First
Impressions
New
play premieres at Stage Left.
BY
ARIA SELIGMANN
One of the great things about Eugene is the fact
that venues exist where local artists can produce their original
work. Very Little Theatre's Stage Left is one such place and is
currently showing Eugene actor/playwright Steve Mandell's brand
new play, Personals.
Mandell's last work, The Audition, premiered
at Stage Left a couple of years ago, and that work offered some
honest insights into the psyche of actors awaiting the casting call.
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WENDY
(LETICIA MASKELL) AND PETER (BOBGLASSER) IN VLT'S PERSONALS.
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Personals, however, is about more than just
what happens when you place a "mate wanted" ad. It's about how desperate
people can be to connect and how letting go of that desperation
can be a huge relief.
The play is set in the late 1990s in an affluent
California town, inside the upscale Café Bleu. Three couples
and one couple's friend are in varying stages of relationship. Peter
(Bob Glasser) and Wendy (Leticia Maskell) are an upwardly mobile,
affluent young couple whose lust for money — "Dot com or die,"
says Wendy — is matched by their lust for each other. Only
one thing stands in their way of furthering their relationship:
Peter's wife.
An older couple, Rachel (Eileen Peterson) and George
(Denny Guehler) have been married for 20 years but are now separated.
Their marital woes and desire for money are juxtaposed against their
rich, successful friend Thomas's (Larry Maltz) long-term marriage.
Lastly, Jim (Anthony O'Keefe) and Laura (Jamie Norton), a divorced
guy and the therapist who answers his personal ad, are meeting for
the first time.
The women are all obsessed with money and pointing
out their companions' flaws. Despite her deeper insights, the first
question therapist Laura asks Jim, after listing her required attributes
(serious, monogamous, interesting, fun) is "Are you rich?"
Rachel lays into George about his lack of drive,
and Wendy doesn't seem to see much difference between money and
sex — she wants heaps of both.
Meanwhile, the men who are obsessed with sex must
also defend themselves against their female counterparts' diatribes.
George wants sex more than money, and Jim wants a date to pull him
out of his depression. He's been running the personal ad for awhile.
The only smart one in the bunch is the waiter, Harold,
played nicely by Earl Ruttencutter.
Personals is a new work, and Friday night's
performance was the first ever before a live audience. Director
Jack Powell did a fine job directing this production, and the set
was lovely. Ficus trees strung with Christmas lights and a fully
stocked breakfast bar lent an air of authenticity to the set, as
did the attention to detail, including tablecloths arranged just
so (and remaining that way when they were changed), real-looking
lattés, cake, place settings and menus.
The show's weaknesses are due to some glitches in
an otherwise savvy script — some lines lapse into disappointing
clichés and some opportunities for insight are missed —
and the fact that most of Eugene's more experienced actors were
already booked because of Eugene's busy November theater calendar.
Still, Jamie Norton as therapist Laura and personal ad dude Anthony
O'Keefe were delightful in their roles. They both are new to Eugene
and experienced, so it won't be a surprise to see them onstage often.
Also carrying this production along is veteran actor
Denny Guehler, who got off to a little bit of a shaky start in Scene
One, but straightened it out by Scene Two and was quite amusing.
Personals continues through Dec. 14 and runs
about 90 minutes with no intermission.
If your personal story of how you met your
partner is so interesting you think others will want to hear about
it, then here's your chance to share: WYMPROV! is looking for willing
couples to submit themselves to humor for its Feb. 14 and 15 production
of How We Met at Very Little Theatre.
Couples will be grilled onstage (actually it's a
caring, loving, supportive atmosphere) by Eugene therapist and comedienne
(what a perfect combo) Jennifer Self. The members of WYMPROV! will
also be seated onstage, and will act out the scenes the couples
are telling.
WYMPROV!er Sally Sheklow says last year's version
of How We Met was quite successful and the audience related
to the couples beautifully. Sounds like a great way to spend Valentine's
Day, whether you're participating or watching from the audience.
