Rabbit Hole 2011
Rabbit Hole Digs Deep
By Jodi Thompson
For Northampton Patch
August 24, 2011
If you've ever given or gratefully received platitudes such as "it's God's plan," "God must've needed another angel in heaven" or "he's in a better place now" you may not fully appreciate Becca's pain in "Rabbit Hole," the David Lindsay-Abaire play produced by Langhorne Players and running through Sept. 3 at Spring Garden Mill in Tyler State Park.
Highly practical, non-sentimental Becca suffers loss just as strongly as those who mourn in more traditional forms, but others don’t necessarily see it. She methodically folds clothes readying them for charity, clothes once worn by Danny, her young son who ran out in front of a car eight months ago.
Becca is portrayed with heroic restraint by Kyla Mostello Donnelly of Levittown. Donnelly plays Becca’s pain as an implosion of sorts. While other reviews might mention that Becca once worked at Sotheby’s, quitting to be a full-time mom and now must reexamine her status, Donnelly digs much deeper than such a superficial concern. Her Becca struggles to survive an inner battle of despair with no outlet, no source of comfort.
Her husband, Howie, needs to share his grief, even wallow in it at times – watching a videotape of everyday interactions with his son and their dog with as much stealth as some men might practice for viewing porn. Philadelphian Aaron Wexler makes Howie a loveable character, his torment palpable when he aches to find comfort in his wife’s arms, the embrace of his home, the warmth of his dog, the memories of his son. Wexler brings poignancy to these foiled opportunities for consolation.
Oddly enough, it’s Becca’s wild-child sister, Izzy, who transforms from barroom brawler to voice of reason. Julia Wise of Huntingdon Valley is both animated and relaxed as the mercurial Izzy who always speaks truth – that is after the tall tale with which she opens the play. She accepts everyone’s way of mourning, while pointing out their contradictions without judgment: Stop making a dessert for your dead son. Sure I need baby clothes, but it’s not right for you to see Danny’s clothes walking around without Danny. You don’t think I’m capable of being a good mother, but you keep trying to pour wine into my juice glass. Go ahead and take a friend to lunch, but don’t you dare have an affair on my sister. Hey, people, this is my birthday – stop fighting!
Wise makes you love Izzy, even if she starts out as a loser, pregnant by another loser who was living with another woman. Izzy’s strength is most apparent when others have none.
It is Ambler’s Linda Palmarozza as Becca and Izzy’s mother, Nat, who provides plenty of humor. Palmarozza takes care with Nat’s lack of finesse, ensuring it never gets slap-stick. Her Nat cuts to the core with concern, at times inappropriate and other times right on target.
Director Robert Norman facilitates his actors finding the right balance for each of these memorable characters.
If you manage to restrain from crying until then, you will succumb when Tim Schumann of Warrington, as 17-year-old Jason who accidentally killed little Danny, reads a letter to Becca and Howie.
When Nat, while helping Becca to clear Danny’s room, clutches tiny shoes to her chest, you may just lose it. Becca will have none of that, “Don’t. Quick and clean, like a Band-Aid.” She may not cry, but you will.
Yes, expect to cry. Sob, even. But far from morose, “Rabbit Hole” is a study of family and forgiveness – a look at how to move on with life, how to find comfort in the alternate universe you had no intention of entering.
End Days 2011:
"End Days" Is Now
Langhorne Players brings three iconic characters to the stage in a poignant comedy about a family in need of salvation.
By Jodi Thompson
Newtown Patch
July 21, 2011
Stephen Hawking, Jesus and Elvis walk into a room… well, roll, float and saunter into a room actually. It sounds like the set-up to a joke, but it is the dramedy "End Days," produced by Langhorne Players and running through July 30 at Spring Garden Mill in Tyler State Park.
The Stein family deals with post-traumatic stress disorder each in their own way. Arthur, who survived the attack on the World Trade Center, stops eating, showering, caring. Sylvia abandons her family responsibilities for evangelical doomsday-saying. And 16-year-old Rachel adopts a Goth persona to keep others at bay and further masks herself from the world in a marijuana haze.
