My Story

A Theater Review by Julinda D. Lewis

At: Swift Creek Mill Theatre, 17401 Jefferson Davis Highway, Colonial Heights, VA 23834

Performances: March 23 – May 11, 2019

Ticket Prices: $40 Theater only; $57 Dinner & Theater

Info: (804) 748-5203 or swiftcreekmill.com

Bright Star is a refreshingly different kind of musical with a lively bluegrass score. Written and composed by Steve Martin (yes, THAT Steve Martin) and Edie Brickell (a singer-songwriter who is married to singer-songwriter Paul Simon), Bright Star was preceded by Martin and Brickell’s Grammy Award winning bluegrass album, “Love Has Come for You” (2013).

Based on a true incident – the gruesome story of “The Iron Mountain Baby,” who was tossed from a moving train in 1902 – Bright Star premiered in San Diego in 2014 and had a short run on Broadway in 2016. The toe-tapping score, under the very capable musical direction of Paul Deiss and the alternately heart-warming and heart-rending story of love, loss, forgiveness, and redemption make Bright Star a perfect vehicle for the Swift Creek Mill stage.

Megan Tatum’s choreography, which ranged from a square dance to the Charleston, interjected many enjoyable moments, and Tom Width’s direction kept the cast moving along at a good pace as they moved props and repeatedly skipped from 1945-46 back to 1923-24.

Grey Garrett brought a strong voice and an amiable charm to the lead role of Alice Murphy – a woman definitely ahead of her time – and Jim Morgan brought more depth to the complementary role of Jimmy Ray Dobbs – the man who loved her – than the script seemed to call for. I also enjoyed Jacqueline O’Connor and Ray Green as Alice’s parents, and took particular notice of Carlen Kernish as Daryl, the adult Ms. Murphy’s assistant, and of Jon Cobb as Daddy Cane.

But not even a solid cast, good acting, and tight direction could help with the patchy structure of the scenes. The program required notes almost like the synopsis that comes with a three-act ballet or an opera in a foreign language to keep up with the 26 scenes in two acts. Maura Lynch Cravey’s costumes were lovely, especially the mostly pastel and muted shirt-waist and dropped-waist dresses for the women, but they didn’t help distinguish the sometimes rapid changes between decades.

Tom Width also designed the set, a simple, rustic, multi-leveled, indoor/outdoor shell with fences rails and chairs and a table with multiple pre-set tops which the actors rearranged to indicate a home, a porch, an office, a bookshop, and various other locations. From where I sat, front row on the right, Joe Doran’s lighting unfortunately often created a glare that obscured the actors’ faces, but the smaller, decorative lights and the train – with full lighting and sound effects (was this thanks to Jason “Blue” Herbert’s technical direction?) added to the overall charm of this musical – even during moments meant to break your heart.

[On a side note: Tom Width announced that the Swift Creek Mill restaurant’s pickled watermelon rind – a buffet favorite – is now available to take home from the gift shop! Yum.]

Julinda D. Lewis is a dancer, teacher, and writer who was born in Brooklyn, NY and now lives in Eastern Henrico County.

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Photo Credits: Robyn O’Neill

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BROADWAY BOUND: On the Brink

BROADWAY BOUND: Brighton Beach Revisited

A Theater Review by Julinda D. Lewis

At: Virginia Repertory Theatre at Hanover Tavern, 13181 Hanover Courthouse Road, Hanover, VA 23069

Performances: March 15 – April 28, 2019

Ticket Prices: $44

Info: (804) 282-2620 or www.virginiarep.org

Neil Simon’s Broadway Bound, the third in his semi-autobiographical trilogy about Eugene Jerome and his family, is a heartwarming story that tackles real-life issues. In the hands of director Steve Perigard, who also directed the first part of this trilogy on this same stage in 2016, along with this talented cast – many of whom also appeared in Brighton Beach Memoirs, it is a masterful piece of storytelling. It is some years later, and the brothers are trying to break into comedy writing. They finally get their big break, and just as things begin to work out for them, things begin to fall apart for their parents.

Running about two hours and fifteen minutes, with one intermission, the story unfolds in a leisurely manner that allows the dialogue – and there is a lot of dialogue – to unfold in a natural manner; it almost feels as if we are reminiscing about family matters or listening in on our elders – which young Eugene and his grandfather, Ben, do frequently – who pretend they do not know we can hear them.

