Theatre AUM: "On the Verge"

Eric Overmyer's On the Verge [or the geography of yearning] hasn't been seen in Montgomery since the Alabama Shakespeare Festival's brilliant production a few decades ago; but Theatre AUM, under Neil David Seibel's carefully nuanced direction, has mounted a remarkable show that challenges actors and audience as they come to grips with the adventures of three Victorian women explorers trekking through terra incognita [the unknown] both in space and in time.

The challenges come in many guises: except for a quick costume change, each of the three women is on-stage for the intermissionless hour and forty minutes; the script is clever and at times erudite in its mix of colloquial and esoteric language, and there are countless anachronistic references in it; the women encounter a wide variety of bizarre characters whose appearances challenge credibility; their journey begins in 1888 and takes them to 2022; popular culture references bridge through the time periods; and the play presents themes about independent women, the risks we take in our quest for knowledge, and how we contribute to the future of the human race -- in short, the actors have to be at the top of their game, and audiences need to pay strict attention to all the details that pass by so quickly.

Youthful Alex [Yahzane Palmer] often confuses the meanings of words and is curious about new opportunities for women; Fanny [Tabitha Neyerlin] is the more traditionally proper Victorian woman; Mary [Karian Warrington] documents everything and is the most used to traveling solo; together, this trio serves to compliment each other, bringing out the best in their companions while developing their mutual means to press forward despite the obstacles in their way.

The encounters with several characters [Overmyer's original plan was to have a single actor play all the roles, though in the AUM production they are distributed among individual actors] drive them forward from 1888 to 1955 to today, challenging their beliefs and either assisting or placing obstacles in their way.

Mike Winkelman's multi-leveled set is complimented by Val Winkelman's period and quirky costumes and Brandon Baggin's evocative sound design; together with an array of props and witty and informative [though uncredited] projections, they complete the collaborative project.

There is hope at the end of the women's journey through terra incognita, and while we might not know what lies ahead, we are continually on the verge of discovery -- about the world and about ourselves -- and that is exciting.

ASF: Freedom Rider"

Another "World Premier" at the Alabama Shakespeare Festival, and with a total of only twelve performances, Freedom Rider opened in front of several of the original Freedom Riders and other dignitaries on Friday night. 

Co-produced with New Jersey's Crossroads Theatre Company, and directed by one of its founders, Ricardo Khan [his production of Fly at ASF in 2018 was a powerful depiction of the Tuskegee Airmen], this new play tracks the lives of these heroic Civil Rights activists in 1961 as they made the decision to protest segregated bus terminals and restrooms and lunch counters in the South, trained in non-violent behavior, and learned along their journey from Washington, DC to the Deep South that their mixed racial groups made a huge impact on both the movement and on their individual lives.

As our country has become so divisive on racial issues, it is imperative as ASF Artistic Director Rick Dildine reminded the opening night audience that "we have to tell our stories" lest they be forgotten or reduced to historical footnotes.

The episodic script is a collaborative effort by Mr. Khan, Kathleen McGhee-Anderson, Murray Horwitz, Nathan Louis Jackson, and Nikkole Salter. Filled with many familiar protest songs and period references, and with lengthy exposition that verges on a history lesson for audiences to absorb, its major strengths are demonstrated in intimate scenes between teenaged "riders" and their parents and peers where they are forced to confront their purposeful decisions to embark on the trip South and defend their need to carry on the legacy of their recent ancestors. -- What started for some of them as simply the right thing to do gradually becomes a more dangerous reality that will test their commitment as well as their purpose.

Played on Beowulf Boritt's open-space set with moveable furniture that accommodates numerous locations, with Myrna Colley-Lee's period costumes, and stunning archival projections by Katherine Freer, the production's simplicity allows us to concentrate on the serious events and the real people involved.

