Kavinoky Theatre

Gutenberg! Goofy and Good!

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I get a kick out of plays about plays. Noises Off, The Play That Goes Wrong, [title of show] all make the audience members feel like insiders in the wonderful world of theatre. Gutenberg! The Musical! on stage now at D’Youville Kavinoky Theatre has that same vibe with a heavy dose of both goof and spoof.

Doug Simon (Ricky Needham) and Zak Ward (Bud Davenport) are buddies who wrote the book and the score for a story about Johann Gutenberg, inventor of the printing press. The show about the show is actually Doug and Bud’s “staged reading” of their magnum opus with their hopes that a Broadway producer will help them realize their dream. Since there’s not a lot of documentation before the time of documentation, they took to crafting their own treatment (or what they’re calling ‘historical fiction’) to create the required pathos, romance, and “something bad” that create a Broadway show.

Director Loraine O’Donnell must have had a blast casting Needham and Ward for this one. They embrace the goofiness of this story and bring it with energy and expressiveness, and full commitment to being flat out funny. The third player in the shenanigans is cited as Chuck Basil: the performance I saw, the role went to Joe Isgar who was the perfect deadpan foil to the silliness. Not only was he a master at the piano, he was the bored and cranky announcer, too,

Doug and Bud play all the characters in their “reading,” and also break the fourth wall to explain theatre jargon, or as they say, “guys like us would say foreshadowing” and give some stage direction, too. Their character development is aided by a series of labeled baseball caps that they sometimes don in stacks to show crowd scenes.  Their roles test Needham and Ward’s singer chops, as they stretch their range from natural voice to falsetto. They were sublime in the goofiest way possible. My favorite characters were Helvetica, the lovely maiden who works for Gutenberg in his wine press (yes, he was pressed grapes before moveable type, or as the playwright’s say “one makes you drink, one makes you think”) and the rats. Yes, singing rats. How can you NOT love this?

Like the best Broadway musicals, there is a happy ending, which at this performance was an audience call and response and a walk-on role for Peter Palmisano.

Gutenberg! The Musical! runs two hours with an intermission to April 28. Find tickets and details at www.kavinokytheatre.com.

Condoms at the Kav? Why Not? Rocky Horror is a Hoot!

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If you remember Michelle Roberts’ touching portrayal of Francesa in The Bridges of Madison County, and Dan Urtz’s powerful character in Hand to God, or Kerrykate Abel’s poignant script for Hoarding Hope, well, forget all about that. These exceptional, versatile actors are rockin’ their bustiers in the cast of Richard O’Brien’s The Rocky Horror Show now onstage at D’Youville Kavinoky Theatre.

Yes, the midnight movie you saw in the ‘70s is back onstage (the original version was a stage show) with all the camp, sparkles, and latex you love. Creator O’Brien’s premise was an homage to the earliest sci-fi films from the ‘40’s and ‘50s (Brian Milbrand curated a great collection of clips for the video screen). Instead of the run-of-the-mill blobs, reptiles, or zombies, the antagonists are aliens from the planet Transsexual and the mission is to develop a lab-created muscle man.

This is where you throw the plot out the window and just focus on the fun of this show. Speaking of throwing, unlike those midnight movies back in the day (shout-out to circa 1978 movie date Patrick and 1988 movie date Scott), you can’t throw rice, toast, or toilet paper in the Edwardian beauty of the Kavinoky. Director Loraine O’Donnell invites to hurl verbal insults instead, and even provides the messages on two screens flanking the stage. In her roles as the usherette, Roberts does throw (wrapped) condoms to the audience during her “Science Fiction, Double Feature” opening number. (Saint Marguerite D’Youville, pray for us…)

To recap, in ingenue Janet’s opening scene, she’s just caught the bouquet at a friend’s wedding which prompts boyfriend Brad to pop the question. Of course, they head off into the dark and stormy night and of course, they blow a tire near a creepy castle with no phone. This is where Brad (Ricky Needham, I mean who else can pull off the loveable nerd in a powder blue suit?) and Janet (the exquisite Melinda Capeles) meet Riff Raff (Dan Urtz), Columbia (Charmagne Chi), Magenta (Roberts in a duo role), and Frank ‘N’ Furter (Kris Bartolomeo) are waiting for Frank’s creation Rocky (Andrew Kowalczewski) to be born. Regrettably Eddie the delivery person (Abel) is sacrificed along the way. Props to costume designer Zech Saenz for putting Eddie in a “Bat Out of Hell” t-shirt, as it was Meat Loaf who had this role in the movie. Two things hold this all together; the Transylvanians ensemble of Araia Heathcott, Morgan Kyle, and Dave Spychalski, and Mike Randall and John Fredo as the narrators. One of them is wearing a suave black smoking jacket and the other is wearing black fishnets and a bitchin’ pair of red patent leather heels. (Want to know which is which? Book your tickets at www.kavinokytheatre.com).