Interested couples, please call Jennifer Self at
954-4321. No acting experience is expected.
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Hot
Comedy
ACE's
Rumors a fast-paced frenzy.
BY
SHARLEEN NELSON
Neil Simon's Rumors, which opened on
Broadway in 1988, is currently showing at ACE Annex. A departure
from Simon's signature light comedic productions, the farcical Rumors
pokes fun at a group of wealthy socialites unwittingly thrown into
an exaggerated, unlikely situation for which they are completely
ill equipped.
Set in the posh suburban home of the Deputy Mayor
of New York City, Rumors chronicles a 10th wedding anniversary
dinner party gone terribly awry. The action is immediate, opening
with a bang in the first act with Chris and Ken Gorman in a panic.
Upon arriving at their friend's home, they find their host Charley
bleeding from a gunshot wound to the earlobe, his wife Myra missing,
the hired help gone, and nothing prepared for the evening.
Fearing that Charlie has attempted suicide and hoping
to avoid scandal, the couple attempts to hide the truth from the
other arriving guests. For the next two hours, the action is fast-paced
and frenetic as the situation grows more absurd with one lie layered
upon another. Wild rumors and mixed messages run rampant, doors
slam, the phone rings repeatedly, and chaos reins as the
guests try to sort things out before the police arrive.
The ensemble cast comprises four couples. The first
to arrive at the party are lawyers Ken and Chris Gorman. Jennifer
Coombs shines as the high-strung Chris, whose reaction to stress
is to down a substantial quantity of cocktails. Her resulting tipsiness
showcases her formidable adeptness at physical comedy. Hank Wilson
is also hilarious as the logical lawyer Ken, who tries desperately
to keep it all together and under wraps, but becomes progressively
rattled when things get hopelessly out of hand.
Arriving next to the gathering are Claire and Lenny
Ganz, played by Sue White and Michael P. Watkins. White is terrific
as wealthy, upper class tennis club gossip Claire. In a thick New
York accent, White delivers her witty retorts with precision timing.
Her antics onstage with Jennifer Coombs, too, are exceptionally
comical. Watkins is tremendous as the dry, upper-class investment
broker Lenny, who is more concerned about his BMW than his wounded
host. His finest scene is when he poses as Charlie and masterfully
delivers to the police officer a nearly plausible scenario of the
events of the evening.
Ernie and Cookie Cusack make their entrance next.
The role of Ernie is just what the doctor ordered for Ron Hart,
who not only plays the role convincingly, but also perfectly fits
the stereotypical profile of a neurotic analyst to the upper class.
And Debbie Farr is first-rate as his ditzy wife, Cookie, an eccentric
hypochondriac and host of her own cooking show.
The last couple to show up is Glenn and Cassie Cooper.
Chris Columbus plays aspiring politician Glenn and Ceridyn Gipson
is his insecure wife, Cassie. Cassie suspects her husband of cheating,
which stirs even more conflict into the already tense mix. Rounding
out the cast is Jesse D. Lally, who is very funny as the earnest,
no-nonsense cop, Officer Welch.
Director Chris Pinto and producer Jim Roberts have
assembled a talented and funny cast for this wildly entertaining,
over-the-top adult comedy. The intimate setting of the Annex —
every seat is within close proximity to the stage — enhances
the audience's ability to be drawn into the outrageous action.
Kudos, too, to Joe Zingo, John Elliott and the cast
and crew for the fabulous set design. Reflective of its affluent
owners, the attention to detail in the tasteful decor can be seen
from the curtains to the houseplants and flower arrangements to
the swanky, built-in cocktail bar/stereo combo.
If an evening of comic relief is what you're looking
for, Rumors is the hot ticket.
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Cuddly
Conifers
Evergreens
for the garden.
BY
RACHEL FOSTER
Unpronounceable plant names can be very distancing.
That's why some devotees of the genus Chamaecyparis refer
to the garden varieties as "kammies." The name Chamaecyparis
comes from Greek, so classicists pronounce it kammy-kew-pa-ris.
