A Night At The Theatre - "Into The Woods"

Last night Chad and I attended the Final Dress/Preview performance of Twin City Stage's production of Into The Woods.

I have seen this show a couple of other times, though I must say that Twin City Stage's production is, by far, the best one I've seen. Yes, the performance was riddled with numerous and disappointing technical problems, but the quality of the actors, the costumes and sets allowed me to forgive the lighting, spotlight and mic hiccups.

Overall, the entire cast was very strong. There were two actors who frustrated me with their overacting. I felt the talent of Troy Hurst, who played the Steward, while effeminately funny, was wasted. I much would have preferred to see him in the role of Rapunzel's prince.

There were 3 actors who, in my opinion, gave outstanding performances.

(photo by Daniel Alvarez)

I'll be the first to admit, when I saw the cast list I cringed a bit at seeing that Sally Holmes Meehan had been cast as Jack's mom. I wasn't aware that she could sing and the only thing I'd seen her in, well, I wasn't at all impressed with her performance. From her first to final appearance she was spot on! Jack's mother can come off as a selfish, uncaring bitch. Sally played the role with the perfect amount of moxie and tenderness. Never did I doubt that she had Jack's best interest at heart.

(photo by Daniel Alvarez)

I've recently become acquainted with Sarah Jenkins. She ran lights and sound for our Saturday matinee performance of 5 Lesbians Eating A Quiche and I spent some time talking with her during one of our cast parties. While I've not seen her on stage, I knew she was talented. (Not to mention smart and pretty!) I was blown away by how good Sarah was. It was such a treat watching her! She is a stunning singer and actress. I thoroughly enjoyed watching her Cinderella bloom.

(photo by Daniel Alvarez)

My favorite performance was that of David Joy. Now, I'll admit, I am a bit biased. Like numerous other folks in the Triad area, I've got a little crush on David. It's not just because he's handsome. He's a bonefide talent. He played both the Wolf and Cinderella's Prince in the show. Both roles made me shiver in delight; his Wolf especially. While I'm in no way a singer, I've never wished so hard that I could have played Cinderella instead of Sarah!

My Next Theatrical Endeavor

Stay tuned for more details!

The Journal Review

poignant: Play reflects dark side
By Mary Martin Niepold
SPECIAL TO THE JOURNAL

Del Shores is known for his plays that use humor to expose small towns in Texas and the stereotypical characters who inhabit them -- hypocritical Christians, hard-drinking locals and people who wear prejudice like badges of honor.

His Trials and Tribulations of a Trailer Trash Housewife, which opened Friday night at Theatre Alliance, targets something more demonic: domestic violence.

As funny as some of the lines can be -- give a boozy barmaid an opportunity to trash her own string of five husbands, and you'll get funny wisecracks -- in this play, the tone is darker. Shores places violence at the center of the action.

Willadean Winkler takes beatings from her alcoholic, rageaholic husband, and Shores' dedication of his play says, "To all the ‘Willadeans,' may you find the light."

This is a powerful play, and it isn't for young people under 18. Nor is it for anyone who doesn't want to see and hear violence.

But beatings are the reason that Willadean struggles to find her own identity. "I will not shrivel up and die," she keeps telling herself.

She is alone against her husband -- her teenage daughter died in a car wreck, and her gay, teenage son was kicked out of the house by his father.

Fortunately for Willadean, the other side of violence is liberation, and we see freedom slowly evolve, thanks to the sensitive portrayal of Willadean by Cheryl Ann Roberts.

It is 2005 in Mesquite, Texas, where we also witness strong friendships, like the one Willadean has with her black neighbor, La Sonia, played to the bone by Jae Campbell. Adrienne Smith appears as a blues singer who threads songs through the scenes as a guardian angel-like figure for Willadean. Smith's voice is a beautiful and welcome counterpoint.

But Mikey Wiseman as J.D. Winkler, the abusive husband, is why this play, ultimately, works. His performance is brilliant, and as much as you don't want to see his rage, Wiseman makes his character evolve like a coiled snake who can mesmerize, then strike, then mesmerize again.

Jamie Lawson is the director, Kevin Mundy is an onstage pianist, and Andrew Lopina's set is a true-blood rendering of the inside of a mobile home and the seedy interior of the local bar.

Sales from popcorn and drinks benefit the Family Services Shelter for battered women. It is a fitting reminder of the story that Shores tells from a trailer park, which could be from anywhere.

Theatre Alliance presents The Trials and Tribulations of a Trailer Trash Housewife today and next Sunday at 2 p.m.; Thursday through Saturday at 8 p.m.; and Saturday at 4 p.m. at 1047 Northwest Blvd. Tickets are $16, $14 for seniors and students. Call 723-7777.