This whole show is a ton of fun. Music director Allan Paglia’s band is great, and every cast member embraces the campiness of their roles. Bartolomeo as Frank struts the stage with a ferocity that gives his three strands of pearls their lustre. Chi tap dance and (spoiler alert) her death scene were comedic perfection. O’Donnell’s direction has the cast moving all over Dyan Burlingame’s set with a force. Brian Cavanagh’s lighting design casts some lovely shadows and silhouettes, too, especially in usherette Roberts’ closing number.

So shake off those memories of the Kavinoky being the place to see all those beloved British dramas and murder mysteries. It’s time to do the “Time Warp” again. (It’s just a jump to the left…) If the site of a dildo as a joystick offends you, there’s probably a screening of The Mousetrap on TV somewhere.

The show runs just under two hours with a 15-minute intermission until November 18. Warning: there are some flashing lights and strobe lights, too, and flying condoms to dodge. Book your tickets at www.kavinokytheatre.com).

History on Stage at D’Youville Kavinoky

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When I was in high school, I participated in something the Buffalo Public Schools called The Girl’s Declamation Contest, and I was also an alternate on our school’s debate team. In brief, I had a loud voice and liked to argue. Consequently I have a soft spot for these rite of passage activities which as the basis for What The Constitution Means to Me, onstage now at D’Youville Kavinoky Theatre.

Full disclosure: I’m struggling with this one. Lindsay Brandon Hunter portrays the playwright Heidi Schreck and her opening chat with the audience sets up the story. When Heidi was in high school, she was a regular on the speaking contest circuit to earn college tuition money. This forced her to learn more about the US Constitution than is usually taught in your standard classrooms and also invited her to reflect on the travails of her maternal ancestry, albeit through a teenager’s lens. These women weren’t always treated well by their spouses or the country they called home, and this –  the playwright opines – is connected to Amendments nine and  14. She also shared moments from her teen life that weren’t about her speaking contests and constitutional study yet had a profound impact on how she would perceive and experience equity and justice. In a more typically teenaged vein, she talks about what it was like to chase tuition money this way, her relationship with her mom, and her ongoing rivalry with another speaker. Then she morphs into her grown up playwright and reflects back on this experience, and then Hunter is the actor, reflecting on the playwright’s story.

And this is where I started scratching my head. Hunter was in the role of the playwright and then she herself. Was she scaling the fourth wall, speaking to the audience as the playwright or as an actor portraying the playwright? There’s more: her usual audience for her high school-era speech, she says, were white men, veterans, there to support the next generation patriots. At one point, Kodi James joins her onstage as one of these portly good ol’ guys. As Hunter slipped out of her playwright persona,  James becomes another character and they are joined on stage by a current high school student (Amara Gomez) playing herself as a current student/ and present day contestant. So which side of the fourth wall are we on?

This trio also performced a contemporary debate-style where they argue the validity and relevance of the Constitution in rapid-fire exchanges that resembled a spoken-word open mic or poetry rave.

The audience is drawn in as part of the show from the very beginning. The house lights don’t dim for several minutes and are brought back up near the end of the show. The audience is encouraged to yay and boo during the contemporary debate and an audience member is plucked from the front row to help declare the faux winner.

The construct here is interesting and the subject matter is certainly something that has been and will always be examined and argued, but as an audience member, the shifting about felt incomplete and sometimes hard to follow. You know, sort of like the US Constitution and its interpretations over time.

Donnie Woodard’s set puts us right where Schreck needs us to be: inside those slightly smoking (“please only smoke between speeches,” intones James as the Vet) American Legion post meeting rooms. Robyn Lee Horn’s direction keeps the action fast-paced. Geoffrey Tocin drops in some audio quotes from familiar Supreme Court Justices which would have been more impactful if some video showed their faces, too.