Instead of living, the characters in Deborah Zoe Laufer’s play are just marking time, especially Sylvia, whom Jesus has told that Armageddon will be Wednesday. Arthur has lost the will to live, Sylvia seeks salvation and Rachel annihilation.
It takes a young neighbor, Nelson Steinberg, to drag the family – kicking and screaming – back to each other. Nelson also hides, but in plain sight in a flashy white Elvis jumpsuit. Nelson has retreated to childhood by wearing a costume similar to one his late mother made him when he was 5 years old, and also by studying for his Bar Mitzvah, a rite usually accomplished by younger boys.
Kevin Durkin, who portrays Nelson, steals the show with over-the-top physical comedy and a nails-on-chalkboard voice. Oblivious to the taunts of bullies as well as active disinterest from Rachel, Nelson inserts himself in the Steins’ lives. He turns Rachel on to his favorite author, Stephen Hawking.
It is 15-year-old Dana Maginity’s Rachel that is the pillar of strength on stage. Playing a disaffected teen a year older than herself, Dana gives a powerful performance. Her naiveté shows only when it should, as when Rachel kisses Nelson, takes his hand, curls up next to her father or caves to her mother’s pressure.
She has no time for her father’s breakdown, stomping around when there’s no food in the house, and no patience for her mother’s new-found religious fervor.
"I always thought optimism and joy were signs of low intellect," says Rachel. Her imaginary friend is Stephen Hawking, played by Jon Zucker with comic aplomb. Hawking, a genius physicist, rejects the concept of an afterlife, which is in perfect alliance with Rachel.
Sylvia, played by Laurie Hardy, has rejected life on Earth for the afterlife that can’t come soon enough for her. Hardy comes on strong at the beginning, but empathy builds for her zealous one-note as it is revealed that she, too, was traumatized by September 11. As she interacts with her imaginary friend, Jesus, (Zucker in a dual role) she constantly emits "Oh, Jesus!" and "Thank you, Jesus!" yet reprimands Rachel for saying the same thing as an epithet.
Sylvia plans for the Rapture just as her husband wakes up, slowly, to life. Nelson forces crumpled and dejected Arthur to get dressed and buy some cereal for Rachel. John Pinto is superb as shell-shocked Arthur who slowly revives thanks to Nelson asking for help with reading the Torah. Arthur finds comfort in the Hebrew scripture, so much so that he cleans up his act and fully stocks the refrigerator just in time for Armageddon.
End of days is near, make a ham on rye, or so Rachel, Arthur and Nelson decide, to the chagrin of Sylvia. She sits in a well-stocked kitchen with sandwich prep all around her, discouraging her daughter from going to school because tomorrow "all our earthly needs will vanish."
Mostly Sylvia is just afraid to be separated from her family. Her neglect of her family’s earthy needs is just a smokescreen of fear, dread that "it’ll be that day all over again."
Sylvia doesn’t trust the world anymore. Arthur tells her, "It’s going to be okay."
And it well may be, but it would be a shame to give too much away. "End Days" may come before you ever see three such disparate icons on the same stage again. Representing the mind, the soul and the body, they give us all reason to live.
Lessons on the Meaning of Life: END DAYS at Langhorne Players
By Lesley Grigg
For Stage Magazine
July 20, 2011
How did you prepare for the rapture that was supposed to take place last May, but is now apparently postponed to October? Some people threw rapture parties, some people prayed, some people went on with their lives just like any other day.
The cast (Laurie Hardy (Silvia); Jon Zucker (as Jesus; also plays Stephen Hawking); Dana Maginity (Rachel); Kevin Durkin (Nelson); and John Pinto (Arthur)), of Langhorne Players' END DAYS, running through July 30. Such is the story of END DAYS which follows one family that was dramatically effected by the events of 9-11, and are now preparing for the end of the world.
After a confusing mash-up of audio clips of hallelujah church music with hebrew prayers and Elvis tunes, we meet a less-than-dreamy pubescent fan of the King strumming out a witty, Adam Sandler-like tune about one particular girl. Later we learn Elvis is really a well-spoken, fast-talking, stalker named Nelson Steinberg (Kevin Durkin). Nelson arrives at the home of the song’s muse, Rachel Stein (Dana Maginity), met by her catatonic father and Jesus loving mother.
