Noises Off (quick and dirty)

I saw Noises Off at Stage Coach Theatre opening night, and it's very funny. Great cast, great set, great comic timing. It continues Sept. 9-12 and 16-18.

Panache

Stage Coach Theatre's production of Panache is an inventive, heartwarming romantic comedy between two unlikely characters: socialite Kathleen Trafalgar and Brooklyn diner cook and artist Harry Baldwin.

The show was filled with fantastic performances. Jodi Nelson Deerfield was delightful as the perfectly polished Kathleen and brought a lot of humor through her poor attempts to relate to the lower classes by talking about the time she roughed it at a Holiday Inn. Randy Lord did an excellent job portraying Harry as he tries and sometimes fails to wrestle his inner demons and come to grips with the losses in his life. The two achieve a real believable romantic connection onstage. Liam Tain was very funny as Jumbo Dombroski. Bradley Campbell had an infectious enthusiasm as Irwin Alcott, an old college friend Harry set up on a date. And Robina Bant was sweet as Laura Baldwin.

The show has excellent acting a great script -- not at all a cliche romantic comedy. It closes this weekend, but if you see it, you're in for a treat.

Fiction

Steven Dietz became one of my favorite playwrights after I read the script for his play Rocket Man and the script for Stage Coach Theatre's current production, Fiction. His plays have smart, witty dialogue, and Dietz has a way of telling a great story.

The play is about a married couple, Michael and Linda Waterman (played by Andrew Ebert and Teresa Rodrick), who are both authors. Linda has been diagnosed with cancer, and she tells Michael that when she dies, she wants him to read her diaries. She also wants to read his. He's reluctant, but agrees. The secrets that spill forth from the pages take a few twists and turns when we see the prominent role that another woman, Abby Drake (Autumn Kersey), plays in both authors' journals.

Director Claudia Scott and Ebert, Rodrick and Kersey did a wonderful job of bringing the script to life. One of the really key elements to pulling it off was the tight pacing. At times, the actors -- particularly Ebert and Rodrick -- talk right over each other. You can make out what they're saying, and even if you can't, you can make out the meaning. But the way they interrupt each other really adds to the tension. The concerns over Linda's health, Michael's fears about her reactions to what he's written -- those really come through in those little interruptions and the halting dialogue. The fast pacing keeps the show moving along and keeps the audience eager to see what's coming next.

Dilemmas with Dinner

If Fools is a dumb frat boy, Dilemmas with Dinner is someone who's smart enough that I could see possibly dating for a while. Which is not to say that it's overly intellectual or anything -- it actually contains a lot of slapstick, malapropisms, impressions and the like -- but some of the humor is a little more subtle and it's nice for audiences to be able to get it without being hit over the head with it. It's the whole package, really -- smart and funny with a lot of character.

Megan Barsness plays Brooke Williams, a career woman who's trying to win a major promotion and asked her boss and his wife over for dinner so she can ask for the job. But her house is in a state of chaos and everything that can go wrong does. It's all she can do to wipe the bleach off her upper lip and get dressed, let alone deal with broken plates, broken heels, her husband's broken back and the constantly ringing phone.

The entire cast was excellent. Barsness did a wonderful job of degenerating during the evening from merely frazzled to practically homicidal. Paul Kersey, who plays Donny, Brooke's sarcastic husband, and Kevin Tuck, who plays Stephen, Brooke's assistant's flirtatious boyfriend, stole the scenes they were in. Genny Ulmen (Caren the caterer) had some particularly nice exchanges with Eric Johnson, who played Donny's hapless, klutzy assistant Max. Brittany Buckner (Brooke's assistant Julia) added some excellent tension to her scenes when she discovered some things she hadn't known about her boyfriend. Karl Johnson and Shelley Ward were positively irritating as Brooke's boss and the boss's wife -- exactly as they were supposed to be -- but pulled it off in a way that wasn't just a caricature of someone annoying.

The night I went had some technical difficulties with the phone -- and unfortunately it's a central source of much of the chaos in the show, so the cast had to play along and answer it even when it wasn't ringing. It was really a relief when the phone started ringing again. Hopefully those kinks have been worked out for closing weekend.

Jacob Marley's Christmas Carol

You might expect that seeing "A Christmas Carol" told from the perspective of Ebenezer Scrooge's deceased partner Jacob Marley would be the most nontraditional aspect of this play.

You'd be wrong.

The show is strangely structured and strangely told. The actors break the fourth wall, looking at and talking to the audience. They wander around a mostly empty stage and describe the imagined scenery around them. They even narrate their own actions, then switch abruptly to dialogue with the other characters.