It was a curious start for D’Youville Kavinoky’s season. It was great to see some fresh faces on a familiar stage: Gomez is a high school student and James is in the university’s MFA program. Even though we’re on a college campus, it felt strangely out of place on this stage, and it hearkened back to the old days of the Alt or Subversive or a black box college stage. The actors themselves did a fine job in their respective roles and deserve every moment of applause for sure. Also on the plus side, it did make me think about the US Constitution again (the pocket version the cast distributed is handy) and yes, no one can say that it isn’t flawed and open to all levels of interpretation, especially now, and especially amendments nine and 14. 

This is Katie Malinson’s first production in her new role as Executive Artistic Director. She opened the show with some exciting news that the university’s MFA program will produce two shows on this stage later this season. I’m looking forward to these additions to the theatre line up.

What The Constitution Means to Me runs 90-ish minutes with no intermissions, and is onstage to September 24. Find info and tickets at. https://www.kavinokytheatre.com.

The Sound Inside Resonates

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We’ve all had ‘that’ teacher. The one with whom you feel a connection, something like a mentor, nothing like a lover, but someone who ‘gets’ you and your student ways. You bond. It’s good. Until it isn’t. In Adam Rapp’s 2018 play The Sound Inside, what starts out as adversarial becomes a profound relationship between writing professor Bella Baird, exquisitely portrayed by Aleks Malejs, and her spitfire aspiring novelist student Christopher Dunn, played by Brendan Didio.

The result is a riveting 95-minutes of dialogue between these two disparate yet similar souls.

Malejs opens the show with her character’s introduction: we learn Prof. Baird is not in good health and is devoted to teaching writing at Yale. She smoothly narrates her story while seamlessly sliding back into scenes, as though she was writing a story herself. Dunn is the tightly wound student, looking to pick a fight and argue his early-20s truth. He’s working on a novel (she convinces him to keep it a novella) and he’s either asking for advice or developing his plot by their discussions.

Malejs’ mellifluous voice and Didio’s edgy delivery are perfectly balanced. They debate as he rolls out the outline of his novel….which would have totally creeped out any professor of less sterner stuff.

This intense two-hander is played out on an intriguing set designed by Loraine O’Donnell, who recently left her executive artistic director post at the Kav. There are books everywhere, on shelves, as the base of a table, as walls. The visual texture these tomes create is simple, elegant, and evocative. Sparse props suggest the professor’s home and campus office. The back drop looks like a school-ruled tablet (the kind of tablet that used to mean a notebook) with The Sound Inside repetitively written in cursive that underscores a significant moment in Prof. Baird’s experience. And then there’s the sound; the intermittent sound of a #2 pencil writing scribbling and scrawling across a paper that just catches your ear. Theatre companion and I had a difference of opinion on this: methinks the sound of writing was completely intentional in its random placement. He thinks these mere missed cues and the sound belonged only when the character was actually, visibly writing. Nope. But when is a writer NOT writing?

The whole visual and aural effect of stage and script was mesmerizing and almost mystical. Director Kyle LoConti, O’Donnell, projection designer Nicholas Taboni, lightening designer Brian Cavanagh, and sound designer Gregory Tocin hit all the right notes here. The dynamic between Malejs and Didio is fine and Malejs’ poignant delivery about wellness and the power of the written word is quite touching.

Granted, the story is a little offbeat and perhaps not what you might expect, but it’s good, solid, and powerful work that will linger in the back of your brain when you leave. The Sound Inside is onstage until June 25: find tickets and info at kavinokytheatre.com

It was Good as Hell and I Want More! Network at Kav Has Me Ranting!

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When the film Network was released in 1976, I was a freshman in college majoring in communications and was a total news junkie. Cable TV was in its infancy here, the word ‘infotainment’ was unheard of,  and reality TV wasn’t invented yet.  The idea that a network news anchor would be fired, lose his cool on camera, and then morph into a cause celebre who pulled over-the-moon ratings in the hands of a program developer was just a work of fiction from Paddy Chayefsky’s pen (or maybe typewriter. Remember, no computers back then.)

Fast forward to our world of 24 hour information, abbreviated news cycles, countless ways to access information from cable stations to podcasts in the palm of our hands, citizen journalists, and other influencers. How could we have known? And how did we not?

