WOBT: "Messiah on the Frigidaire"

Now in its eighth season, and with updated lighting equipment, Prattville's Way Off Broadway Theatre is currently showing Messiah on the Frigidaire, a comedy by John Culbertson co-directed by Stacey Little and Laura Morrison.

Set in a trailer park in a small South Carolina town, an image of what looks like Jesus [or is it Willie Nelson?] appears one night on the front-porch refrigerator of LouAnn and Dwayne Hightower [Dana Morrison and Wes Milton]. -- But, this shadow does not have the sensational appeal of other such apparitions with their bleeding or crying faces and associated "miracles": people who have been cured of disease or who have made life-changing decisions through associations with them.

So, what is this couple to do? Beset with failed dreams and disappointments in the ordinariness of their lives, Dwayne hatches a scheme to exploit their assumed good fortune by inventing a scenario that is published in the "National Investigator" newspaper, getting them into the national spotlight.

Conscripting neighbor Betsy Gridley [Hollie Pursifull] to pose as Regina Gomez, they soon have thousands of religious fanatic tourists responding to Regina's ever developing testimonials to the impact of the image of Jesus on the Frigidaire.

And a local preacher [Christopher Howard] and businessman [Zach McGough] support the enterprise in bilking the tourists as an economic stimulus for the town despite its obvious flim-flamming.

The comic potential is enhanced by recognizable character types and a good sense of Southern speech and mannerisms that the ensemble cast manage credibly. Numerous laugh-out-loud moments punctuate this two-hour production.

There are few surprises at the final outcome -- good will triumph over evil, after all -- yet along the way Culbertson's script shows us the humanity of the individual characters. They are not mere stereotypes, and there are more serious matters at hand, particularly for the threesome at the play's core.

Betsy's small-town reputation as the High School tramp follows her to adulthood, and Ms. Pursifull gives a feisty and outspoken portrayal; yet she is also shown to be the most stalwart of true friends and a person whose conscience will not allow her to continue the hoax when it injures others.

LouAnn's dilemma -- whether to stand by her man and his money-making scheme or to insist on doing the right thing even if it jeopardizes their marriage -- is given a sensitive conflicted characterization by Ms. Morrison...not an easy task to balance; yet her comfortable naturalistic voice and mannerisms keep her grounded in a truthful performance.

Dwayne's lackadaisical good-old-boy temperament is energized by the potential offered in a get-rich-quick scheme. Once a man who was "always thinking", he has become a victim of unfulfilled dreams and will grasp at anything to get himself out of this rut. Mr. Milton's frustrations in the role are almost tangible, and when LouAnn and Dwayne ultimately choose to do the right thing, their mutual relief and resolve shows them to be the classy people they dream of being, even thought they remain in the trailer-park.

So yes -- class is not determined by money or social level, everyone can enjoy life by just letting things happen, we all get distracted at one time or another, our potentials can be achieved by persistence, and love is a strong ally.

ASF World Premier: "Nobody"

After two years in development through the Southern Writers' Project, Richard Aellen's provocative play "Nobody" is being given its World Premier in the Octagon Theatre at the Alabama Shakespeare Festival. A nearly full house rose to its feet at the conclusion of Sunday's opening performance. Spilling out into the lobby for a reception, conversations were intense and candid as the audience grappled with the play's themes and challenges...just one of the things that makes live theatre exciting and important.

Set in the late 19th and early part of the 20th Century, "Nobody" traces the lives of two actual African-American vaudevillians, out of work and almost out of hope. Bert Williams [James Bowen] and George Walker [Sean Blake] meet in San Francisco and decide to team up and make their mark in the business. Williams is introspective and wants a career as a "serious" actor, playing Shakespearean roles; Walker is a ladies man and more brash, intending to make a lot of money by dazzling audiences with his quick wit. Neither is quite ready for the reality that faces them: they will only be considered for playing the stereotypical and degrading "Coon" roles; that is, until they decide to play in minstrel shows in burnt-cork Blackface, billing themselves as "Two Real Coons," a choice that leaves few alternatives from then on.

Aellen's script makes good use of historical facts, merging them into his dialogue to establish authenticity, while telling a poignant story of the sacrifices to personal dignity made in order to achieve professional success. -- It is true, for example, that their major success was a production of "In Dahomey", the first major musical on Broadway with an all African-American company, including Paul Laurence Dunbar as lyricist and Will Marian Cook as composer, establishing all of them as household names, with Bert lauded as "the funniest man [white or black] on Broadway". It is true also that Bert was the first and only African-American to perform in the famous "Zeigfeld Follies"...and not in Blackface.

Their lives off-stage where they can drop the facades necessary for performance success help us to comprehend the struggles they faced in a world that regarded them as second-class citizens. Bert's wife Lottie [Erika LaVonn] and George's wife Ada [Angela K. Thomas] provide the strength to pursue the men's goals, often by gentle proddings or occasionally by defiant in-your-face confrontations. It is through them that we see the men's choices, compromises, and achievements even more clearly.

On-stage, they are forever trapped in degrading caricatures; off-stage it is different. They can afford expensive homes and clothes, taking their place in the upwardly mobile African-American community, and George has his pick of women [including a white showgirl named Eva (Margaret Loesser Robinson)] to satisfy his sexual cravings, giving them a sense of success that is, however, not enough, and the source of the conflicts that threaten their professional partnership and their marriages.

As a kind of Greek Chorus, the roles of Tambo and Bones are played by Gerrit VanderMeer and Jonathan C. Kaplan [they play assorted other roles as well] -- white men in Blackface, and a standard minstrel show double-act that exaggerated the behavior of Blacks, showing them to be simple, shuffling dullards and the brunt of degrading jokes. -- What Aellen's script does, however, is to show them as reflections of Williams and Walker and of societal changes; as the two real men achieve success, Tambo's and Bones' Blackface disguise deteriorates and their own confidence in telling jokes dwindles to meaningless dribble.

Performed on a bare set comprised of platforms, and an upstage area that houses a piano [Joel C. Jones] and drumset [Brett Rominger] and a vaudeville stage area, the play allows audiences to focus on character and conflict.

Songs that made the Williams & Walker duo famous are intertwined with the plot to showcase their abilities and to comment on the prejudices against them. "Bon Bon Buddy (the chocolate drop)", the "cakewalk", and "Jonah Man" all contribute to the one dimensional perception of Blacks in America while simultaneously showing us the effect they have on those very people they caricature. Characterizations emerge under Tim Rhoze's capable direction as thoroughly credible human beings caught in situations over which they have little or no control. And the title song -- "Nobody" -- incongruously shows both the stereotype and the determination to not be defined by it.

Wetumpka Depot: Congratulations

The Wetumpka Depot Players represented the State of Alabama at the Southeastern Theatre Conference's "Community Theatre Festival" last week. -- They returned with the "Mass Congeniality Award" for their efforts.
Congratulations to the Depot Players for excellence in performance and for so finely representing Alabama.