The acting ensemble representing the Freedom Riders, their families, and assorted people on both sides of the racial divide, are a fine-tuned group. Individual characters may be sympathetic or detestable, and their interactions garner appropriate reactions, but our attention is focused on the play's subject matter and the fact that these important accomplishments in the 1960s have yet to be completely resolved. As one character remarks: "What happens to us once the freedom fighters leave?" Stay tuned.

ASF: "Little Shop of Horrors"

Warning: "Don't feed the plants!" -- After a "sudden eclipse of the sun", the entire human race "suddenly encountered a deadly threat to its very existence". Quite an opening gambit in the Alabama Shakespeare Festival's dynamic production of the Howard Ashman and Alan Menken musical: Little Shop of Horrors.

Based on the 1986 film that took the Off-Off Broadway show into mainstream American consciousness, it recounts the story of nebbishy Seymour [Kelly Autry], who works at Mr. Mushnik's [Allen Fitzpatrick] "Skid Row" flower shop, alongside Audrey [Lauren Nicole Chapman]. Right after the "eclipse", Seymour discovers a mysterious plant he names Audrey II, being too shy to declare his attraction to Audrey, whose sadistic boyfriend Orin [Andrew Samonsky who plays several other roles as well] is a motorcycle-riding dentist who loves to inflict pain, both physical and emotional on everyone he encounters.

"Street Urchins" Chiffon [Elexis Morton], Crystal [Crystal Sha'nae], and Ronnette [Danea Osseni], reminiscent of "The Supremes" and other popular girl groups, serve as a kind of Greek Chorus, driving and participating in the action in song and witty dialogue, abetted by Lindsay Renea Benton's imaginative choreography. They are an exceptional trio.

And then, there's the plant: Audrey II -- designed by Monkey Boys Productions, voiced with growing sinister intent by Michael A. Shepperd who takes full advantage of the dark comedy in the script and lyrics, and masterfully manipulated by puppeteer J. Scott Grinstead in Audrey II's assorted iterations.

After all, Audrey II simply wants world domination, and utilizes cunning tricks on an unsuspecting Seymour, promising him fame, wealth, and the real Audrey's love in return for his cooperation. The catch is that Audrey II needs human blood in order to survive and grow and grow and grow; its voracious appetite eventually devours numerous characters despite Seymour's attempts to resist its demand to "Feed me".

And, while Little Shop of Horrors blithely and hilariously satirizes 20th Century science fiction, B-movies, and the traditions of musical comedy, one can't help but recognize a Faustian connection where a person sells his soul to the devil for temporary earthly rewards and its correlation to much of today's political spectrum.

The actors are a uniformly tight triple-threat ensemble of actors-singers-dancers, ably discovering subtle qualities in their various personae. We might gleefully hiss the villain Orin while we admire Mr. Samonsky's agility to somehow be likable at his demise in the song "NOW [It's Just the Gas]", eliciting spontaneous gasps and laughs; and he adapts so many other parts with equal clarity. "Mushnik and Son" shows Mr. Fitzpatrick's flexibility to demonstrate both the demanding and softer sides of his character. As romance builds between Seymour and Audrey, Ms. Chapman's tough exterior disintegrates in her touching rendition of "Somewhere That's Green", and their love duet "Suddenly Seymour" deserves its rapturous reception by the audience.

Confidently directed by Rick Dildine, the Octagon stage has been transformed to Mushnick's "Skid Row" flower shop and multi-level environs through Adam Koch's evocative detailed scenic design and Cory Pattak's inventive lighting design. Theresa Ham's by turns gritty and glamorous costumes enhance every moment. Lively Musical Direction by Joel Jones blends Motown, R&R, and Doo-Wop styles that are at once nostalgic and contemporary. Melanie Chen Cole's Sound Design blasts through the Octagon at every turn, complimenting the musical score and vocals, and keeping audience engagement. -- And a big shout-out to Katie An Siegel and the Stage Management team for smoothly co-ordinating the production's gargantuan technical cues.