Theatre companion and I agreed that Network on stage at D’Youville Kavinoky Professional Theatre was fascinating, fun, and just a little bit frightening in its prescience.  Lee Hall’s adaptation doesn’t stray far from Chayefsky’s original screenplay. The center of the story is Howard Beale (well played by Peter Palmisano), aging anchorman whose career and ratings are waning.  The reality of the biz means that this gets you fired. Until you are granted one last ‘goodbye’ and you use that moment to make a point with the people….and the ratings shoot up. Would Cronkite have done that? Jennings? Huntley or Brinkley? I think not.  Enter programmer Diana Christensen (Michele Roberts) who sees dollar signs with a side of edgy, exploitative entertainment. She’ll make a ‘new’ star out of Beale by letting him rant nightly on a talk show that falls outside of news. And consider the news of the day at that time:  the lingering impact of 1974’s oil crisis. Patty Hearst and her stint as a domestic terrorist. Those things were shaking up our world with the perfect fodder for Beale’s agita.

Palmisano, Roberts, and their castmates all deliver strong performances and the production itself is very good. Director Loraine O’Donnell created a real media circus on stage that was a blast to watch. Brian Milbrand’s video design (you’re watching a broadcast ‘on stage’ and pushed out on the video screen which gives you a thought-provoking perspective) was its own character and it was fun watching the screen and the stage (or was it the stage and the screen?) in your own frame.

Palmisano’s frantic pacing and yelling and lecturing were all spot on. And yes, I know there was a whole cast on stage, but wow, this his frenetic energy and call to action is what makes the show. I would be remiss if I didn’t mention that this adaptation kept one of the most absurd yet saddest moments in the movie, when Diana multi-tasks through perfunctory intimacy with her (married) lover. Roberts did Faye Dunaway proud.

Network is really a treat, and admittedly, I very rarely like movies put on stage. This one was quite special because it was all so unreally real. It’s a fast paced two hours with an intermission, on the air, I mean on stage until May 14. Details and tickets at www.kavinokytheatre.com.

Misery is a Creepy Good Story at D’Youville Kavinoky

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One of the late singer Helen Reddy’s hits songs (circa 1974) began with the lyrics “Lonely women are the desperate kind.” That’s a good thought to keep when you see Misery on stage now at D’Youville Kavinoky Theatre.

Misery is based on the Stephen King novel which also became a film. The stage adaptation by William Goldman is just as eerie, creepy, and moody as one would expect of a story with King origin, and does a good job keeping you on the proverbial edge of your seat.

Our lonely, desperate, not-exactly a heroine is Annie Wilkes, an ex-nurse who lives alone in a secluded Colorado farm house. She’s the “number one fan” of novelist Paul Sheldon and his historical fiction series about Misery Chastain. Sheldon ironically stays at a nearby inn from time to time, and when Annie is not-so-ironically following him on a mountain road during a snowstorm and he skids off the road, she decides to nurse him back to health. In her home. Without calling for help. And that’s where it all gets weird. Wonderfully, psychologically, and thrillingly weird.

Loraine O’Donnell is Wilkes, Adriano Gatto is Sheldon together (with a couple visits from the Sheriff, played by Steven Brachmann), they take us on a journey of obsession and extreme fan-girl gone mad.

The emotional tone is established by David King’s set. It revolves to show three key spaces in Annie’s home; the bedroom where Paul is locked in; the hallway with a bookshelf tribute to Paul and his Misery books, and Annie’s kitchen. Each space is dreary with time-darkened wallpaper, old furnishings, and dowdy trappings with some religious displays, too. Props to prop designer Donny Woodward for creating a visual atmosphere of sadness from the start. (Shout out to the ‘50s vintage copper Jello molds hanging over the kitchen sink. Dear readers who have visited my home know that mine hang in the pantry.)

The Annie we meet is bubbly, excited to be caring for her captive idol, and devoted to his recovery. Or not. O’Donnell is the master of this transformation, from eager helpmate to captor….her eyes, her mannerisms, her demeanor shifts and morphs as our story unfolds.  Gatto as Paul does his share of shifting, too, as he regains physical strength and mental wherewithal. And as he heals, the fun begins. He wants to leave. Annie needs him to stay. And she’s determined. The mental calisthenics they play is so creepy good, bewitching almost. Director Brian Cavanagh coaxed power into the restraint here and it’s fine. The most visually arresting scene was as the set rotated counterclockwise as Paul propelled his wheelchair clockwise through the rooms looking for a way out. Gatto choreographed some chilling fight scenes, too, between Annie and Paul and some weapons, too.  

Misery is smart, sad, sharp, and scary. It’s a potent reminder that disappointment and life circumstances can change someone’s heart and soul, perhaps beyond repair, and even pop literature has power when the reader is very fully engaged. D’Youville Kavinoky is telling more than a story here.

