Stagebridge serves it up hot and tasty with a heaping side of laughs: ‘Counter Attack!’
This reviewer is a member of the San Francisco Bay Area Theatre Critics Circle (SFBATCC)
“Counter Attack” a world premiere by Joan Holden, produced by Stagebridge. Director: Sharon Lockwood. Set: Dan Chumley. Costumes: Cassandra Carpenter. Lights: Will Springhorn, Jr. Original Music: Richard “Scrumbly” Koldewyn. Musician: Bruce Barthol.
Marlene: Joan Mankin. Courtney: Sarah Mitchell.
Ensemble (each in multiple parts): James Brooks, Hugo Carbajal, Angela Dosalmas, Franklin Hall, Tara Heckathorn, Lynne Hollander, Charmaine Hitchcox, Lew Levinson, Bora Max Koknar, Marilyn Leavitt, Bill Liebman, Agnes Lyons, Billy Pond, Miyoko Sakatani, Mel Terry, Shannon Veon-Kase.
Thrilled. Flabbergasted. Slap happy. Astonished. Delighted. Enlightened. This is a bit of how I felt encountering Stagebridge and its unique brand of theatre for the first time a few days ago.
Since 1978, Stagebridge has been pursuing its mission of bringing theatre to seniors, by seniors, for seniors, and about seniors to the Bay area. What is this about? From their website: “Stagebridge is changing how people view and experience aging.”
How is it accomplished?
Stagebridge projects include acting and singing classes for seniors, theatre performances and training for folk who work with seniors, and full out productions featuring senior actors (from complete newbies to retired professionals) such as the current production Counter Attack!
On the night I attended the Ashby Stage the house was packed to the rafters with enthusiastic elders. Some were typically stylish theatre goers dressed in traditional evening costume. Many were stereotypical “old ladies in tennis shoes”. There were plenty of last gasp hippies with grey hair tumbling over shoulders or tied back in pony tails behind shiny bald pates. The atmosphere was more like a party than a theatre.
Years ago, I remember attending a wondrous production of The Gospel At Collonus. For the first (and only) time in my decades of theatregoing, I encountered an almost exclusively Black theatre audience, obviously thrilled to the bone to see, for once, themselves as they knew themselves performing the best theatrical work for their own community. Another time, I had a similar experience when I attended, with the great Luis Valdez, the opening night performance of his Corridos in downtown Los Angeles and saw a mostly Latino audience discovering and celebrating themselves with their own actors and stories onstage. This shit doesn’t often go down on Broadway and we need more of it. Call it activist theatre, call it community theatre, call it agit prop, call it political, call it alternative. I call it damn good and refreshing.
You can also call it “Stagebridge”.
The company of Counter Attack! is all over the map in terms of experience. The playwright and lead actress, and one additional company member, worked for years with the San Francisco Mime Troupe. Original compositions are contributed by the great Richard “Scrumbly” Koldewyn, a founding member of the Cockettes. The program notes identify other performers who have been doing theatre for as little as two or three years. One is a retired nurse, another a retired psychologist, yet another a retired Muni supervisor. All are excellent.
At one point, early in the evening, the diner setting on stage was packed with no fewer than 14 actors, working together in comic ensemble. Imagine! 14 actors, mostly seniors, many just entering the theatre in their 5th to 8th or 9th decade of life, acting he hell out of a complex scene in the style of the San Francisco Mime Troupe. Words fail, but it’s something else.
Joan Holden‘s script (inspired by Candacy A. Taylor‘s ethnography of American waitresses, Counter Culture: The American Coffeeshop Waitress) tells the story of a senior coffeeshop waitress who is threatened by a new young hotshot taking over as manager. The young one, predictably and enjoyably, gets her comeuppance over the course of a few challenging shifts. Customers and staff are carefully portrayed with interesting characterizations and engaging back stories. It all works.
Don’t miss this.
Counter Attack! continues through March 4 at The Ashby Stage in Berkeley. For further infomation, click here.