Arthur Stein (John Pinto), is anything but the perfect father figure, as he’s not one to shower, dress, or leave the house. Sylvia Stein (Laurie Hardy) seems like a wonderful mother, very positive and loving, and who has a close, personal relationship to Jesus. So close that she’s tethered to her imaginary version of JC like a leashed three year old at Disney World. So it’s really no surprise that Rachel Stein, who’s been immortalized in Elvis/Nelson’s song as being a very smart and desirable girl, has chosen a darker, more gothic path to follow.
All actors play their unique roles to a tee. Each make choices that set their characters apart from each other and show true growth from beginning to end. Of course, some of the characters’ choices are weightier than others. Sylvia has to choose between family and religious beliefs, where Nelson has to choose between Elvis and fitting in. It’s also amazing how the everyday choices, like a simple kiss, or getting dressed and buying cereal, can change a person and a family.
The most notable change is in Arthur Stein. We see what it takes for him to transform into a depressed and guilt ridden ex-Senior VP of one World Trade Center company, to a veggie plating, waffle and reuben making father of the year. The end of Act 2 brings a very heartfelt scene between Arthur and Sylvia, where the issue of forgiveness, which is stressed religiously throughout the play, takes on a more universal meaning.
The most recognizable change is Jon Zucker’s transformation from Jesus Christ to Stephen Hawking. Jesus only speaks to Sylvia during the play, and Rachel is the only one to converse with Stephen Hawking, but both Jesus’ and Dr. Hawking’s presence are felt throughout the play and pop up at the most opportune times, like when you need to save sinners in front of the XXX shop, or when you take too many drugs and can’t remember your locker combination. Zucker is able to give both roles equal attention, and even finds time to interject his own voice in order to break the monotony of Steven’s computer like cadence.
Other major life choices such as moving on, having faith, and giving in to love, all play major roles in the story and teach us all a little about the meaning of life. Maybe it’s easier to understand the meaning while you’re high, dressed as Elvis, or speak like a computer, but it’s summed up nicely in the end when noted that “life isn’t so bad, even the bad stuff is interesting.”
So, who would you choose to be with when the world comes to an end? Whether your first choice is Elvis, Jesus, a British physicist, or your immediate family, remember to live everyday like it’s a “once in a lifetime event,” and that right now should be “the greatest time to be alive.”
Seascape 2011:
‘Seascape’ Paints a Picture of Progress
Langhorne Players presents Albee’s intimate examination of moving on.
By Jodi Thompson
Newtown Patch
June 8, 2011
We all occasionally need someone to poke us in the ribs and make us move. This is what happens to Nancy and Charlie in Edward Albee’s Seascape. Langhorne Players presents the Pulitzer Prize-winning play, directed by Bernard DiCasimirro and running through June 18 at Spring Garden Mill in Tyler State Park.
Nancy wants to travel from beach to beach, taking in all life has to offer. Charlie wants to do nothing. He thinks he’s earned it. The retired couple have enough baggage to overfill the picnic basket they’ve brought to the seaside, where Nancy sketches and plans the next stage of their life, while Charlie does nothing, actively nothing.
In between moments of tenderness, they battle – covertly and overtly.
“You’ve had a good life,” Charlie tells Nancy, defensively.
She’s furious. “Had a good life? Not having a good life?”
He doesn’t understand why a figure of speech would irk her. She’s irked he doesn’t understand.
Nancy and Charlie reveal themselves to each other and the audience. Flashes of humor, moments of comic irony pepper the dialogue.
Seascape is set entirely on an open beach, a design by Ken Junkins that functions beautifully for the story. Carole Mancini’s Nancy expands the scenery with glances in the distance. Joe Mattern’s Charlie turns his face up to the sun. The sound of jets zooming by adds to the expanse. Yet the first act can, at times, feel claustrophobic, as we are sucked into marital muddle.