ASF's production of Little Shop of Horrors is an example of Musical Theatre at its very best: an exceptional collaboration of a gifted company both on-stage and off.

Millbrook: "Deliver Us From Mama"

"Road trip...!" -- Mama's hitting the road again in the Jones-Hope-Wooten comedy Deliver Us From Mama, currently playing in Millbrook. -- For those who are familiar with the trio's Mama Won't Fly or Dearly Departed, prepare yourselves for raucous goings-on during the play's two acts.

Mama [Vicki Moses] and her daughter Savannah [Karla McGhee] travel cross-country from Birmingham, AL to Los Angeles, CA to surprise son Walker [Bill Rauch] and daughter-in-law Haley [Tracey Quates in voice-overs, though she never appears on stage] for the birth of a grandchild, only to find that Haley has gone to Mama's home; and now Mother and her two argumentative adult children are forced to drive back to the South in time for the delivery because an air traffic controllers strike has grounded planes.

On the way, they face a lot of obstacles: strange car mechanics, hippie wedding planners, storms, barge trips across the Mississippi River, eccentric family in New Orleans, and bossy hospital staff --- all these characters played by a coterie of actors in multiple roles apiece. -- John Chain, Marcella Willis, Logan Preston, Connor Carraway, Pat VanCor, Connie Morrow Carraway, and Pat McClelland manage quick costume changes and bizarre behaviors much to the audience's delight.

Stephanie McGuire directs with attention to the outlandish displays of the characters, and garners abundant laughs throughout the performance. -- Some tightening up on the sound and lighting cues could smooth out the sometimes lengthy scene changes, and a few members of the acting company speak so quickly that their lines are blurred and we miss the jokes.

And there is an important overall message mixed in with the silliness of Deliver Us From Mama: we all need to try to get along better, put aside our self-centered approach to life, and learn to live as family. Not bad advice.

Wetumpka Depot: "A Storm Came Up"

An important new play receiving spontaneous standing ovations has opened at the Wetumpka Depot. Kristy Meanor's assured adaptation of Doug Segrest's debut novel A Storm Came Up tackles sensitive subjects that were prominent in the Jim Crow South, issues that unfortunately are still too much with us.

Set in the fictitious town of Takasaw, Alabama in the 1960s, the racial divide and the Civil Rights Movement may be ancient history to some, but for those of us who lived through it, our collective memory will be triggered by this play.  

References to such things as George Wallace's "segregation forever" narrative and the deaths of the "four little girls" at Birmingham's 16th Street Baptist Church bombing, as well as various details of Alabama's rural places, keep the play's fiction firmly within the realm of possibility. And the presence of KKK members depicted on stage, and characters conflicted by the imminent de-segregation facing them, vividly show what many people might want to forget: that enablers can be just as guilty as overt racists in promoting hatred and bigotry.

We know the place and the people. And we ought to be uncomfortable with its truth-telling, despite the misinformed Critical Race Theory rhetoric from some of our leaders.

The plot centers on the lives of three teenage friends -- boys who witnessed a brutal murder of a Black man, and who promised to keep it secret for the rest of their lives out of fear of repercussions. Cousins Braxton [David Shelnutt] and Andy [Jay Russell] are white, and Moses [Drey Wingate] is Black. They seem to be living an idyllic life, but the times are changing.

A few years after that traumatizing event, the world is transforming around them: a bi-racial committee has been organized to propose among other things that the local high school be integrated. Some of Takasaw's citizens resist change peacefully while others are in denial regarding their own deep-rooted prejudices; and others are active Klan members. The boys' individual actions that go beyond their adolescent dreams of football victories or romantic conquests impact their families and friends as they are confronted by the choices they will have to make in order to survive into adulthood.

The plot is narrated by Rufus [Tony Davison], the local gravedigger who serves as a kind of all-knowing and ever-present Greek Chorus. Ms. Meanor cleverly intertwines non-dramatic narration with Rufus' gradual direct participation in the story, and Mr. Davison keeps a calm note amidst the two acts' growing tension.