Tyler Stevens, who first caught my attention as an actor in Brighton Beach Memoirs, has returned in the role of Eugene, the younger son of the Jerome family of Brighton Beach*. He also narrates the story. If anything, he has grown stronger and brings even more to this character than before. Eugene’s thoughts on intimacy are mature beyond his years and strike a contrast with many of the indecisive comments he often makes when talking to his brother. CJ Bergin makes his Virginia Rep debut as older brother Stanley, and he ably captured Stanley’s enthusiasm as well as his moments of doubt, but he did not seem to wear his role as comfortably as Stevens. Perhaps because I held such fond memories of Stevens in the role of Eugene, this contrast was more palpable.

Jill Bari Steinberg stepped back into her role as the mother, Kate, like a favorite pair of house slippers. Her need to nurture and even her eccentricities are familiar. Jewish mother, Italian mother, Greek mother, black mother, universal mother – Kate is not a caricature, but a memory. One of the most touching scenes occurs when Kate reminisces with her son about her youth, her love of dancing, and how she finagled an opportunity to dance with 1930s and 40s film star and noted dancer, George Raft. Steinberg and Stevens dance together – mother and son – and time stands still. Eugene later narrates how awkward such an intimate moment with one’s mother can be and this, too, feels authentic.

One cannot mention memories without noting that Jeff Clevenger stepped into the role of Kate’s husband, Jack – a role that had previously been performed by the late Andrew C. Boothby, to whose memory this production has been dedicated. Clevenger managed to bring humanity and depth to Jack. Yes, Jack betrayed his wife and family, but he was also a loyal friend to his former lover, staying by her side through an unnamed terminal illness, and his sons loved him. Like real life, things are not just black and white.

The cast also included Ken Moretti, also making his Virginia Rep debut as Ben, Eugene’s grandfather and Kate’s father. Ben clings to the past, and his socialist beliefs, and while he is not demonstrative, he fiercely loves his daughter and grandsons. Moretti more than adequately reveals these qualities, often with his posture and actions rather than with words. Sara Collazo, another returning cast member, rounded out the cast – and the family – as Kate’s sister, Blanche, who married up the social ladder, much to the dismay of her father, Ben.

Terrie Powers’ multi-level set is divided into four separate spaces: the brothers’ bedrooms upstairs and a comfortably nondescript living room and dining room downstairs, with doors leading to the kitchen and the front entrance. The black metal mailbox on the door-frame and the mezuzah (prayer scroll) that Jeff touched – one of his few tender acts – on entering through the door could have been taken from my grandmother’s house in Brooklyn where I grew up. (No, we were not Jewish, but the previous owners of our house were.)

Lighting by R. Jonathan Shelley further defined the spaces, and Corbin White provided the sound design, which seemed a bit uneven on opening night. (There was one effect in act one that startled me; I wasn’t sure if it was a toilet flushing or the nearby train rumbling by.) Sue Griffin costumed the men in neatly creased trousers, dress shirts, and fedoras. Jack sported suspenders. Kate wore a uniform of modest, printed house dresses with coordinating sweaters and a pair of open toed casual wedges that looked identical to the ones my grandmother wore. And as a born Brooklynite, the Jerome family’s accents sounded nostalgically familiar.

Broadway Bound certainly addresses the brothers’ show biz dreams, even including a lengthy radio show excerpt, but the focus is on the people and their relationships and that is what makes this a fitting offering for the Acts of Faith theatre festival and a memorable drama you will think about long after the final bow.

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*For non-New Yorkers: Brighton Beach is a part of the Borough of Brooklyn, which is part of the City of New York. But for people in Brooklyn – as well as the other “outer” boroughs of Queens, Staten Island, and The Bronx, going into Manhattan is called going to “the City.”

Julinda D. Lewis is a dancer, teacher, and writer who was born in Brooklyn, NY and now lives in Eastern Henrico County.

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Photo Credits: Aaron Sutten

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PRIDE AND PREJUDICE: And Proposals of Marriage

PRIDE AND PREJUDICE: “People Who Do Not Complain Are Never Pitied”

A Theater Review by Julinda D. Lewis

By: Quill Theatre

At: Leslie Cheek Theater at the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, 200 N. Boulevard, RVA 23220

Performances: March 8-24, 2019

Ticket Prices: $30 Adults; $25 VMFA Members & Seniors 65+; $20 Students (with ID)

Info: (804) 340-1405, quilltheatre.org or https://reservations.vmfa.museum/

The Quill production of Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice, adapted for the stage by Christina Calvit, is quite possibly the most fun I’ve ever had at a Quill production. Running just over two hours, the show is a delightful comedic romp that follows the trials and tribulations of Mr. and Mrs. Bennett as they – well, mostly Mrs. Bennett – try to find husbands for their five unmarried daughters.