The show is sort of experimental and avant-garde, and that isn't for everyone. But if you decide to sit this one out, you'll be missing out on some excellent performances. Despite the minimal set and effects, the actors succeed in creating an intense atmosphere, making the nightmarish hellscape Marley is forced to wander and the larger-than-life spirits he encounters come to life with their words.

Curtis Ransom is excellent as Marley, bringing forth the man's sour disposition, fears, and madness, and transforming his character nicely as his character redeems himself and as he played the part of Scrooge's sometimes jovial, sometimes frightening visiting spirits. Bradley Campbell is equally bitter as Scrooge, but like Curtis Ransom, he does fine work depicting his character's transformation and has some fantastic reactions to the spirits. Courtney Ransom was impish as the Bogle, Marley's guide in the afterlife, and Lee Vander Boegh did a nice job as the endlessly amused recordkeeper.

The cast does a great job of getting past the strange aspects of the play and telling the story -- and it's a great version of the story. It's fascinating to watch Marley face his own demons and redeem himself.

Overall, the actors and director Jennifer Dunn keep the show grounded, giving it an emotional punch and keeping it entertaining. They made the story relatable and intriguing -- a difficult feat for a script that could have made for a very pretentious evening of theater. Instead, it's a wonderful show for the Christmas season, and that's all due to them. My Santa hat is off to them.

Art of Murder

Stage Coach Theatre's Art of Murder is a tight, tense, intriguing little thriller.

Because it's such a brisk-paced show, the actors presented a dramatic reading of Edgar Allen Poe's Tell-Tale Heart before the first act began. The actors did a really nice recitation, holding the audience's attention with what was essentially four long monologues.

The show itself has a lot of twists and turns. I was already familiar with the script, so I missed out on some of the suspense for that reason. But in particular, the scenes where that take place in pitch black, with screams and shots and unidentifiable noises, still gave me chills.

Anthony Polidori plays Jack Brooks, a famous hotshot artist who has lost his touch. His dealer can't seem to sell his newest work, Study in Red 4, and Jack is busy making horrible collages of shoes. Jennifer Bertino-Polidori plays Annie Brooks, his wife and an artist in her own right. The play starts off tense when Jack displays his domineering side, trying to force himself on the couple's maid and insisting on seeing Annie's latest work, then criticizing it and telling her to destroy it. Watching Jack's callousness and Annie's seemingly broken spirit in this moment creates a brutish, nasty little scene that sets the tone for the rest of the play.

The other two actors -- the maid, Kate, played by Amanda Jacob, and Jack's art dealer Vincent Cummings, played by Frederic Webb, do a good job. Webb is a little over-the-top at times, but does well depicting growing anxiety as the evening progresses and pulls off his final scene with a nice amount of wounded pride. The Jacob pulls off her part well, including the Irish accent.

The show is in its last weekend. If you're looking to take in a little live theater, Art of Murder is a picture-perfect thriller for the Halloween season.

Duck Hunter Shoots Angel

"Duck Hunter Shoots Angel." As a headline, it's kind of up there with "Bat Boy Sighted in NYC Subway" and "Air Traffic Controllers Guide UFOs."

It's also a hilarious production at Stage Coach Theatre about Sandy, a jaded tabloid reporter for the Weekly World and Globe, which is best known for its stories about a half-man, half-alligator seeking revenge. The Weekly World and Globe sends him on assignment to Alabama to track down two duck hunters who supposedly shot an angel. It's a trip home for Sandy, who left the state, and the love of his life, behind to pursue a journalistic career up north.

The show is beautifully cast. Ben Hammill is likable as Sandy, and Courtney Ransom (the woman he loved) and Marissa Jerome (Kansas, a girl who works a a convenience store) do a wonderful job bringing out his warmer side and transforming his character. Bradley Campbell is delightfully manic and cynical as Sandy's editor, who becomes outraged when other news sources start encroaching on his territory. Larry "French" Brown plays a black photographer for the Weekly World and Globe, and it's his comic timing and reactions to the other characters that make some of the racial humor in the show work so well. Brian Zuber, who portrays Duane Early, is perfect as a hysterical, scheming counterpoint to his character's brother, Duwell. And Curtis Ransom flat out steals the show as Duwell Early, a dim-witted duck hunter afraid for his soul who believes that the Weekly World and Globe is God's truth and also believes the angel he and his brother shot has a mission for him. As an audience member, you want him to be on stage the whole time.

The only weak spot I remember noticing in the show was when a few key lines were rushed and hard to make out near the end in Jerome's crying scene. (Enunciating and crying convincingly at the same time is a tough line to walk.)