It is when Sarah and Leslie arrive that the fun begins in earnest. When Leslie peeks out from behind a rock, it opens up. Sarah arrives just in time. The younger couple is welcomed, anticipated from the first time Nancy spots them in the distance. They’re also lizards, donned head to tail in intriguing costumes by Barbara Simpson.
The lizards are played with admirable energy by Nigel Rogers and Jen Newby. They creep along the sand, Leslie protectively climbing over Sarah. They never stand fully upright. And they scare the inertia out of Charlie.
Suddenly he’s protective of Nancy. Suddenly he wants something – a stick to protect them from the human-sized lizards. Who speak English.
Nancy’s curious. Interested. Enthused. As is Sarah.
She quickly becomes teacher to the new-to-land lizards. They come from under the sea, a place Charlie frequented as a young boy. They’ve spent their lives traveling beach to beach, something Nancy wants to do now.
Yet, the young lizards are forced out of the sea by what they don’t know. Compelled to evolve. Move on.
And Nancy and Charlie are obliged to help them. And themselves. Just the nudge they needed.
Langhorne Players stage 'Seascape' at Tyler State Park in Newtown, Pa.
By Ted Otten
Special to the Times of Trenton
June 6, 2011
Playwright Edward Albee concocted an intriguing formula for three of his early plays that proved very successful: bring together two married couples who have both similarities and differences, create a mildly competitive atmosphere, and set them loose to see what happens with developing interpersonal relationships.
The third of these early plays, “Seascape,” is the second attraction of the season at Langhorne Players with a run through June 18. It earned Albee his second Pulitzer Prize for Drama in 1975.
Langhorne’s director, Bernard DiCasimirro, believes the play has not lost any of its effectiveness in the 35 years since Albee himself directed its Broadway premiere, which won actor Frank Langella a Tony Award
What makes the couples in “Seascape” different from the couples in “Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?” and “A Delicate Balance” is that only one couple, Charlie and Nancy, an older couple contemplating retirement, is human. The second couple, Leslie and Sarah, are lizards who are exploring what life is like outside of the sea, and they meet their first humans on an unnamed beach.
Di Casimirro believes that once the audience gets over the fact that only half the cast is human, they’ll be able to share in Albee’s exploration of what our species looks like to often eloquent and outspoken outsiders.
“At first, it’s surprising, even shocking, but the lizards aren’t menacing. They are curious and fascinated by creatures so unlike themselves. They felt compelled to leave the sea and investigate land life, which may be a step in their evolution, but would they really want to evolve into what they see in the human couple?” says DiCasimirro.
Their words and actions, though different, are sensible and, sometimes, more understandable than those of the humans. Here, Albee makes challenging comments regarding how people live their lives and what drives them to do sometimes foolish things.
“Of course, there’s the first hurdle of species differences and an initial wariness, more from the males than the females,” Di Casimirro says. “But the lizards have a need to know, and the humans seem willing enough to help them learn, and probably vice versa. Since the humans have had a life together full of experiences, the lizards can expect answers to their questions which are reliable, detailed, full of irony and sometimes sad.”
Di Casimirro directed a production of Albee’s “Three Tall Woman” at Langhorne two seasons ago. He became an Albee fan in college when he acted in an intense two character Albee play called “Zoo Story.”
The aspects of life in which the two species differ considerably are in reproduction and the raising of offspring. The lizards, especially Leslie, are fascinated by human sex organs. The humans had three children and cared for them until they married, while the lizards have produced several thousand eggs and have no idea what has happened to any of them,
DiCasimirro believes the numerous hours of discussion with his cast have helped establish a fluidity and pace which presents the many facets of Albee’s writing.
“This doesn’t fit easily into any category. It has many elements of a drama, but it’s often very funny,” Di Casimirro says. “It could be called a fantasy or a satire or an absurdist play and has elements of all those styles, but not enough of any one of the classifications to make pigeonholing it comfortable. That’s one of the things about Albee that I’ve always found so fascinating.”
“We also worked on movement. We tried to establish a style for lizard movement because both Jen Newby and Nigel Rogers should be moving in the same ways, different from humans, but like each other, a kind of lizard choreography,” Di Cassimirro says. “We didn’t have to work that out for Carol Mancini and Joe Mattern who do what humans ordinarily do.