Misery is on stage until November 20 and runs a little more than two hours with a 15-minute intermission. I particularly love the printed program and the “stand by” cast (Don Gervasi as Paul, Marie Costa as Annie, Kodi James as the Sheriff.) A good decision on the Kav’s part to have standbys at the ready. Too many productions were truncated or canceled the past couple years and this is a good plan. Book your reservation at http://www.kavinokytheatre.com.

Rock of Ages Still Rocks Today

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Looking for a deeply serious night of thought-provoking theatre? Well, better head to some place other than D’Youville Kavinoky Theatre this month because there it’s all ‘80s rock as the 2022-23 season kicks off with lots of music and even more sequins and spandex.

Rock of Ages had a Los Angeles and off-Broadway run before arriving on the Great White Way in 2009. While nominated for a handful of Tony Awards, it didn’t earn any. Nothing wrong with that: the distinguishing factor in this production is the fun familiarity of the music – all juke box favorites – from icons of ‘80s glam-rock and hair bands.

Kavinoky’s Rock of Ages production is extra fun because – from the get go – seeing a full-out rock band on stage between lots of lights and a neon 97 Rock logo in that gorgeous Edwardian setting is visually startling in a fine way. As the lights go down, the mood is set with 97 Rock’s Carl Russo welcoming you and reminding you to silence your cell phones (‘don’t be douchebag,” he growls). I love it and of course, I double checked my phones.

Then the band kicks in, promising “Nothin’ But a Good  Time” as you “Cum on Feel the Noize.” The thin plot reveals itself pretty quickly, and trust me,  you’ve seen it all before: “Just a small town girl” arrives in LA, suitcase in hand, ready to be an actress. Of course her name is Sherrie, a great set up for some reiterations of “Oh, Sherrie.” (OK, if this was the ‘70s, it would have been Springsteen’s “Sherry Darling,” but I digress.) She meets Drew, an aspiring rocker, who helps her land her waitress gig at the Bourbon Room, a legendary LA music club. Little do they know that a foreign developer wants to level the neighborhood for more modern stores and high rise, and that the LA mayor is seeing dollars signs, and that a hippie chick city planner will go rogue and stage a protest and that a veteran rocker will come between our two rising stars. Yup, it’s a familiar story, or you might say “Here I Go Again.”

In between the tunes you loved when you hair was well sprayed, your clothes were sherbet colored and the plotline you’ve see a bunch of times, this production has an all-star cast of local actors singing like you’ve never heard them before. Seriously, the absolute best part of this production is seeing the actors reaching way out of their usual wheelhouses. Director/choreographer Lynne Kurdziel Formato must have had an absolute blast with this cast.

Dan Urtz is Lonny. the Bourbon Room lackey and the show’s sardonic narrator: he breaks the ‘fourth wall’ to share witty asides to  the audience to keep it all unreally real. Urtz’s breadth as an actor – from Satan-possessed puppeteer in Road Less Traveled Productions’ Hand of God in 2020 to last season’s Cliff in Second Generation Theatre’s Cabaret – is already well-established. This role takes him to new places: totally loveable goofball house-tech guy.

Then there’s Ricky Needham, fresh from MusicalFare’s A Gentleman’s Guide to Love and Murder, as aspiring rocker Drew, hittin’ the high notes like nobody’s business.

Bethany Burrows, the winsome mermaid from Second Gen’s Big Fish a few seasons ago, is Sherrie, this show’s version of the ingenue/waitress/Drew’s love interest and she’s a charmer.

What floored me was seeing Anthony Alcocer as Stacee Jax, the rockstar starting his downward spiral. He’s leaving the band that made him a heartthrob and Alcocer brings a real swagger here.  He sings, he growls, he can’t remember names, he’s a riot.

Arin Lee Dandes (last seen at the Kav in Indecent) is Regina the Berkley-educated city planner who plans to protect the City Built on Rock ‘n’ Roll from destruction-by-chain store. Her flouncy gauze skirts and au natural hair are the perfect contrasts against the glitz and glam of the nightclub set.

Loraine O’Donnell and Gregory Gjurich are the adults in the room, first as Sherrie’s parents and then as Justice and Hertz respectively. O’Donnell’s rich voice is perfect for these tunes and times. Gjurich is the quintessential comic actor with the dead-on perfect German accent as the bad-guy developer. His son Frantz is played by Jamil Kassem-Lopez to comic perfection. (Wardrobe note: if you’re doing the double Polo shirt thing, the inner collar needs to be popped. Trust me, it’s an ’80s thing. I have pictures.)