The show also had some really nice technical and costume effects, particularly the final moment of the show.

The show's in its last weekend. Definitely go see it.

The Absence of a Cello

The description in the program notes that Absence of a Cello is a "refreshingly literate comedy" that starts out targeting "individuality versus conformity" but evolves into "an ingeniously conceived comical discussion of honesty and truth."

Don't be scared.

I know, it sounds highbrow. Intellectual. Maybe a little too smart for a fun night out (I sometimes think this is the same reason I don't get too many dates). But you're missing out if you miss this hilarious and well-acted show.

Yes, the main character, Andrew Pilgrim (Kevin Labrum) is a brilliant scientist applying for a job at a major corporation. Yes, his wife Celia Pilgrim, played by Jennifer Bertino Polidori, is a brilliant scholar of medieval literature. But they both do an excellent job of keeping their characters relatable; it may help that the plot of the play involves these two geniuses trying to pass themselves off as average Joes. Moreover, the other characters keep the show down to earth -- most notably Andrew's sister, Marian Jellicoe (Karen Holcomb), the wild child of the family, and jovial, rhyming company man Otis Clifton (Kevin Tuck), who comes to check out the family and see if they fit the corporate mold. The Pilgrims' kleptomaniac neighbor, Emma Littlewood (Kathleen Bailey), keeps everyone on their toes. And Ben Ulmen draws real sympathy as Littlewood's son Perry, who is hopelessly in love with the Pilgrims' daughter Joanna (Amanda Jacob).

The show is impeccably cast, and it's amazing to watch the interactions between the actors. Labrum and Bertino Polidori establish some excellent marital tension, while the witty flirtation between Holcomb and Tuck is absolutely delightful. The show's pacing is tight, and the comic delivery of its many one-liners is beautiful. And while the laughs come mainly from the dialogue, director Anthony Polidori and the cast paid plenty of attention to the potential for physical humor; Ulmen, Labrum, Tuck and Holcomb all have some nice moments where simple gestures and expressions garnered a lot of laughs because their movements betrayed what they were really thinking.

Absence of a Cello is smart, funny, clever and moving. It would be deceptive to leave out "smart," "clever," and "moving." But it would be a shame to miss out on how funny it is because you fear you're not up for something smart or clever. Take it from me -- the show is also very accessible. And it's definitely worth seeing.

Leading Ladies

Not one, but two guys in drag. Need I say more?

Probably not, but I will anyway. Leading Ladies is a scream. I didn't take many notes because I was too busy laughing. But it's got everything a great farce should -- lots of slapstick, great one-liners, quick changes, mistaken intentions, perfect timing and a superb cast.

The play revolves around two penniless Shakespearean actors, Leo Clark and Jack Gable, who decide to impersonate the nieces of a wealthy old woman in order to claim the inheritance. Kevin Kimsey and Jeff Thomson are perfect counterpoints to each other: Kevin Kimsey as the brash, scheming Leo, and Thomson as his reluctant accomplice, Jack.

Becky Kimsey plays vivacious Meg, and Sarah Hull stars as dim-witted and busty Audrey -- the women Leo and Jack fall for and attempt to woo, despite the fact that they must frequently appear in female form. Becky Kimsey created some wonderful chemistry between her character and Leo Clark/Maxine. Hull delivered her one-liners and her Brando impersonation with gusto. Both women had marvelous reactions during the scene where Leo and Jack unintentionally reveal themselves to be men, and their reactions help make it one of the funniest scenes in the play.

Sean McBride was every inch the sanctimonious, stick-in-the-mud Southern preacher. I loved Bonnie Peacher as Florence Snyder, the ailing yet spunky aunt whose search for her nieces (and heirs) sets the plot in motion. Although Patrick Schow stumbled on a few lines the night I saw the show, he and theater newcomer Owen Havey had some wonderful moments of physical comedy, and their attempts to woo Stephanie (Thomson) had the audience in stitches.

The play runs May 29-31 and June 4-7 and 11-13 at Stage Coach Theatre. Check it out if you're ready for a good laugh.

The Movie Game

I won't be doing a formal review of The Movie Game at Stage Coach Theatre, since I'm running sound and movie clips for it. But I want to encourage everyone to come see it -- it's very funny, very cute and the cast is doing an awesome job. It runs at 7:30 Thursday and 8:15 Friday and Saturday in Hillcrest Shopping Center.

(Updated with times of final three shows.)

Brooklyn Boy

Brooklyn Boy, now playing at Stage Coach Theater, is a wryly funny, though-provoking, well-acted play that's well worth seeing.