“Physical movement was only part of it though. Both couples have their problems and weaknesses, but I sometimes felt that the lizards are getting or could get more right than the humans. Just who is further along on the evolutionary ladder isn’t crystal clear,” the director says.
Social Studies by the Sea: SEASCAPE at Langhorne Players
By Lesley Grigg
For Stage Magazine
June 6, 2011
Nestled between two white sand dunes, clouds gently passing by overhead, you can almost taste the sea air. It’s the perfect place to discuss life and all it encompasses with a bottle of wine and a couple of lizards. So is the story of SEASCAPE, by Edward Albee.
What starts out as a calming and peaceful reminiscing session between husband and wife, Charlie and Nancy, played by Joe Mattern and Carole Mancini, takes a turn for the dramatic when the question arises of what to do with their new found retirement freedom. Mancini’s meditative storytelling can evoke the daydreamer in you, and keep your head in the clouds with Nancy’s wanderlust, until Mattern’s precise timing and Charlie’s petulant nature brings you right back down to earth. Both actors have such a serene and soothing way of telling a story, so much so that I recommend seeing the first half of the show only if you’re feeling well rested. The first Act continues to provoke suppressed emotions in the couple until two unexpected guests show up and put things into perspective.
When hot-tempered Leslie and curious yet cautious Sarah, played by Nigel Rogers and Jen Newby, arrive on the scene, Nancy and Charlie’s empty nesting woes seem insignificant. Even though the two couples have obvious differences, we can see subtle similarities in the male and female counterparts. Plus, while one couple struggles with their past, the other faces an uncertain future, so they almost balance each other out. However, with all that these couples learn from each other about life and love, this could be the time their lives truly begin.
Rogers and Newby give their cold-blooded characters warm hearts and backstories that warrant respect. Whether standing on two legs or four, each actor portrays a complex creature who faces both triumphs and hardships, whether they know how to describe the feeling or not, but how would any one begin to explain things like love and loss?
In SEASCAPE, Edward Albee and the Langhorne Players show us that even with our differences, we will always need balance. Something to keep us wanting more, and something to make us feel sustained.
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Mauritius 2011:
A Stamp of Approval for MAURITIUS
By Lesley Grigg
For Stage Magazine
April 17, 2011
Watching the Langhorne Players’ production of MAURITIUS felt like being in a seedy off-Broadway theater, watching real method actors sort through a whole range of emotions. It was like finding a rare stamp among a collection of regular first-classes. It was the first time in a long time I got caught up in a play, and actually had to remind myself to be objective.
Not only is this play entertaining, but it’s also educational. I laughed, almost cried, even wanted to slap some characters across the face (luckily, that had already been arranged). Plus, now I feel I can have an informed conversation about stamp collecting. However, from all the negotiations and confrontations that go on regarding two very important stamps, it seems like it could be a very dangerous hobby.
Caught up in all of this are two half-sisters, Jackie (played by Emily West) and Mary (played by Heather MacHenry). Right away I could sense the vulnerability in Jackie and the selfishness in Mary. Many make the mistake of underestimating Jackie and try to take advantage of her, but little do they know, Jackie has many other sides as well. Emily West does a superb job of showing each complicated dimension as she took the audience along for the ride. Mary, on the other hand, seems to only have one real side, and it’s not an honorable one, even though she constantly preaches about doing what’s right and fair. Heather MacHenry’s performance had me hating Mary, and actually smiling a bit when she finally got what she deserved, right across her face.
As for the men of the play, the so-called cunning masterminds of the stamp world (no trace of nerdiness there), they show their own true colors whether they want to or not. We first meet Philip (played by Aaron Wexler), a highly recommended stamp shop proprietor who charges an obscene amount of money just to look at a single stamp. He engages in a sort of good cop, bad cop stamp reviewing scenario with Jackie and shop loiter, Dennis (played by Brian Kelly). Dennis comes to Jackie’s rescue, as the good cop, when he offers to take a look at her collection after Philip refuses. This sends Philip into a whirl of rage and amplifies his condescending tone. Dennis is able to keep his cool, and makes himself look a lot more likable, as short lived as this may be.