The Journal Review

OK, OK: Fighting gets old in play
By Mary Martin Niepold
SPECIAL TO THE JOURNAL

Put a group of women together in the fellowship hall of a Texas church, watch them throw hissy fits and tangle over past slights and present insults, and you've got the makings of the latest Del Shores play, Daughters of the Lone Star State. It opened Friday night at Theatre Alliance.

Shores, who can master down-home humor and does a good job of satirizing small-town customs, is particularly good at skewering customs that reek with hypocrisy. Director Jamie Lawson has already guided Theatre Alliance's staging of two other plays by Shores, Daddy's Dying, Who's Got the Will and Sordid Lives.

In Daughters of the Lone Star State, which features an all-female cast, the target is the uppity attitude, prejudice and hypocrisy of a few local churchwomen in the small town of Lowake, Texas, 1992.

This particular group at the First Baptist Church call themselves the "Daughters of the Lone Star State," and their motto is "We are the privileged helping the underprivileged."

They may have a well-meaning mission, but on this night right before Christmas, they're struggling with failing membership, the admission of a lower-class woman who married a Mexican, a member who drinks too much, and one who flushes away another member's banana pudding because it's too common. There's even discussion about whether to admit a black member or dissolve altogether.

The plot is thin in this moral tale, but Shores offers his zingers: "Better to leave 'em wanting than wanting to leave" and "I almost forgot I decided to ignore you for the rest of my life."

The problem is that just about all the women can do is fight. Yes, there are some funny lines and some tender moments, but the clawing is relentless. On opening night, the pacing of the play also dragged a bit.

"Daughters" does make its point about prejudice and snobbery, and helping to hold our attention are two wonderful characters. Carol Roan is very funny as "Cookie Hawkins," the original founder who lapses in and out of lucidity. Mostly, Cookie thinks she's Lady Bird Johnson. Cheryl Ann Roberts plays "Virgie Hopkins" in this, her third Del Shores play at Theatre Alliance, and it shows. Roberts is tough, confident and won't put up with much.

Theatre Alliance presents Daughters of the Lone Star State at 2 p.m. today and Nov. 22; at 8 p.m. Nov. 19-20; and at 4 p.m. and 8 p.m. on Nov. 21. Theatre Alliance, 1047 Northwest Blvd., Winston-Salem. Call 336-723-7777.

Kudos for The Laramie Project: 10 Years Later

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Thanks for having me at the theater. It was great and Mallorie did awesome.
~DR
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I wanted to tell you both that you did a wonderful job tonight. Cheryl Ann, your portrayal of Judy was beautiful. The night was amazing...

Brava!
~SL
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It was truly a remarkable experience...
~SB
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Mallorie did a great job.
~CD
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...I really admired your performance. Specifically, I liked the simplicity of it. It was sincere and drew the audience in. I completely understand that you were a proud mom that night (and should be!!), but don’t ever sell your work short; it was solid acting.
~AL

Love and Support

Allan, Cade, Dusty, Mom, Clara, Dawson, Trena, Lynn, Tony, Rebecca, Michael, and Ben, thank you so very much for braving the crappy weather to support Mallorie and me in this personal endeavor.

Dad and Bill C. - thank you for being with us in spirit.

Extra special thank yous to Nathan, Kevin, Mary Ann, Mitchell, Brian, Jennifer, and Myla who helped spread the word.

Preliminary word was that we raised over $700 for the Matthew Shepard Foundation and close to $500 for the Adam Foundation. More importantly we told the story to a little over 250 audience members.

Kudos for Moonlight and Magnolias

Sorry I didn’t get to catch you after tonight’s show. It certainly looked like you were having fun up there, Miss Poppengul!
~BC 9.24
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Cheryl Ann....What can I say? In the hands of a lesser actress Poppenghul could be lost and not really add much to the show. In your hands, you really give the guys a run for their money. You are so incredibly funny and make every time you come on stage something special. She could be just a generic secretary. But with your performance she is a unique character and you've carved out a very specific and very strong personality for her. And most importantly she is so very, very funny. This is a wonderfully funny show and I love watching you on stage.
~SB 9.18
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The Journal Review

Spoofing Scarlett for the Fun of It - Twin City Stage delivers the laughs
By Mary Martin Niepold
SPECIAL TO THE JOURNAL
Published: September 20, 2009

You can't make this stuff up, and in the new play at Twin City Stage, we get a dramatized comedy about the real deal behind the making of Gone With the Wind.

