2012-2013 Season

 

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The Drawer Boy

August 24 – September 9, 2012

by Michael Healey, directed by Mark Woolett

As both counterpoise and catalyst, a young idealistic actor arrives into the lives of two old farmers. He is part of a theatrical group that is creating a piece of theater based on the lives of the people in this rural community. This “farm play” turns out to be much more powerful, however, than any of them could have imagined and the desperate lives of those two farmers are poignantly and permanently transformed.


Papa’s Blues

October 12 – October 28, 2012

by Javon Johnson, directed by Rhonda Wilson

An African-American drama about a grandfather who lost his life during the civil rights protest era and whose descendants are struggling with reconciling continued involvement in that movement with the demands of their own personal domestic situations.


Come Back, Little Sheba

November 30 – December 16, 2012

by William Inge, directed by Jerry Rose

An 8-person drama featuring an alcoholic doctor and his wife, both of whom are fascinated with the sexuality of their young boarder and her boyfriends and lament the lost days of the own youth, as symbolized by a lost dog.

Alcohol, sexual exploits, and a lament for what has been lost form the subject matter of this long-time favorite. An inspiring drama of loss and redemption by William Inge, directed by Jerry Rose. Paula Patterson plays Lola Delaney, the original “desperate housewife” (which won Shirley Booth an Oscar for Best Actress), and Mark Kirby plays “Doc,” her long-suffering husband. Elle Grant, Ethan Perry and Steve Bates play Marie, Turk and Bruce, young people who display the exuberant love experience that Doc and Lola think they have lost. Cristina Palaccio, Robert Jammer and Keith Berg comprise the cast of supporting actors who weave their way in and through this compelling domestic drama. “Little Sheba” refers to a dog that had been lost years ago by Lola and Doc, and Lola’s plaintive cries for her to come back are symbolic of the yearning of people for “things remembered” and the ultimate solution to their misery when they learn to live in the “here and now.”


The Star-Spangled Girl

January 18 – February 3, 2013

by Neil Simon, directed by Terry Beauchamp

A comedy in which two young men who publish a radical newspaper encounter and fall madly and ridiculously in love with a flag-waving super-patriot Olympic swimmer who moves next door to them.


Tambourines to Glory

March 15 – March 31, 2013

by Langston Hughes, directed by Carol Velasquez Richardson

An African-American gospel musical, as two poverty-stricken women form a “church” to provide income for themselves and are aided by a “devil” who supplies them with dubious money-making schemes.


Outburst

May 3 – May 19, 2013

written and directed by Leroy Clark

A high school teacher in Wichita KS accidentally “outs” himself as gay while discussing the Holocaust with his class, setting off a tumultuous round of homophobia in this hub of fundamentalism, as the teacher and his partner and other associates vacillate between fighting to retain his job or acquiescence in his dismissal.

The play is based on the story of Rodney Wilson, one of the founders of GLBT history month and “Coming Out Day.”

On Tuesday, March 22, 1994, Rodney Wilson returned to his high school teaching job from a two-day trip to Washington, D.C., where he had visited the Holocaust Museum. There, he had purchased a poster depicting the various ID patches concentration camp inmates were compelled to wear, and he brought it with him that day to his junior history class. Pulling a chair to the front of the classroom, the 28-year-teacher sat down and told his students he was gay. Wilson pointed to the pink triangle on the poster and said, “If I had been in Europe during World War II, I would have been forced to wear this pink triangle, and I would have been gassed to death.”

The play explores what happens after the “Outburst.” While the issues and the story are based on the real incident, the dialogue, plot and characters are from the author’s creative imagination.

Directed by the author, the play starred Tom Miller in the Rodney Wilson role (A.K.A. Nick). His partner David wass played by Darren Willis. Their neighbor and best friend, the arts critic by profession and the extravagant drag queen for fun, Danny Banner was played by Felipe Echeverri.

Xanna Prentice played his friend and fellow teacher Flonny. Chuck Lipsig is her beau and Nick’s lawyer. Sally Kimberly rounds out the cast as Mrs. Richards, the high school principal. The production was managed by Rachel Wayne.


The Perfect Party

June 14 – June 30, 2013

by A.R. Gurney, directed by Jerry Rose

A comedy/farce in which a perfection-obsessed professor strives to stage an ultimately lavish party with “all segments of American society” represented and a woman reporter from a “major New York newspaper” promises to write the “perfect review” but only if the party-giver will make it newsworthy by providing some “danger” therein. The professor complies.

Gurney’s work– as demonstrated in such plays as The Dining Room, Love Letters and Sylvia– tends to gently and humorously satire the lives and manners of upwardly mobile Americans. Jerry Rose, who has directed all three of these plays (and also performed in Love Letters), brings this hilarious story of a college English teacher, obsessed with throwing the “perfect party,” to life.

This perfectionist teacher intends to capture all walks of American life at his party in a grand gesture of social unity. Another perfection-seeker, the entertainment editor of a New York City newspaper, comes to “review” the party. When the party-giver strains to provide her enough “danger” at the event to ensure that she will write the perfect review of his perfect party, the madcap action and mayhem cannot be contained.

Performed by talented local actors Chuck Lipsig, Cris Palacio, Tiffany Jakowczuk, Malcolm Sanford, Sally Kimberly, and Rachel Wayne.