Ian Taylor plays Eric Weiss, an author of a new bestseller whose life isn't going as well as his newfound fame and success would make you think. His father Manny (director Rick Hunt), whose distant relationship with Eric is the inspiration for Eric's book, is dying of cancer. His wife Nina (Carly Latimore), a fellow writer who's jealous of his success, is divorcing him. Movie producer Melanie Fine (Jodi Nelson-Deerfield) wants him to make the screenplay "less Jewish." And a run-in with a childhood friend, Ira Zimmer (Ramiro Ruiz), leaves Eric feeling guilty about leaving his faith, his neighborhood, and his old friends long behind.

The interplay between Taylor and all the other actors in the show is amazing to watch. In his scenes with Hunt, Taylor portrays a son eager for his father's approval, which Hunt withholds in a teasing little dance. When Eric tells his father his book has made #11 on the best seller list, Manny says he didn't think the list went down that far. "I thought it was 10. Good thing they made it longer."

Taylor and Ruiz offer an intriguing exploration of the different paths people can take when they grow up. Why do some people feel the need to leave their hometown, while others feel obligated to stay? What gives one person the ambition to go on to college, while another puts down roots and takes over the family business? The questions are that much more intriguing because Ira idolizes Eric, but Eric's still not comfortable in his own skin and seizes on any nuggets of criticism Ira throws his way.

Watching Latimore and Taylor was like watching a fight where only one person is throwing punches. Eric still wants to get back together with Nina, who's alternatively furious with him and protective of his feelings, but mostly furious and jealous. There's an odd chemistry between the two.

There's an even odder chemistry between Taylor and Genny Ulmen, who plays Alison, a girl Eric meets at a book signing and takes back to his hotel room. With Ulmen and Taylor, it's on-and-off flirtation and shame as their conversation flits from deep to shallow and each characters morals and desires waver.

Nelson-Deerfield is great as the sycophantic, firm and foul-mouthed movie producer who asks Eric to remove some of the most meaningful, personal elements of his book as they prepare it for the big screen. And Ben Ulmen is funny as Tyler Shaw, a young actor who says he always finds his characters through their hair. But even these two somewhat stereotypical characters add powerful meaning to the play when Melanie makes Eric read his father's lines while Tyler pretends to be the protagonist of Eric's book. The scene Taylor and Ben Ulmen play out is wrought with emotion rapidly building up under the surface, just barely held in check, until Eric finally breaks down.

Don't let the fact that it's primarily a drama scare you off. Brooklyn Boy is funny, clever, and overall a well-told tale.

Any Body Home

I'll try to get to a few shows in January, but if I don't see too many, there are two reasons:

1) I'm starting school again soon. For computer science! Which has nothing whatsoever to do with creative writing (my first bachelor's degree) or journalism (the last eight years of my life)! Why? Well, I was pretty good in math and science in high school (I aced calculus), and I've often wondered what would have happened if I'd taken that route. Also, the journalism industry is in deep doo-doo, and I can't get a new job as a full-time reporter in Boise to save my life. Classes start Jan. 20, and then I get tons of homework. Hooray!

2) I'm acting in Any Body Home at Stage Coach Theatre, which opens tonight and which you should definitely come see. It's going to be really funny. I play the title role! The body. Since I'm in it, I won't be reviewing it, but I will say I think my castmates are doing an awesome job. The show runs for four weeks. I might be able to see one other show this month, but overall there's going to be a lot of overlap between production schedules.

Moving

I read the script for Moving when it was first being considered by Stage Coach Theatre's script committee, and I still think it's a wonderfully clever, poignant and heartwarming story.

Sadly, the execution of the play is a little uneven. But props should be given to some fine performances. Ted Pendleton (I'm going to go with Pendleton -- the program has different last names for him on two different pages) turned in an incredibly funny and powerful performance as Fred Sapstead, the father of Barbara Hartman. Barbara is selling her home and plans to move Fred and her son Timmy with her so she can realize her dream of opening up a restaurant in another state. Her plan becomes flawed when her two daughters show up, hoping to move back home, and her estranged husband shows up, having decided he wants to be back in her life. Further complicating the issue is the fact that Fred also has his reasons for not wanting to move. Pendleton has the best role in the play and makes perfect use of it, combining wry wit and deep vulnerability.

Genny Ulmen played housekeeper Mildred Wright the night I saw the show. She did an excellent job capturing Mildred's mannerisms and portraying her as a warm, steady, maternal figure. What's even more impressive is that she did so well even though she was an understudy and had only one rehearsal with the cast.