For the rest of us, kammy-sip-par-is is close enough.
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THIS
LOVELY GOLDEN HINOKI IS PRUNED TO KEEP IT TO SCALE.
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Chamaecyparis means, literally, "low-growing
evergreen." That makes it a bit of a misnomer for wild species such
as Oregon's own Port Orford cedar (C. lawsoniana) ,which
grows well over 100 feet, but it is perfectly apt for the cute dwarf
varieties beloved by gardeners. Dwarf forms and foliage variations
usually originate from "sports'" or abnormal growths on normal trees.
They can arise on any species. Port Orford cedar has some lovely
sports, including some wonderful columnar plants of medium-size
such as 'Ellwoodii.'
'Ellwoodii' and company need exceptionally good
drainage. They are nice plants, and useful unless (or until) they
succumb to root rot. But are they cute? Not as cute as the dwarf
forms of Hinoki cypress, Chamaecyparis obtusa. Dwarf Hinokis
are the teddy bears of the conifer world. Typically their foliage
is arranged in soft, fan-like sprays; they are not stiff and prickly
like dwarf spruce or juniper. They grow in shapes that range from
tight little bun forms to graceful, irregular pyramids with an insouciant
flip to their terminal shoots.
Another Japanese species that shows up in gardens
is Chamaecyparis pisifera. The soft-textured, blue-green
'Boulevard' belongs here, and there are slow-growing cushions tipped
with white or cream variegation. The most familiar forms of C.pisifera
have tiny scale-like leaves set on "drooping, thread-like branchlets"
(to quote Sunset Western Garden Book). You see them everywhere.
They look like giant mop heads, usually yellow, but they are at
their best when they are quite old and as tall as a person.
I like kammies because their irregular growth provide
softer, more informal outlines than most other evergreens. My favorites
are all dwarf varieties of Hinoki cypress. Now pay attention, because
"dwarf" is relative. This is one area where it is vital to know
that plants with the same species name can range from rock plant
to tall tree status. The largest variety of obtusa you are
likely to find in a nursery is 'Gracilis,' which will develop into
a somewhat open small tree 20-25 feet tall. The color is a pleasing
deep but vibrant green. 'Nana Gracilis' is slower growing, resulting
in a more compact, pyramidal shrub. Both are distinctly irregular,
without the neat Christmas tree symmetry of a spruce or a fir.
Working down the scale, deep-green varieties first,
we come to 'Kosteri,' roughly cone-shaped pile of dense foliage
that eventually grows four or five feet high; and 'Reis Dwarf,'
which is slower and more upright. (Either of these would make good
bonsai material, by the way, and both are less expensive than really
tiny rock garden varieties, for which you will need to go to a specialist
such as Baltzer's Specialized Nursery in Pleasant Hill, or Greer
Gardens.)
The golden Hinoki in the photograph is Chamaecyparis
obtusa 'Crippsii,' which might grow to 50 feet if the owners
let it. This specimen is pruned every year to keep it at 4 or 5
feet. Chamaecyparis handle pruning better than most conifers,
but there's an art to it. For one thing, you have to prune them
in late spring, just when they are looking their best, and they
won't break from brown wood unless you leave some live growth at
the tip. It's tricky. You get similar color from a smaller grower,
'Tetragona Aurea', though the foliage and form are very different.
Two of my own favorite variations on the Hinoki
theme are 'Pygmaea Aurescens,' which looks a little like a short,
fat arbor-vitae sprayed with bronze, and the oddly twisted, open-growing
type that Bloomers nursery sells as 'Torulosa.' You might find something
very similar labeled 'Coralliformis' or (from one local wholesaler)
'Rashamiba.' All these contorted forms are green, but not as deep
a green as 'Gracilis.' Hinokis will grow in any good garden soil
with reasonable drainage and consistent summer water. Very dwarf
varieties appreciate afternoon shade. All make good container plants
if you don't let the roots dry out.
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