Both Wexler’s and Kelly’s years of theater experience became abundantly apparent with their natural stage presence and ability to create believable multi-dimensional characters. Aaron almost made Philip bipolar with his sudden outbursts and calm deceitfulness. I couldn’t decide whether to love or hate Dennis as Brian Kelly portrayed him as both sensitive and conniving, but always with a hint of charm.
In Act 1, Scene 2, we meet Sterling (played by John Shanken-Kaye) who turns out to be the Tony Soprano of stamps,. His slow and calculating way of describing how a deal would go down had me convinced. As smooth a talker as Sterling was, he apparently never had his mouth washed out with soap. It’s after his first scene that murmurs of “too much profanity” trickle through the audience. We were warned about the cigarette smoking in the show before it started, but it seems like more people were concerned about the language. At first, it did feel a little forced, like they were just cursing for the sake of cursing. Once the actors got comfortable, the F-bombs started to fall more freely, and frequently.
I should point out, that of all the community theaters in the area, Langhorne Players has a reputation for grittier shows. It’s not all sunshine and rainbows flowing from the stage. Given the quality of the shows and the actors that are cast, I believe the bold dramas are another reason why people travel to the Spring Garden Mill.
Even though Bucks County is way off-Broadway, it’s good to know we can get the same caliber of talent without having to travel out of state. Thank you, Langhorne Players cast and crew, for continuing to produce exceptional performances, and not giving a damn about getting a little dirty.
Langhorne Players put own stamp on 'Mauritius
Friday, April 15, 2011
By Ted Otten
SPECIAL TO THE TIMES
Relatives squabbling over an estate is not a new plot, but when the estate includes two of the world's rarest postage stamps worth millions, that's a new twist.
That twist and a tangle of fascinating character portraits are found in "Mauritius," Theresa Rebeck's 2007 play, her first to run on Broadway, and it's the season opener for Langhorne Players at Spring Garden Mill.
What attracted director Marie Maginity to the play was its adult script with the kind of adroit language and clever plotting author Rebeck uses often in writing for TV series such as "Law and Order," an intriguing variety of individuals in its cast of five and its constant ability to surprise and even shock. It's a huge change from her usual job of directing children's theater.
"Ostensibly, it's about the fascinating world of the collectors' market, since two of the three men who want the stamp collection are out for profit, and getting those rare stamps away from whichever of two estranged half-sisters they belong to is going to take some clever footwork," Maginity says.
"But it's also about the joy and pride of possession, for one of the three men isn't interested in the stamps as much for profit as he is for the thrill of ownership, of being one of the few people in the world to have something unique," says Maginity.
Maginity has staged summer musicals at Windmill Camp with child casts numbering in the hundreds and finds her small cast here to be a comfort.
The play's title is the name of the island country off Africa which issued those stamps with a two-word printing error. Since few copies of those stamps still exist, they are rare and valuable.
That's what makes them so attractive to all five characters, each of whom has a different use for them in mind. Little is told about the background of any of the five, and for Emily West, who plays Jackie, this makes her job more interesting.
"We're told that Mary left home years ago and that Jackie stayed behind. Jackie claims that her mother gave her the stamps, but Mary claims them since they were originally collected by her grandfather, who isn't Jackie's relative at all," West explains.
West will be playing one of her dream roles in July when Shakespeare 70 presents "Twelfth Night" at Mercer County Community College's Kelsey Theatre.
"She needs a life change and needs it almost desperately," West says.
"She's damaged. She wants to find love, but she's been looking in the wrong places," West adds.
"Much has gone wrong in the years of caring for her dying mother that she wants to forget and put behind her. When Mary returns to help sort out their family assets, Jackie is, at first, willing to just give them away.
"Those things from an unhappy past represent pain and failure, possibly a history of abuse from one or both parents," West says, "but once she finds out how much she might get for the stamps, she's willing to become as manipulative as the others in order to buy her freedom and start fresh. She may find the confidence to have a rebirth."