Pittsburgh New Works Festival opened their Program D one acts on Friday, September 14, 2018, putting together a group of plays that asked the big questions about the meaning of existence, and the not so big questions about how to deal with irritating in-laws.
The first offering of the evening was Michael Wolfson’s The Unexpected Mourner, produced by R-ACT Theatre Productions. “Being a shomer is a great honor,” or so world-weary David Ellis is assured when he is hired by funeral director Hirshberg to sit with the body of a 92-year old woman throughout the night before her funeral. Young Ellis is a not-too-observant Jew, who has forgotten most of his Hebrew and is more interested in earning a little extra money than in the meaning and purpose of the night’s vigil. He is left alone in the funeral home, tasked with reading selected Psalms throughout his watch. What happens next changes Ellis’s perspective on life and living with joy in the face of the knowledge of one’s inevitable death.
Director Mike Nelson makes the most of his minimal setting and moves his actors around the stage with interest and energy. The earnest cast of community players gives solid, if uneven, performances. Steven F. Gallagher (Hirshberg) and Barry F. Fraser (Uncle Mordecai) have charm and joie de vivre, though their accents are confusing and inconsistent. Liz Schaming (Woman) is a confident and lively counterpoint to Nathaniel Yost’s sympathetic if plodding David Ellis.
As a one-act, Mourner doesn’t have a lot of time to develop character or plot, so some key moments of the show do feel unmotivated or rushed at times. That being said, this production is a sweet glimpse at life and death and how we humans deal with both.
Second on the docket was The Civil War, written by Michael Champagne and produced by Thoreau, NM – A Production Company. The least successful of the evening’s offerings, Civil War relies on stereotypes and overused tropes to tell the story of the fraught relationship between a Southern mother (with a Capital “S”), her northern, intellectual, Jewish son-in-law, and her beleaguered daughter, who tries to keep peace between the two battling titans.
The show is funny, thanks in great part to the solid comedic performances of Nancy Batko as southern matriarch Flora Grammercy, Jenna Lucht as daughter Mason, and Bradley Arlo Sprentz as son-in-law Richard Kaplan. The small ensemble performance is lively and full of fun. Director Alice McCallister keeps the pacing brisk, though the staging can be a bit static.
The idea behind the play is interesting: that hard-to-describe state of constant warfare mixed with deep affection that can exist within a family. But the mode of expression is irritating. The battling in-laws start their non-stop bickering within seconds of meeting; they are eminently unlikable and boringly predictable, leaving one to wonder why Mason puts up with either one of them. The surprise “twist” at the end is really no great surprise, though, again, the writing is funny, and Ms. Batko delivers the final quip, “The South shall rise again,” with perfect comedic flair.
The highlight of the evening was playwright Kelly Bancroft’s Where the Star Fell, produced by CCAC South Campus Theatre and directed by Lora Oxenreiter. The script is rich and complex, full of rhythm and a close attention to language. The production is nuanced, emotionally rich, and compelling.
Where the Star Fell tells the real-life story of Ann Hodges, who, in 1954, became the only known human in recorded history to be directly hit by a meteorite. The incident was a national sensation that ultimately ruined Mrs. Hodges life, negatively affecting her mental and physical health and destroying her marriage. The Hodges Meteorite, as it came to be named, still resides at the Alabama Museum of Natural History.
The play is a faithful retelling of the historical events as they have been recorded. But is it more than that. It is an exploration of mystery, an expression of the unfathomable nature of the universe and the unexpected consequence of an encounter between the extraordinary and the ordinary.
Actor Kendra McLaughlin as Older Ann gives an expert performance; she is emotionally present and honest, unforced and at ease on stage. Jim Froehlich as Ann’s husband Gene is low key and a solid foil for the much more emotional Ann. Linda Anschuetz has a nice sense of comedy as opportunistic landlord Birdie, and Julie Elizabeth Beroes is a vulnerable if a bit overwrought, Younger Ann.
Program D of the Pittsburgh New Works Festival offers a fun evening of small, intimate moments, well worth the effort to see. Program D and Program C are performing in repertory at Carnegie Stage in Carnegie, PA through Sunday, September 23, 2018. Tickets can be purchased at pittsburghnewworks.org.
You can also help the festival celebrate 28 years of producing new plays and honor 2018 PNFW Lifetime Achievement Award Winner David Crawford by attending the Pittsburgh New Works Festival Gala on Sunday, October 7, 2018. Cocktails and gourmet tapas will be served at 5:00 pm, Awards Ceremony at 7:00 pm, music and dancing to follow. Gala Tickets are $35 per person. Deadline to purchase tickets is Monday, October 1, 2018, online at pittsburghnewworks.org/gala or at the box office.
Helen Meade got her first theater job at age 17. Over the many intervening years she has worked professionally as an actor, singer, director, producer, administrator, production manager, stage manager, lighting designer, technician, fundraiser, and board member. Through it all, one thing has always remained true: Helen loves live theater. Some of her favorite projects include her educational adaptation, Supernatural Shakespeare, for Pittsburgh Shakespeare in the Parks and the Pittsburgh Cultural Trust Arts Education Department, directing the world premiere of composer Jeremy Beck’s The Biddle Boys and Mrs. Soffel for Tuesday Musical Club, Assistant Directing Madama Butterfly under director Kay Walker Castaldo for Pittsburgh Opera, and working with amazing humans and theatre professionals including Dan Anderson, Chari Shanker, Amanda Foust, Diana Hossack, Maria Levy, Ron Allen, Attilio Favorini, and her mentor and friend, Tony Ferrieri.
Categories: Archived Reviews