Review by Dick Kerekes
* this article is web-exclusive to eujacksonville.com
It was my privilege to once again represent Entertaining U at the 32nd Humana Festival of New American Plays at Actors Theatre in Louisville Kentucky.
This festival was the trailblazer and many new play festivals have followed. The result being that over 500 new plays were produced in the USA last year, providing the essential new life that has helped theatre popularity grow and grow. The Festival has produced Pulitzer Prize and Tony Award winners and everything in between.
North Florida area theatres have done many of the plays that originated at this festival. I remember The Gin Game which has been done several times as has Talking With and in the past two years. Keely and Du at Players by the Sea and The Ruby Sunrise at Theatre Jacksonville.
The best play in this year’s lineup, in my opinion, was Becky Shaw by Gina Gionfriddo. I predict a New York production will be done and soon, with regional and community theatres picking it up in future seasons. In 2004 I reviewed Ms. Gionfriddo’s After Ashley at the festival and it has been a very successful play. Unfortunately, my efforts to get a group in Jacksonville to produce it, have not met with success so far. Theatres, you are going to want give Becky Shaw a look in a couple of years.
In Becky Shaw, the name of the leading character, a newlywed couple fix of two of their romantically challenged friends on a blind date. The evening takes some unusual turns. Becky arrives for the date over dressed and carrying a lot of baggage that would turn off most men. Becky is a college dropout, with no money, a dead end job, no car, no cell phone and shunned by her own family. Max, her date, is a financial planner, who has a love them and leave them attitude toward women (usually in 3 months tops). This dark comedy explores relationships, obligations we have toward those we love and perfect strangers who suddenly come into our lives. Ms. Gionfriddo’s dialogue is sharp and funny, creating a fast paced message that totally keeps your interest.
Carly Mensch’s All Hail Hurricane Gordo will certainly find a home with young audiences, as two brothers rely on each other to exist. Gordo, bangs into walls, can’t hold a job and is very needy due to a mental disability and is in general very dependent on his brother,Chaz. A young woman rents a room from them and with her father enters their lives and changes the course of their existence.
Anything goes when it comes the material to inspire a musical,(example Sweeney Todd and Assassins), so why not the rise and fall of evangelist Ted Haggard and his New Life Church after his much publicized sex and drug scandal? Written by Steven Cosson and Jim Lewis with music and lyrics by Michael Friedman, it uses actual interviews of people connected with the church to probe the questions of religion and public life. The play rambled a bit, but had some interesting songs and good voices. This is only the 2nd musical I have ever seen produced by this festival, and it was a refreshing change.
I remember in l989 seeing Tales of the Lost Formicans and hating it, and considering it a loser. Little did I know, colleges and high schools would pick up on it and it is still being done. Well, Neighborhood 3, Requisition of Doom, is about addiction to video games by a knighthood of young adults. It is a horror show, with blood and death. Look for it at your local university, or college campus but not in community theaters.
Each year, the Actor Theatre appendices come and work for experience and they bring a wealth of talent from all over the country. Several playwrights are commissioned to put together a show with a theme to showcase this wonderful talent (hopefully to impress producers and casting directors who attend). This year Game One used the theme of sports and has the young college age actors, playing all kinds of sports, including a professional eating contest. It was fun but seemed to emphasize the comic abilities of the participants, where as previous years efforts showed a wider range of their acting ability.
Ten minute plays are always a fun part of the festival, and this year were four, with three of them directed by Actor’s Theatre Artistic Director Marc Masterson. They were excellent and the best in several years. I would love to see a North Florida theatre explore l0 minute plays sometime. The scripts are challenging and plenty are available as Actor’s has published several volumes of them.
The final two entries this year, Lee Blessing’s Great Falls about the bonding of a step-father and daughter, and poet Marc Bamuthi Joseph’s hip hop creation that he performed called the break/s rounded out the very diverse selections for 2008.
I am always asked if there was a theme running through the plays as a whole? No, not really in my opinion at this year’s festival... I did notice a trend that was personally disturbing to me and that was the very liberal use of profanity in ALL of the full-length plays. We were thankfully spared the same in the ten minute plays. You have heard or read about those seven words that you are not supposed to use on radio and TV? Well apparently you can use them all of them as often as you like in plays. It did not matter if the characters were a lowlife or a doctor; they spouted foul language as a regular part of their vocabulary.
This was my 25th Humana Festival, and I want to thank Marc Masterson, Artistic Director, Jennifer Bielstein, Managing Director and the Humana Festival and entire staff for their continued wonderful hospitality. The Humana Festival remains a truly unique theatre experience. Over the 25 years I have had many exciting moments, among them were sitting next to William Buckley one year, and Joyce Carole Oates another year, and getting to know them up close and personal for a short time. This year I had the unique experience of meeting Elizabeth Gilbert, two times pancake eating champion of Baltimore. Ms. Gilbert is in the apprentice program and has even more significant acting credentials, like being a graduate of Johns Hopkins University and having trained at The Royal Academy of Dramatic Art in London. She is a talented singer, dancer and actress, who appeared in several of the festival shows. Good Luck in your career Ms. Gilbert and pass the maple syrup.
Want more information about Actor’s Theatre? Check them out at www.ActorsTheatre.org. They have 3 theatres in the same building and produce shows all year long, so if you are every even close to Louisville, be sure to visit Actor’s Theatre. You will be glad you did.
Article Published in the April 2008 Issue of EU Jacksonville
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