Darrell Boatwright plays Joey Picardo, the son of moving man Harry Picardo. Joey wants to leave his father's moving business and become a ballet dancer, but doesn't yet have the heart to stand up and tell him. Boatwright plays Joey with wonderful enthusiasm as he jetés up the stairs to help his father with the furniture and pliés in the garden during breaks. He's got great moves!

Most of the other actors did all right, or had some good moments, but overall the show didn't feel like it quite gelled.

Dark Rituals

I got two broad impressions from seeing Dark Rituals at Stagecoach Theatre. One was that the show's many plot twists keep it pretty entertaining and are pulled off fairly well; the other is that there isn't a single sympathetic character in the play. I'm going to focus on the characters, since to talk about the plot twists would be to ruin them, but that's not to say that the show isn't worth going to just to see what happens.

There's really no one to root for in this play. In fact, the one neutral character is Vernon (Anthony Polidori), the Native American helping the main character with her book; everyone else is profoundly negative. The ostensible protagonist is Anne McCauley (played by Regina Yegge). She expects her son (Ian Taylor) to do her plumbing, all the while lecturing him and whining that he doesn't love her. She badmouths his job and his wife (played by Karen Holcomb with just enough bitchiness to make you dislike her a bit, but not enough to justify Anne's rude remarks) to his face. And as an anthropologist, she's intellectually dishonest, writing sensationalized pop anthropology books that bastardize Native American and African rituals and take liberties with the truth. She doesn't really care about the cultures she's exploring, just about churning out another bestseller for her Dark Rituals series: Dark Rituals of the Headhunters of the Amazon, Dark Rituals of Voodoo, Dark Rituals of the North American Gangster, and now Dark Rituals of the North American Indians. Were Yegge a little more comfortable with her role, she could easily have become the person I most loved to hate in this play.

As it is, that dubious honor might go either to Ian Taylor, who played Anne's son Harrison McCauley, who we soon learn is plotting his mother's death, or to Perry Decker as Dr. David Murray, who has his own insidious side. (Although, since I'm not rooting for Anne, I'm actually not sure I can really hate Harrison for plotting her demise. Maybe I am sort of rooting for him in the way you might root for Wile E. Coyote to catch the Roadrunner. What? Don't tell me I'm the only one who did that.) Most likely it would go to Taylor, who comes across as tensely threatening at times, mocking his mother in a twisted, almost Joker-esque way. It was a nice turnaround from a family dynamic that reminded me of nothing so much as the horrible comic strip "Momma."

Kitchen Witches

Tonight is preview night for Kitchen Witches, and I have to admit to being a little panicked. Our actors seem to be doing well -- there may be a few slightly rough patches in the dialogue, but overall, they're doing really well. In fact, when we told them they couldn't call for lines any more and I finally got to get my nose out of the book and look at what they were doing again, I found myself laughing at new places every night. I was a little worried about Brad, our newbie, being able to jump back into his role after a two-week vacation he got back from on Aug. 18, but there was no real cause for worry -- it was almost like riding a bike for him. And we started playing with food props during Brad's vacation, so our actresses had plenty of time to get used to them.

But our costume mistress, who was really sick for two weeks, has just barely been getting some of our costume pieces done. I think we've had two nights to practice with the tear-away "naughty apron." And as of last night she still hadn't gotten one of the biggest pieces, a Scarlett O'Hara dress for Dolly with a specially made bodice that Isobel can plop biscuit dough into, done. There's a quick change into the Scarlett O'Hara dress, too. Kevin Kimsey, who's playing Rob the cameraman, joked last night that she's got "all day tomorrow to finish it." I said, "And I've got all day tomorrow to sh!t myself." In about a half hour I'm going down to the theater, and hopefully I'll be able to get some time in practicing the change.
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Update (Sept. 5): Our costume mistress still hadn't brought the Scarlett O'Hara dress by as of the beginning of our preview night, though we can blame part of that on miscommunication and a good chunk on the fact that her house was one of the houses in a huge fire that week (did I not mention that in the original post? I could have sworn I could have mentioned it -- we were all worried sick about her, but she apparently got out of her house with the pets and the costumes and little else. Her house is apparently one of the most smoke-damaged on the block). Anyway, she came through with the hoop skirt midway through Act 1, maybe half an hour or so before we had to use it, and it fits fine and there's plenty of time for the costume change. No bodice, so we just paired it with a blouse from the costume room, and we've been using that ever since because it fits and works better than the bodice our costume mistress had been working on.

We did actually have one other costume snafu -- the tear-away boob on the "naughty apron" actually flew off into the audience one night. Now that's comedy.

We had a great opening weekend, and the show has run pretty smoothly overall. Come see it if you get the chance!