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Bus Barn Stage Company’s ‘Doubt, A Parable’ will surely make you think
This reviewer is a member of the San Francisco Bay Area Theatre Critics Circle (SFBATCC)
“Doubt, A Parable” by John Patrick Shanley, produced by Bus Barn Stage Company. Director: Virginia Drake. Scenic Designer: Ron Gasparinetti. Costume Designer: Barbara J. Cannon. Lighting Designer: Nick Kumamoto. Sound Designer: Chris Enni.
Father Brendan Flynn: Geoff Fiorito. Sister Aloysius Beauvier: Diane Tasca. Sister James: Melinda Marks. Mrs. Muller: Michelle Ianiro.
(production attended Saturday, February 11, 2012)
It is not often that I am able to fit community theatre productions into my reviewing schedule. But when the talented playwright, actress and cabaret diva Michelle Ianiro urged me to attend a production of John Patrick Shanley‘s Doubt, A Parable at the Bus Barn Stage Company in Los Altos, I made time. Ms. Ianiro is capable of commanding attention.
Let me remind my readers that “community theatre” does not have to mean “bad theatre”. Community theatre practitioners typically include well- trained artists who, for a variety of reasons, have not pursued professional careers. A community or semi-professional production may differ from professional work in that the company (both on and off stage) will include various levels of experience, the run of the show is likely to be short and the audiences forgiving. It is often a family affair. Many community theatres have deep roots in their neighborhoods, and audiences experience a sense of connection and intimacy with these institutions that is quite noticeable and offers a special kind of theatrical pleasure.
All of this is true at Bus Barn Stage Company, a true neighborhood theatre, housed in a suburban community center. In the current production of Doubt, A Parable, the work is of professional caliber and the play well served.
Geoff Fiorito as Father Brendan Flynn and Diane Tasca as Sister Aloysius Beauvier in Bus Barn Stage Company's Production of "Doubt, A Parable". Photo Credit: Bus Barn Stage Company.
Sister Aloysius (Diane Tasca) is a martinet of a nun, principal of a middle school in the Bronx in 1964, and faced with a challenging situation. She suspects that the popular Father Flynn (Geoff Fiorito) has molested a new student, a shy young boy who happens to be the first Black student to attend the school. The boy has thrived under Father Flynn’s attention, the boys’ mother, Mrs. Muller (Michelle Ianiro) is not displeased, and Sister Aloysius has no proof for her suspicions. She asks the young Sister James (Melinda Marks) to help her by watching the situation carefully.
Sister Aloysius is almost convinced beyond a doubt that Father Flynn is guilty. Sister James thinks otherwise. The boy’s mother is prepared to believe that whatever the priest may have done, it has been more beneficial than harmful for her effeminate son whose father has rejected him. The doubts raised as to the priest’s actual behavior are only the beginning of the many doubts in this play. Can a wrong situation be right, under certain circumstances? Does anybody have the right to judge? Is Sister Aloysius hard core discipline a type of abuse? What rules are the most important rules?
Shandley’s Doubt is an unusually thought provoking play. It is no wonder that it won both a Pulitzer Prize and a Tony for best play when it premiered on Broadway in 2005 and that the film later went on to be nominated for multiple Academy Awards.
Director Virginia Drake has guided her actors to some very satisfying performances. Diane Tasca’s Sister Aloysius is disturbingly strict but nevertheless likeable and convincingly conscientious. Melinda Marks does well in capturing the enthusiasm and doubt of a novice schoolteacher. Michelle Ianiro is particularly good as the boy’s fiercely defensive mother, and Geoff Fiorito is believable as a priest with a talent for mentoring teenagers.
Doubt, A Parable is a stimulating night of theatre that will give you much to talk about. The production continues through this weekend. If you want to avoid the President’s Day Weekend Bay Bridge closure and stick to the peninsula, this would be a good choice for an evening out on the town.