Calvit has limited the novel’s multiple subplots and kept the story fairly simple and easy to follow, as is the language, and director Christopher Owens keeps the cast moving at a fair pace that is upbeat and maintains the classic character and deportment. Jeremy Gershman’s Regency era choreography adds an element of cultural authenticity while keeping the cast literally moving along at bubbly pace.

Irene Kuykendall and Axle Burtness have the lead roles of Elizabeth, the Bennett’s smart, beautiful, and stubbornly independent second daughter, and Mr. Darcy, the tall, handsome, and arrogant stranger who steals her heart. In one of the early ballroom scenes, the two admirably kept their conversation going while dancing, without missing a syllable or a step. If you’re looking for well-roundedness or depth of character, I don’t think you’ll find it here, but that’s not necessarily a shortcoming – just an observation of the adaptation’s purpose and the director’s vision. The comedic pacing was fine, while the characters’ chemistry was not developed in a way that made their ultimate passion convincing.

Kuykendall and Burtness may have had the lead roles, but Melissa Johnston Price commanded several scenes, first as the openly gold-digging mother, Mrs. Bennett, and then as the demanding matriarchal patron, Lady Catherine Debourgh – the aunt of Mr. Darcy. If Kuykendall and Burtness did some fancy stepping on the dance floor, Price did some fancy quick changes from Mrs. Bennett’s matronly dress, that resembled nothing so much as wallpaper, to Lady Debourgh’s elaborately layered widow’s weeds and cane. Price sums up Mrs. Bennett’s character with one line: “People who do not complain are never pitied.” (For Lady Debourgh, one might paraphrase that to, “People who do not bully others are never feared,” but that carries much less panache.)

Joe Pabst, in the quadruple roles of Mr. Bennett, Sir William, Colonel Forster, and Fitzwilliam was also no slouch in the quick change department. I’m sure kudos are due to unnamed backstage assistants. Pabst seemed to enjoy his roles as much as the audience, but I found his delivery of my favorite line a bit too subtle. When Elizabeth declines the proposal of Mr. Collins, her father asks if she understands that “your mother will never see you again if you don’t marry him. . .and I will never see you again if you do.” Here, it might be helpful to know that she is the daughter who spends the most time with her father, apparently helping him with the family’s business.

We learn more about Elizabeth and Jane, the second eldest and eldest, respectively, and the headstrong youngest daughter, Lydia, but very little about the other two – Kitty and Mary.

Tradition dictates that the eldest, Jane, played by Maggie Quick, must marry first, but Lydia, played with great energy and enthusiasm by Annie McElroy, has no regard for tradition, and places the family name in jeopardy with her impetuous actions. Mary, who is traditionally described as the plainest in looks, is played by the lovely Allison Gilman, and Kitty, gets so little attention that the considerable comedic skills of Nicole Morris-Anastasi are sadly underutilized.

I also enjoyed Joel White’s portrayal of the obsequious cousin and heir, Mr. Collins, whose annoying speech quirk of adding “mmmmm” in the spaces between words while gesturing as if holding a large, invisible hat with a large feather are strangely endearing. As Mrs. Bennett’s brother-in-law, Mr. Gardiner, he is the picture of manners and gentility. And I must include a brief mention of Audrey Sparrow and Ethan Cross, two high students who played the role of servants – welcome to the company of Quill Theatre.

Reed West designed the set, which contains many architectural elements that rotate to create the various environments, with the support of lighting by Gregg Hillmar. Patricia Wesp designed the costumes, which I thought were much more elaborate and well-constructed for the men than for the women. While the daughters generally had dresses appropriate for the unmarried young women of a gentleman of little means, Mrs. Bennett’s shapeless dress was dangerously close to resembling a flannel nightgown. Several members of the Regency Society of Virginia attended Saturday’s performance wearing period attire that rivaled that of the actors onstage.

Pride and Prejudice is a delightful production of a classic love story that reminds us that the more things change, the more they stay the same. It’s become a classic for a reason: we recognize these people; it appeals to a wide range of ages; it crosses class; and it addresses real problems with humor. Pride and Prejudice has a run of only ten shows, so don’t hesitate if you like to see it.

Julinda D. Lewis is a dancer, teacher, and writer who was born in Brooklyn, NY and now lives in Eastern Henrico County.

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Photo Credits: Photos not available at the time of publication.

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