Moonlight and Magnolias is set in 1939 when Hollywood mega producer David O. Selznick actually locked famous writer Ben Hecht and film director Victor Fleming in his office for five days to save his production of Gone With the Wind.

Selznick fed them peanuts and bananas. He needed a new script to resuscitate what would become one of the most popular movies of all time and was willing to lose $50,000 a day while production was delayed and the men worked.

Knowing the plot of the movie means that audiences already have a good handle on the events and characters we see acted out by three grown men.

Director Stan Bernstein has parodied the actual events with restraint.

The whole situation is made for laughs, and the lead actors manage to bring some slapstick humor to reworking the movie's script, especially Melanie's giving birth and Scarlett's slapping of Prissy.

Anthony Liguori as Selznick carries the show.

He can deadpan lines as easily as he can bark out producer's edicts.

When he mimics Scarlett, he's hilarious.

His counterpoint, the morally earnest Hecht, is effectively portrayed by Chad Edwards.

It's a fun sendup of the famous melodrama.

Twin City Stage (formerly the Little Theatre of Winston-Salem) will present Moonlight and Magnolias at 2 p.m. today and Sept. 27 and at 8 p.m. Sept. 24-26 in the Arts Council Theater, 610 Coliseum Drive. Tickets are $22, $20 for seniors and $18 for students. For more information call the Twin City Stage box office at 336-725-4001.

Sordid Lives Kudos

I just want to tell you how much we enjoyed the play.

I learned recently that my hours at work are being cut and am losing my health insurance (at almost 62 years old) & have been in bummed mode lately. I bought the tickets thinking that I may get a laugh or 2, especially after having enjoyed "Plaid Tidings" so, so much.

Well, I just want you to know how much we enjoyed Sordid Lives and how much it brought my head up. It was the best $25 bucks I ever spent. The whole cast was terrific. The play just lifted my spirits. Thank you all so much for helping me to feel better.
~U 7.10
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A most hearty congratulations to you, Cheryl Ann, for (yet another) amazing performance! And FINALLY discovering and believing you truly are elite as a performer. Take the confidence and run with it. You've worked so hard over the years, and you deserve the respect and the "fame" that comes with the level of achievement you have attained. I am so proud of you!
~M 6.28
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You get betterer and betterer.
~LSM 6.28
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you were phenomenal in Sordid Lives!
~N 6.25
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You seriously did such a good job in the show...I've never seen you act before! SOO good!!
~CR 6.22

Final Performance, Sordid Lives

According to Jamie, we could still have done several more performances and sold them out. But alas, last night was our final show, at least for this year. (I've already blocked my schedule for the 2012 revival!)

The show went well. Similar to opening night, and in the same spot, April went up on one of her lines. She recovered last time, but I had to ad-lib last night. If my actual line had been on the tip of my tongue, I could have simply gone on, filling the space. But I needed April's line to prompt mine. My cover sounded contrived, at least to my own ears. Still, the audience probably never knew.

Also in that scene I caught myself planning out how I was going to vary my delivery to a set of repetitive lines. My planning worked, the audience collectively laughed. But thinking about it took me slightly "out of the moment" and I didn't work up to my usual power ending. Again, the audience never knew the difference.

The audience did, however, see the curtain fall off the window and onto a small table during the funeral scene. GW (Don) drunkenly proclaims that "Life is a big ol pile of shit, Latrelle", exits slamming the door behind him. The force of his slam caused the curtain to fall, pretty much right in front of me. The audience started tittering, and in the two seconds it took me to decide whether to put the curtain back, the tittering became infectious. Remaining completely in character and with a slight nod of my head toward the fallen curtain, I delivered my next line "Well, he's right about that" directly to the audience. They laughed, and I continued on with the scene, choosing to leave the curtain over the table. The audience "got" my intention that it was just one more thing poor put upon Latrelle had to deal with.

Latrelle and Sissy at the Table

This scene was one of my favorites because it was such a props challenge. Holding a glass of tea, I'd walk over, spy the apple pie and ask Sissy if she wanted a piece. My first challenge was trying to find a place for the tea. The pie was pre-cut but I always had difficulty getting the pie onto a plate. (And not just one piece, but two!) There was only one night when too much prop concentration made me go up on my lines.

I actually ate the apple pie. Listening to Sissy go on about how big Vera Lisso was getting, I would pick out and eat the apples. I'd try to get as much in my mouth so that when I delivered a specific line, I say it with a mouth full of food. I'd try to finish any remaining apples, chew and swallow, throw down the plate and begin talking about Ty's New York Show. It was as natural as talking with my mom over dessert at her house.