For further information, click here.
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“Glengarry Glen Ross”: David Mamet’s brilliant portrait of businessmen as crooks
This reviewer is a member of the San Francisco Bay Area Theatre Critics Circle (SFBATCC)
“Glengarry Glen Ross” by David Mamet, produced by the Actors Theatre of San Francisco. Director: Keith Phillips. Assistant Director: Tiffany Mitchell. Technical Director: James Baldock. Set: Biz Duncan. Lights: Rachel Klyce. Costumes: Carole Robinson.
Shelly Levene: John Krause. John Williamson: Frank Willey. Dave Moss: Mark Bird. George Aaronow: Sean Hallinan. James Lingk: Randy Blair. Richard Roma: Christian Phillips. Detective Baylen: Carole Robinson.
Earlier this season, Keith Phillips of the Actors Theatre of San Francisco directed his brother Christian Phillips as Teach in a magnificently successful staging of David Mamet’s American Buffalo, a play that presents cheap crooks who believe themselves to be businessmen. Now, the brotherly team has repeated that success with a production of Mamet‘s Glengarry Glen Ross, a play that presents apparent businessmen who are actually nothing more than cheap crooks. In my opinion, these two plays represent the finest dramas of American business in the entire canon. In fact, I am such an enthusiastic fan of Mamet’s early plays that I wrote my graduate thesis (The Entropic World of David Mamet) on his work. (The only competition would be Arthur Miller‘s Death of a Salesman and All My Sons.)
The first act of the play consists of three seemingly unrelated encounters in a Chinese restaurant. First, older salesman Shelly Levene (John Krause) desperately tries to persuade a much younger office manager to provide him with premium leads. This is followed by a scene between two other equally desperate salesman, Dave Moss (Mark Bird) and George Aaronow (Sean Hallinan), in which one tries to persuade the other to break into the office and steal the leads. Finally, a third salesman, Ricky Roma (Christian Phillips), delivers a sales pitch to hapless mark, James Lingk (Randy Blair).
John Krause and Christian Phillips in Actors Theatre of San Francisco's production of David Mamet's Glengarry Glen Ross. Photo Credit: Actors Theatre of San Francisco
These initial scenes are written in Mamet’s characteristically (and actor-challenging) shotgun style, with overlapping sentences, rhythmic repetitions, half finished thoughts, interpolated obscenities, scripted pauses, and occasional inarticulate grunts. It is difficult to maintain clarity with this text, and Phillips’ cast does an excellent job of keeping the meaning clear and avoiding confusion. On opening night, they appeared to be a bit too careful which seemed to dampen the wild desperation and zest which would put these scenes over the top, but that should improve as the run continues.
In any case, any uncertainty of execution disappeared when Christian Phillips’ Ricky Roma began the monologue that opens with the peculiar confession, “all train compartments smell vaguely of shit. It gets so you don’t mind it…” and continues with an obscene, charming, outrageously funny and frankly irresistable tour de force of salesmanship culminating in a pitch for some worthless real estate. Phillips’ takes his time with the speech, finding every deliciously nasty nook and cranny as he dangles the bait at his victim and then painlessly slips in the hook. It is a delight to watch such a skillful actor having so much damn fun! Randy Blair partners him well as the bulldozed customer.
The plot becomes clearer in the second act, set in the real estate office the following morning, where it is evident that a robbery of the leads has taken place the previous night. Police Detective Baylen (Carole Robinson) is on the case. This act presents Mamet at his impressive best, with multiple overlapping scenes, complex twists, an almost farcical series of entrances and exits and moments of emotional extremity. Director Phillips keeps everything crystal clear and his cast powers through the material like a runaway locomotive.
This is a production that does full justice to Mamet’s difficult script, and showcases the company’s celebrated expertise in ensemble performance. And, of course, it scarcely needs pointing out that this is topical. Occupy Mamet!
Glengarry Glen Ross continues through February 24. For further information, click here.
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