Ms. Meanor directs her cadre of actors who create credibly detailed characters in support of the main plot, and help illustrate the play's messages. -- There is no "star" in this production, rather, a fine tuned ensemble whose task it is to tell a nuanced story through their relationships and actions; and in this they succeed, by mixing serious and gently humorous moments that are true to life.

And she clearly trusts her audiences: the script does not flinch from using offensive racist language or adult subject matter, both of which are integral to honestly portraying these very real subjects; so while we may occasionally be jolted out of our comfort zones, we also can drop our objections and consider the weight that the past still imposes on our 21st Century behavior. 

We are clearly meant to take sides with the decent folks in Takasaw: Braxton's parents [Douglas Mitchell and Leslie Blackwell] and Moses's grandmother [Adele Burks] and mentally challenged brother [Johntavious Osborne] are people who live by a moral code in a world growing dirtier by the minute, pitted as they are against the hypocritical Klan leader [James Ward] and his ilk who have enticed Andy to join them in burning churches and meting out their form of terrorist justice on people of both races who resist them.

There are several scenes that sensitively show how Black and White families who have lived closely together as equals and who would come to one another's aid in times of need, might drift apart because no matter how close the friendship, they can never quite understand that race and racial discord impacts them differently.

Ms. Meanor and Mr. Segrest do not resolve the issue of racism in A Storm Came Up -- indeed, it is too much with us in 2022. But there is hope at the end of the play. Hope in second chances. Hope that if we agree to do what is right, we might emerge better. Hope that we should not be afraid of change. Hope that people can and ought to be judged by their character and not their skin color. Hope that we might be able to face a future without regret.

Cloverdale Playhouse: "Picasso at the Lapin Agile"

With today's worldwide tumultuous state of affairs, it seems that we could all use a good laugh. And the Cloverdale Playhouse delivers in spades as they open their COVID-cautious 11th Season with actor-comedian Steve Martin's outrageous Picasso at the Lapin Agile, its first appearance in the River Region since its debut in 1993.

Sam Wootten's stellar debut directing project since taking the helm as the Playhouse's Artistic Director is a fast moving, inventive 80-minute romp that taps into the improbable premise, the witty dialogue, and the headier themes of Martin's script. 

He is abetted by a collaborative design team -- J. Scott Grinstead/Set, Rebecca Huguet/Costume, Mike Winkelman/Lighting, Clyde Hancock/Sound -- whose combined efforts create a remarkable mise-en-scene for the actors to inhabit.

It's 1904 in Paris -- a fin de siecle moment almost at the end of "La Belle Epoque" -- set in a bohemian cafe called the Lapin Agile, where Martin imagines a meeting between Albert Einstein [Kevin Mohajerin] and Pablo Picasso [Kendrick Golson] when both geniuses were in their 20s and were on the brink of making/changing history with the "theory of relativity" and the tradition-breaking "cubist school of art". Their questioning of what the future holds, and their debate on whether science or art is the most important contributor to mankind's progress, ignites in Messers Mohajerin and Golson their characters' youthfully passionate defenses of their respective fields, yet they ultimately realize that they can live in harmony and align their ideas as a new way of looking at the world.

But, in comes larger-than-life "inventor" and self-proclaimed "genius" Schmendiman [John Selden] to steal their thunder as a third person needed to save the world through commercial enterprise as well as science and art; and in an antic display reminiscent of Martin's "wild and crazy guy" routine and John Cleese's various Monty Python personae, Mr. Selden's too-short stage time ups the ante of comic possibilities.