The front row especially got a kick out of this scene. One night a pile of napkins fell on the floor and Sissy got them so I could go on with my monologue. Another night I spilled tea down my dress. And another night I had to use my fingers to get the pie that was stuck on the spatula onto the plate. I took it all in stride, never breaking character. I let Sissy get the napkins, wiped up the tea and licked the apple pie filling off my finger.

Sissy and I always managed to pull off the scene, making it look as easy as, well, apple pie.

Sordid Girls

Using the last of the Polaroid film...It's Latrelle, LaVonda, Noletta and Sissy.

Backstage at Sordid Lives

Me and Scarlett

BTW - Before The Wig

Gray fixin' the wig

Feelin' like Latrelle!

"I love my gay son." (I enjoyed working with Dave Wils.)

Smilin' with Sissy

Full house!

Latrelle and Sissy

Pics, Blithe Spirit

Final Performance, The Velveteen Rabbit

Our final performance was this afternoon at the Main Library. As you can see from the pictures, they have a very nice stage, and our 'set' worked very well in the space.

While we performed for another full house, this afternoon's house wasn't overcrowded. There were enough chairs for everyone and some of the kids sat on the floor directly in front of the stage. Most of the kids got over their nervousness from last night and today they really seemed to have fun. I know that I had a blast!

Opening Night, The Velveteen Rabbit

Who would have thought our little "staged reading" of the popular children's book would be so popular? I figured the audience would be rather small. With a 6p curtain time, I didn't think some of the parents would be able to make the show. But, boy, was I wrong!

The rehearsal hall was overflowing with folks! There weren't enough chairs set up, so most of the audience was standing. This made it a bit difficult to make our entrances from the house, as we had to weave through the crowd. Still the kids were troopers and managed to adapt without getting thrown.

We did have some problems hearing some of the kids. Charlie started out a bit quiet, but did increase her volume as she fought her nerves. Jasmin, our little fairy, was so cute you didn't care that you couldn't hear what she said!

Most of the kids were nervous and dealt with it in different ways. Adam was actually pretty sedate backstage, which was a welcome change! Caroline became famished and downed a small bag of Oreos (sans water - it was not pretty).

Overall, opening "night" was a success. There were only a few dropped lines. I did end up using the prop book, and the audience didn't seem to mind. The kids were great and I was so proud of them!

Our final performance is tomorrow at 2p. We will be performing in the auditorium of the main library, downtown. Remember, it's a free performance so come early for seats!

Pictures, The Foreigner

(Second) Friday Performance, The Best Christmas Pageant Ever

The kids were in rare form last night before the show. Hyper-energized. We had to corral them in the music room where, thankfully, Michael and Mallorie entertained them by telling jokes. At 7:45pm I had a rather harsh chat with the kids about several things.

During tech week we made announcements that costumes were to go back on hangers and placed on the costume rack each night. They were told that costumes left lying around would be confiscated. Thursday night one of our shepherds left his costume on various chairs in the dressing room. His costume was taken, and I had to have a chat with him and his mother. Of course he claimed he did hang his costume. So, the kids were (re)warned again last night.

Last week some incidents involving touching and spitting were brought to my attention. Both issues were addressed last Saturday, but apparently there was still some parental concerns. I reiterated last week's conversation, and advised that if problems continued offending cast members would be replaced.

The threat of being dropped from the show apparently helped some to focus their energy. Last night's performance was even better than Thursday night's show. Ken blogged about it, live.

We've two shows remaining. If you haven't yet attended a show, please purchase a ticket and come early.

Opening Night, The Best Christmas Pageant Ever

Last night Kernersville Little Theatre's production of "The Best Christmas Pageant Ever" was brought to life. The Kernersville community, and then some, came out to see the show. There were so many patrons we had to open the balcony. It was wonderful seeing a full house.

The show was wonderful. I was so very proud of the kids. Not a single one of them appeared nervous. The audience loved Ruth, who is a pistol as Gladys. BJ's underwear line got a great laugh from the audience, as did RC's line about his brother. The twins, Nathan and Sean, received applause as they entered as baby angels. Every one of the kids was spot-on.

April's telephone cord disconnected from the phone during her Mrs. Armstrong scene. The malfunction didn't trip her up. Kelly jump a couple of lines, which cut two lines for one of the kids. The audience never knew.

Except for a tizzy during the pre-show concert, technically the show went well. Fred heard all my light cues and Vi and I worked on the sound cues and levels. My backstage crew was ready for the scene changes and they went quickly.

The only bad thing about our opening was how I felt by the end of the night. My head was pounding and my ears were ringing. Yep, now I've got a cold.

If you come see the show, and you definitely should, make sure to come early. The pews fill up fast.