Kitchen Witches

We've been in rehearsals for Kitchen Witches for several weeks now, and I'm really pleased with how it's turning out. We had some very strong actors and actresses turn out for auditions, and we could have cast the show several different ways.

We ended up choosing two seasoned actresses, Barbara Beautrow and Elizabeth Greeley, as Dolly and Isobel, our two rival, bickering, trash-talking cooking show hostesses, and newcomer Brad Mauzerall as Stephen, Dolly's son and the harried producer and director of the cooking shows Baking with Babcha and The Kitchen Witches. Gerry Fields and I knew we were taking a chance by choosing Brad, since this is his first community theater play, but our trust has been well-placed. He learns fast, takes direction well, and asks important questions about his character and line delivery and blocking. He always wants to know how he should be doing something or how he can make it better. Barbara is a natural comedian and is constantly trying new things to get laughs, and Elizabeth keeps adding depth to Isobel, both in her needling of Dolly and her attempts to get close to Stephen.

Last week was our first week off book for Act 1, and considering the heavy line loads everyone has -- it's a three-person play -- I think things are going really well. We go off-book on Act 2 tonight.

One fun element of the play is that the author recommends changing names of cities and businesses to local references. So we've been doing just that and have secured permission from lots of businesses to use their names as sponsors of the cooking show.

One of the biggest challenges is probably going to be the Kitchen Witches Quickies segment, where the ladies perform an Iron Chef-style challenge and each have to prepare three desserts in about two minutes. I looked up recipes and devised shortcuts that hopefully will allow us to pull that off with a minimum of fuss and keep the audience guessing about how we did it -- AND manage to deal with any possible food allergies that our guest judges may have.

Greater Tuna

If you want to see a show with great production values, I would advise against seeing Greater Tuna at Stagecoach Theatre. The set is nothing but a cheap table, cheap chairs and a cheap cloth-wrapped double-wide podium with felt call letters to indicate radio station OKKK, all backed by some of the most eye-assaulting, obnoxiously painted walls you will ever see. As for costumes ... while the costume changes obviously had to be rushed -- it's a two-man show with 20 characters -- I have seen good drag. This is not good drag. In fact, one look at Rob Tromp in his costume for Charlene Bumiller could put you off crop tops forever.

But if you're looking for a good laugh, it's hard to do better.

I've seen Greater Tuna before, but some things never get old:

The Rev. Spikes' (Ben Hammill) eulogy, which uses every cliche in the book, with a few commercial slogans thrown in for good measure.
Bertha Bumiller (Hammill) ostensibly reading a National Enquirer while voicing Yippy the dog from behind its salacious pages.
Vera Carp (Tromp) explaining to members of the Smut Snatchers that they can't censor the word "snatch" in the Tuna high school library along with "clap," "deflower," "knocker" and "nuts" because the group can't afford to change its letterhead.

I was impressed by the delineation in characters, a crucial factor since each actor had ten characters to portray.

Tromp in particular excelled at creating wildly different voices and mannerisms for each of his characters, particularly the socially inept perennial mayoral candidate Phinneas Blye, the awkward, hapless humane society volunteer Petey Fisk, and the innocent, eager Jody Bumiller with his eight to ten dogs in tow. However, he was occasionally too shrill to be heard as Charlene.

Hammill spent a lot of time as his two female characters, harried mother and community volunteer Bertha Bumiller and spunky yet crotchety old Pearl Burras (who probably didn't need that cane), and does a wonderful job with them. I also liked his portrayal of shifty, good-old-boy Klan member Elmer Watkins -- God knows why, but I did.

A few gags went on a little long -- for instance, radio personality Thurston Wheelis (Hammill) probably didn't need to ogle Charlene quite so blatantly or so constantly -- but for the most part, the jokes are fresh and funny and, frankly, quite relevant. Are the bits about the Smut Snatchers censoring dictionaries, Romeo and Juliet (for portraying teenage sex and disrespect for parental authority) and Roots (for portraying only one side of slavery) so far off, when the Meridian Public Library is purging unrated DVDs and the Nampa Public Library has pulled The Joy of Sex and The Joy of Gay Sex from its shelves? And with the Bush administration advocating waterboarding and stress positions and fighting to keep from granting habeas corpus to detainees -- not to mention Idaho Congressman Bill Sali making idiotic comments about Muslims and Hindus -- are winning essay titles like, "Human Rights -- Why Bother?" and "The Other Side of Bigotry" that far from the mark?

Greater Tuna is a very funny look into small-town red-state life. For those of us in small towns in red states, sometimes it's good to get to laugh.

Moon over the Brewery

[Photo: Moon over the Brewery director Kim Labrum sits on the Stage Coach stage, which is painted to look like Starry Night in honor of the moonscapes painted by one of the characters in the play.]

