Reviews
Play by Play features seven terrific short pieces
HUDSON -- Artistic director Laura Margolis has done a superb job of collecting a roster of short plays for Stageworks/Hudson's annual Play by Play. The event is much anticipated each year and has had various levels of success. But this year's offering is truly spectacular. There are seven, 10-15 minute plays and each is a gem.
"Adagio Lamentoso" by Jesse Waldinger tells the story of Tchaikovsky's dark secret, discovered on the eve of the opening of his sixth and final symphony, "Pathetique." Richard Vernon plays the composer with both grandeur and humility. It is a touching 10-minute glimpse of the great composer. Once you see this, you will listen to the gorgeous B-minor symphony with new understanding.
"Wired" by Brian Dykstra is a marvelous little riff on two young people, Angela Rauscher and Ryan R. Katzer, trying to figure out how to market a new, life-changing and terribly disturbing product. Dykstra is a wordsmith. His play is a wonder.
"Sweethearts" by Rebekah Lopata explores the relationship of two middle-aged people, Vernon and Linda Roper, who have not seen each other in 40 years. Their affair all those years ago resulted in the birth of a child. They meet again at the child's funeral...
"Tuesday" by Michael Whistler is a stream-of-consciousness recital of a young office worker's (Rauscher) take on her life and her sense of alienation. Obviously written before voice-mail, she talks into a telephone unanswered by a fellow worker (Vernon) in the next cubicle. When he finally does answer, she hangs up, maximizing and underscoring her self-imposed estrangement from the world around her.
"Gunning For Life" by William Borden, which opens the second act, is a portrayal of an elderly couple (Roper and Vernon) who are facing an expected but still difficult choice. The wisecracking exchanges between the two, who are obviously completely comfortable in their relationship, belies the serious nature of their conflicted emotions.
"This is What I Wanted" by Deb Margolin is an absolutely stunning abstraction of two people (Rauscher and Kazter) who are separated by two wars. Rauscher is a World War II era pin-up queen and Kazter is a modern soldier bedeviled and bewitched by her image. This is a play that should not be parlayed into a larger piece as some of the plays might be. It stands on its own, engaging and complete on its own terms.
"Swing Set" by Rich Orloff is a sexual romp that closes this year's Play by Play. It is bawdy enough and combines the talents of all four actors as their characters attempt to assuage the dullness of everyday life -- PTA meetings and church bake sales -- and the complexities of marriage with the joys of spicy sex.
Variety Show
By James Yeara
“You were great,” Chuck (Richard Vernon) says, popping his head out from under the covers on the bed
centerstage, a big smile lingering cunningly on his face.
“You were great,” Angela (Angela Rauscher) coos immediately to Chuck, her smile framed by her luscious
chestnut curls as the covers slide off.
“You were great, too,” Tena (Linda Roper) moans with impeccable timing, the covers eased back to reveal
her satisfied smile as the audience gasps and laughs simultaneously.
“Hey, what about me?” the lump of covers on the right side of the bed seems to whine as Joe (Ryan R.
Katzer), the seeming contortionist, squeezes his head into the light like a newborn from under the twisted
sheets and coverings. The audience spasms in laughter.
Thus begins “Swing Set” by Rich Orloff, the last of the seven one-act plays that make up Stageworks/Hudson’s “Play by Play: Crossroads.” Stageworks/Hudson’s annual feast of original theater is always one of
the highlights of the local theater scene, whether performed at the start of the summer season, as in years
past, or at Proctors Theater in the fall as it was last year. With an annual theme to loosely tie the one-acts
together, “Play by Play: Crossroads” offers plenty of variety to its appreciative audience, even as it stretches
its quartet of actors. With typically smart direction from Stageworks founding artistic director Laura Margolis
and newcomer Abby Lee, “Play by Play: Crossroads” moves swiftly through its seven scenes of characters
on the cusp of life-altering climaxes.
It’s done smartly before a series of images projected on a rear screen, and the modern economy of
stagecraft leaves plenty of time to focus on what makes theater theater: the acting, the dialogue, the
action. The first play, “Adagio Lamentoso” by Jesse Waldinger, centers on Peter Tchaikovsky (Vernon)
basking in the glow of the first performance of what turns out to be his last symphony, Pathetique, when
suddenly he is confronted with what today might be called his “Michael Jackson moment.” It has become
a staple of the Play by Play series to have a one-act feature an unusual take on a historical figure, and
Adagio Lamentoso doesn’t disappoint.
Those looking for a sci-fi fix will find it in “Wired” by Brian Dykstra — its last word, “iBrain,” sums it up. And in “This Is What I Wanted,” playwright Deborah Margolin manages to straddle everything from the headlines
of Iraq through the ‘50s pin-ups of Betty Page, and features a stunning performance by Rauscher that will
linger long in the memory. Tautly directed by Margolis, “This Is What I Wanted” also uses the rear-screen
projection to best effect, and the lights, sound, images, and acting drive in a well-ordered drill to its stand-
at-attention ending.