A talented acting ensemble of Playhouse veterans and neophytes portray a host of other eccentrics whose lives intertwine at the cafe, and who keep the comic dimensions on track: Freddy [Bo Jinright] who runs the cafe with his girlfriend Germaine [Katie Schmidt] who has had a relationship with Picasso; Gaston [George Jacobsen] who suffers from prostate problems but has a straightforward attitude to both art and science; Suzanne [Valorie Roberts] who has recently had an affair with Picasso and comes to the cafe to meet him; effete art dealer Sagot [Chris Roquemore] who claims that the only paintings people won't buy depict Jesus or sheep; the Countess [Annie Gunter] who is there to meet up with Einstein; and Schmendiman's Female Admirer [ Dominique Taylor] with a slight case of mistaken identity.

There's something else up Martin's sleeve when he introduces a hip-swiveling, blue-suede-shoes-wearing,  time-traveling Visitor [Gage Leifried] to tell them what the future has in store. Kind of a let-down from the charming witty contrivances of the early Twentieth Century fiction we have come to enjoy.

Whether people prefer to see themselves as forward looking ["Neo-"] or reflective looking ["Post-"] change-makers, there is no doubt that this current smart and silly production of Picasso at the Lapin Agile will make its appeal their own. And that's a comforting thought.

WOBT: "Anatomy of Gray"

Set in rural Indiana sometime in the 1800s, Jim Leonard, Jr. follows his award-winning play The Diviners with another story of mysterious healing after the loss of a loved one in Anatomy of Gray which opened this weekend at the Way Off Broadway Theatre in Prattville.

Directed by Brady Walker, the action is bookended by its narrator June Muldoon [Margaret Lind] who begins the play with a fairy-tale opening line "Once upon a time..." to preserve for her baby sister the memory of her journey out of the town of Gray, Indiana, a place she calls "the most boring place in the world". She is mourning her father's death, and yearns to leave the town, praying to God to deliver a doctor to them so no one will ever die again. So, when a tornado conveniently delivers Dr. Galen Gray [Kevin Morton] by way of a hot-air balloon, June anticipates a way out. The town is no longer boring.

An ensemble of local residents' lives, both religious and secular, are heavily influenced by Pastor Wingfield [Eric Arvidson], who prefers faith healing to medical science. But the largely uneducated townspeople seek Gray's expertise when his treatments cure their various ailments, even though he is often misunderstood. -- And when mysterious "markings" appear on their bodies, and several of them die as a result, the citizens turn on Gray and accuse him as the cause of the plague. [No spoilers here, but the actual cause is revealed late in the second act].

Though modern medicine was still in its infancy in the 1800s, it is easy to see in Anatomy of Gray a corresponding reluctance to trust experts in science and medicine during the current COVID pandemic. Rumors spread from ignorance and fear lead to a lynch-mob mentality in the play that must be diffused; and it doesn't help matters when it is revealed that Dr. Gray is Jewish, or that he has an unexplained aversion to blood, or that his unconventional and experimental treatments test the fundamentalist beliefs of the townspeople. Nonetheless, June falls for Gray and becomes his medical assistant.

Some of the doctor's practices are played for humor, especially a hilarious treatment for the Pastor's kidney stones; but most are given more serious attention: June's mother Rebekah [Tammy Arvidson] is pregnant with her late husband's child and wants an abortion which Dr. Gray, having fallen in love with her, refuses on moral grounds; Belva and Crutch Collins [Janie Allred and Rodney Winters] don't understand their conditions; the Pastor's sister Tiny [Bre Gentry] succumbs to a fever; church choir director Maggie [Jan Roeton] is in denial, proclaiming "I can't be marked...I've not done anything wrong".

The only ones not afflicted are June, who so admires the doctor that she mimics all his medical precautions, and Homer [Gage Parr], a boy who has a crush on June and drinks only soda-pop. -- It is up to them to continue the circle-of-life, and the play ends as it began with June once again addressing the audience with her story.

Played on a simple open platform set with a rural painted backdrop, Mr. Walker's emphasis is on the inherent messages of the script that has compassion without passing judgement on its characters. Indeed, we could all benefit from trusting the experts and trying to understand one another better.