Most imaginary friends don't hang around until you're 13 years old. But they do for Amanda Wazlyk, the heroine of Moon over the Brewery, now playing at Stage Coach Theatre.

On the surface, it's odd that a girl like Amanda would need an imaginary friend for that long. She's the most down-to-earth member of her family -- the opposite of her mother, a dreamy, artistic single parent. She balances her mom's checkbook, keeps her on a strict budget, and even handles business negotiations for the sale of her art. Her mom calls her "the Young Republican." And it's not just a case of denied childhood, of Amanda being forced too early into a responsible role by her mother's flightiness and acting out her childish impulses through her imaginary friend. Amanda seems to relish her grown-up role.

No, Amanda's imaginary friend Randolph shows up for one and only one thing -- to help humiliate and drive away her mother's boyfriends. But she and Randolph both meet their match in Warren Zimmerman, a mailman who's been eating for years at the diner where Amanda's mother Miriam waitresses. Despite Amanda's reluctance, he begins to charm her with his tales of wrestling a drunk alligator and his stories about their semi-famous neighbors, and Amanda finds herself torn between wanting to get rid of Warren like her mother's other suitors, who she and Randolph always deem unworthy, and wanting to hold back and allow her mother's relationship blossom just this once.

The script is funny, with tons of witty dialogue, but it's pulled off by the excellent acting. Thirteen-year-old Marissa Jerome plays Amanda beautifully and naturally, going from playing malicious cat-and-mouse games with Warren, to sullenness when he seems to be beating her at her own game, to angry outbursts, to genuine sorrow and guilt, and even affection. Her final scene with Randolph had the audience sniffling.

Kevin Labrum brings panache to his role as Randolph, who is Amanda's perfect man -- a snazzy dresser, witty conversant and brilliant strategist -- and, we later find, a very needy imaginary friend. Even perfection wears out its welcome.

Nichole Stull does a marvelous job as Miriam, creating a fascinating mother-daughter dynamic with Amanda and a sweet but complicated chemistry with Warren, played charmingly by David Rodarte. Amanda may be at the center of the story, but it's delightful to see these two in their own scenes with their own conflicts. Rodarte and Stull really make their characters come alive with little touches. Stull has expressive movements, particularly in a nervous scene where she attempts to have a sex talk with Amanda. As for Rodarte, I imagine the italics in the script would just have said, "Warren giggles inappropriately" at several points throughout the play. That doesn't begin to tell you how funny it was when he actually did it.

Stull's character Miriam paints moonlit landscapes. Several of these are scattered throughout the set, and it bears mentioning that they're done with some real talent -- not to mention the floor of the stage itself, which is painted to look like Van Gogh's "Starry Night."

Also worth mentioning is the blocking of the play. It comes as no surprise that there's some swashbuckling -- if there's a rapier on the coffee table, it's bound to get used -- but it's got extra challenges to it, since it's between Randolph and Warren, who can't see Randolph and has to at least look like he's taking his cues from Amanda's eye movements. It's to first-time director Kim Labrum's credit that it was so well-choreographed. There are other nicely choreographed moments throughout the play, though to call some of them out here would be to give away too much -- but in each scene the movements seemed natural and fluid. Kim Labrum did an excellent job directing both the performances and the stagecraft. She and Kevin Labrum both had their directorial debuts at Stage Coach this season -- he directed the excellent drama Spinning into Butter about dealing with racism on a university campus -- and I look forward to seeing more from these two in the future.

Wonder of the World

It's the final week to see Wonder of the World, a quirky comedy going on at Stage Coach Theatre. Here's the 5W:

What: Wonder of the World, a play about a woman named Cass who leaves her marriage and travels to Niagara Falls to rediscover herself, armed with a list of Things to Do Before I Die. You know, like skydive. And wear an enormous wig. The play explores her adventures with a sarcastic, suicidal alcoholic; a widowed (widowered?) tour-boat captain; two economy-rate private detectives (you get what you pay for); and Cass's husband, who is hiding a terrible! --horrible! -- did I mention terrible? -- secret.
When: May 1-3; 7:30 p.m. Thursday, 8:15 p.m. Friday and Saturday.
Where: Stage Coach Theatre in the Hillcrest Shopping Center at Orchard and Overland, Boise.
Who: Author David Lindsay-Abaire, director Jeremy Chase, and actors Nova Calverley, Steve Martin, Aimee Nell Smith, Mike Cronen, Jo-Ann Jones, Larry Chase and Heidi Reeder Stipp.
Why: The official tagline is, "Take a wild ride over Niagara Falls in a barrel of laughs." The unofficial tagline is, "You'll never look at Barbies the same way again." By Jeremy Chase's count, the play includes 12 characters, seven actors, six game-show contestants, three theme restaurants, two helicopters and one big barrel.