Each “Play by Play” has included a one-act that provokes not only laughter and appreciation of the craft
displayed, but tugs at the heart, too. “Gunning for Life” by William Bordon, the Act 2 opener, centers on the
wheelchair-bound Roscoe (Vernon), who is dying of cancer, and his long-suffering wife Abby (Roper). The
play hinges on Ernest Hemingway’s infamous shotgun, but develops at a crossroads far from the expected. “Gunning for Life” is the touchstone of this year’s Play by Play, and the benchmark is high.
PLAY BY PLAY
Stageworks/Hudson
By Charles Kondek
Continuing a 13- year tradition, Founding Artistic Director of Stageworks/Hudson, Laura Margolis is closing what was a most provocative 2009 season with seven new one-act plays being presented under the collective title “Play By Play” with the word “Crossroads” as a qualifying subtitle.
These new plays have been selected from hundreds of submissions sent in from around the world. The word seems to be out: get chosen by Stageworks/Hudson and you'll probably get the definitive production of your work.
The evening opens with “Adagio Lamentoso” by Jesse Waldinger, earnestly directed by Abby Lee…deals with composer Tchaikovsky's battle with confusion and guilt regarding his sexual orientation.
Number 2 on the list is a gem. “Wired” by Brian Dykstra is a glowing Christmas tree bulb. Axtell (a hyper-kinetic Angela Rauscher) attempts to convince her non-too bright friend Steph (a winsome Ryan R. Katzer) that an electronic gadget she's working on could let one know what those around them are feeling. One could even experience death without dying. It's a slight piece, slightly sci-fi, but there's no static, and it does twinkle.
In “Gunning for Life,” Linda Roper and Richard Vernon as an old, long married couple, very close to the end of it all, are delightfully convincing in their back and forth, querulous exchanges regarding how it's all going to end; Does Roscoe commit suicide or does Abby commit murder? It's a joyous macabre piece of writing expertly handled by actors and director (Lee).
“Swing Set,” by Rich Orloff, the last play of the evening has nothing to do with Tommy Dorsey or jitterbugging, rather it is a piece of funny, faux-pornography, nifty, innocently naughty stuff neatly staged (almost choreographed) by director Lee. All four actors are on hand and are having a scantily clad grand old time, and so was the audience the night I saw it. Do they all get together again, and if so, who next time pays the check, or are the expenses divided down the middle? The choice is between exhaustingly good sex and saving a few bucks. Does the pursuit of pleasure over come the miserly instinct.
Producing Artistic Director, the incomparable Laura Margolis, directs the remaining three plays on the list, one of which is probably the most interesting of the evening, slightly surreal with hints of magical, poetical realism. “This is what I wanted,” is written by Deborah Margolin. Two characters live miles and decades apart, enforcing the idea that love can transcend time, space and place. In his tent, a lone a soldier, either in Iran or Afghanistan, drools over a 1945 pin-up girl who maintains she doesn't want a ranch-style house in suburbia, or the perfect marriage with two perfect kids, or spending afternoons at the mall. What she wants is the soldier, and what the soldier wants is the girl. Angela Rauscher as the girl in a very skimpy sun outfit couldn't better. Ryan R. Katzer is the All-American lust-filled soldier. The haunting work has been effectively staged by Margolis.
“Tuesday” a two-character unpretentious piece by Michael Whistler is practically a monologue. Lena, (a delectable, mesmerizing Angela Rauscher) and Emmanuel (the silent Richard Vernon) have adjoining cubicles in some office work-pool. Lena , when the mood strikes, which it often does, dials Emmanuel's phone. He rarely picks up, but Lena goes right on talking, baring her soul. When Emmanuel does answer, Lena disconnects. And so it goes. It's a revealing work, expertly interpreted.
“Sweethearts” by Rebekah Lopata deals with a meeting between Richard (Richard Vernon) and Marie (Linda Roper) in the vestibule of a church during a funeral service. The two had been intimate many years before and have since gone separate ways. Marie is there to bury her son. It is a quiet play filled with a terrible longing: perhaps another road should have been taken oh, so many years ago. The piece is directed by Margolis and sensitively handled by all involved.
Yankee baseball humorist/quipster Yoggi Berra is quoted as having said, “When you come to a fork in the road, take it.” Would that life were so humorously simple. “Play by Play Crosswords” is a colorful inviting theatrical smorgasbord; something yummy for every taste, but it is best to sample it all, at the Max and Lillian Katzman Theater at 41A Cross Street in Hudson. Tickets: 518-822-9667. Performances end in Hudson on October 11 and resume for another week at Proctors Theater in Schenectady. For Proctor tickets: 518-346-6204.