A word of caution: The play deserves its R rating.

I went to see this show last Saturday, after spending two full days packing and moving all my belongings. By 8:10, I was exhausted, ready to fall asleep in my chair. By 8:20 (the show started late), I was glancing at the door of the theater, wondering if I could grab a cup of coffee and sneak it back in (Kevin Labrum usually makes Raven's Brew coffee for the audience at Stage Coach). Caffeine, I am happy to say, was not needed. The laughter kept me awake, and the actors kept me engaged.
The play opens with Cass, played by Nova Calverly, throwing clothes into a suitcase. Her husband Kip, played by Steve Martin, walks in to find her packing to leave him. Cass had meant to avoid this confrontation, and an awkward scene ensues in which Kip tries to dissuade her from leaving and Cass initially tries to spare his feelings, but then calls him a monster and blames him for the breakup of their marriage. A scene like this in any other play might be poignant, maybe even a little painful. Here, it's hilarious. Calverly walks a fine line, remaining likeable even though she's the one breaking up a marriage of several years, and Martin is amusingly awkward, helplessly holding a trout aspic as he begs his wife to stay.
Cass hits the road, determined to do all the things she feels her marriage has held her back from. She wants to sleep with the bellhop. She wants to jump on the bed. She wants to have a lesbian tryst, or, failing that, a pillow fight with her new best friend. Calverly plays Cass with a combination of effervescence and force of will. It's this combination that allows her to press the alcoholic Lois (Aimee Nell Smith) into service as her sidekick, even though all Lois wants to do is sleep, drink, and kill herself by going over Niagara Falls. And Cass's infectious enthusiasm for life quickly charm Captain Mike (Mike Cronen), a tour boat captain who had all but given up on love when his wife died.
But Kip tries to track Cass down and bring her back so things can be just like they always were, and he's enlisted the help of two private detectives and a therapist.
Steve Martin has described his role to me as "pathetic," and he succeeds at it. It's not the "pathos" kind of pathetic, either -- not the kind that would allow you to sympathize with him much, just a mixture of sad and desperate and a little annoying and a lot clingy. It works, allowing the audience to laugh freely instead of get mired in pity.
Aimee Nell Smith plays drunk for most of the performance and manages to do so with realism and with charm. She has a large share of the witty lines and delivers them well, but she also does excellent work in portraying Lois's vulnerability.
Jo-Ann Jones plays Karla, one of the private detectives. Her partner Glen describes her as his "Josef Mengele," but it's hard to picture her as actually violent -- mostly she's just annoyed with Glen's bumbling antics. But she does achieve a firmness that borders on angry and volatile.
Larry Chase is delightful as the ADD-afflicted Glen, upbeat and easily distracted by big bags of Cheetos.
Mike Cronen is charming as Captain Mike, willing to give love one more try. It's fun to watch him go back and forth between two accents as he delivers his tour boat spiel.
Heidi Reeder Stipp adroitly plays six different characters. In one scene, she plays three characters in quick succession, and when she's done with the last character, she goes through all three again. The quick changes in costume, dialect and character are pulled off beautifully.
Except for the hotel room scenes, the set is minimal and is played in front of a curtain. Stage hands (aka The Wonder Crew) move set pieces on and off, and sometimes they interact with the main characters between scenes -- a nice touch that distracts from the scene changes going on in plain view. In some scenes, however, the stage hands actually play set pieces. This works better in some scenes than others. It's perfect in the helicopter scene, in which crew members stand on stage twirling the wooden frames of umbrella-style patio shades -- what better way to depict the spinning blades of the helicopter? But in another scene, one of the crew members -- Leah Cronen, Mike's daughter -- stands in for the wheel of the tour boat. Cass tugs on her hair to ring a bell or blow a horn or something. My willing suspension of disbelief was already being stretched quite a bit by seeing Leah used as a prop, and the hair tug was an additional jolt. I was very aware at that moment that I was watching a play, since I had to remind myself that that tug probably didn't hurt Leah at all. It was a distracting moment -- fortunately, one of only a few.
Overall, Wonder of the World was wonderfully funny and twisted (you'll know what I mean when they get to the Barbies). For full disclosure, I know most of the people involved in the production. But it's such a good show my boyfriend and I plan to come back again this weekend and bring some of his friends who, as far as I know, have never been to a play in Boise. If you like dark, slightly sick humor, this is a good introduction to local theater.