Christopher Guilmet (loved him a few seasons ago in the Kav’s Bridges of Madison County) is Dennis, owner of the Bourbon Room and maker of rock stars and memories.

Finally, Lorenzo Shawn Parnell is the money-grubbing mayor, a buxom reporter (I swear I didn’t know it was him), and a boy-band promoter, changing persona as easily as sliding off a pair of jelly sandals.

There’s a great ensemble on stage, too, along with a mighty band led by Allan Paglia. Lots went into the production, too, with Dyan Burlingame’s set, video on three screens by Nick Taboni, lighting by Brian Cavanagh, Andrea Letcher’s dead-on costumes, and Mary McMahon’s hair and makeup. It was full-on immersion and it was fine. I felt 25 all over again.

Admittedly, it’s not my favorite genre, but Rock of Ages is just so much fun, I wondered why the audience wasn’t on its feet and dancing along with the final number. I couldn’t wait to get home and crimp my side ponytail one last time.

Grab your ‘80s boyfriend (sadly, mine was unavailable) and see Rock of Ages. It’s just what we need to release and relax. Rock of Ages runs a full two hours with a 15-intermission. Face masks are required in the theatre-proper where it is sadly still COVID year three 2022. The show runs to September 25. Book your tickets at kavinokytheatre.com, a totally rad website. No $hit.

Facts Are FACTS at Kavinoky

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The Life-Style of a Fact, on stage now at the Kacinoky Theater, is a play based on a series of events that happened one night in Las Vegas. There were lap-dancers, game-playing chickens, and people who are living with depression mentioned in this dramatic story that was based in truth. With facts. And nothing made up at all. Because words matter…and so does the story behind them.

So…what do you think? Pretty intriguing, huh? Except, that paragraph is replete with errors. Starting with the title of the play (actually, The Lifespan of a Fact, and the name of the theatre (D’Youville Kavinoky Theatre), and very brief description of this thought-provoking script, that is based on a book that was written because of an essay that was rejected by one magazine and published after a lengthy review process by another. And it’s billed as a comedy. The real truth of that paragraph was the last sentence: Because words matter…and so does the story behind them.

In brief, real life essayist John D’Agata authored an essay about life in Las Vegas; the center of the piece was a teen who took his life. The other things – the mention of lap-dancers, the chicken playing checkers, and a million little details about appearance and perception – were woven into this work, too. D’Agata was going for a specific rhythm and cadence in his writing, using a numeric count down to emphasize key points while overemphasizing some details and underplaying others, all for the sake of flow and nuance. Was he intentionally bending facts and manipulating what is real? Or was he just cleverly re-arranging ‘truth’ to make reality more readable?

Playwrights Jeremy Kareken, David Murrell, and Gordon Farrell adapted this work from the book co-authored by real-life D’Agata and Jim Fingal about the seven year ordeal of actually bringing the essay to publication. Ironically, it was following some well-publicized articles on fictionalized news and a bit before the advent of what we now call “fake news.”

Director Kyle LoConti and her team did a fine job peeling back the pages of a magazine and revealing the review and publication process. She cast Peter Palmisano as the writer/essayist D’Agata; he’s properly passionate and a wee bit surly about the craft of writing itself. Brian Brown is Fingal, the fledgling fact-checker, an intern looking to prove his worth under a tight deadline. Their exchanges make the show. From Brown’s subtle bits of physical comedy as he struggles to don and doff a backpack that’s heavier than his slight frame, to their verbal dueling, these bits are best. We see Fingal’s determination to be absolute in the pursuit of facts and D’Agata’s desire to weave a compelling story, subtly weighted against a generational conflict. If Brown is tentative and stiff in the first act, he’s fiery in the second act during this war of words. These two are the perfect foils; you sense that a deeper understanding will ultimately develop here, too.

Loraine O’Donnell is the fictional editor, Emily Penrose.  She’s the one who selected Fingal as the fact-checker for this piece and she’s the one who literally breaks up their fight and gets them on the path to publication. O’Donnell plays her with a furrowed brow and no-nonsense air.

In the end, is literary non-fiction held to the same standard as journalism when it comes to the fine points of accuracy? That’s the point this trio appears to ponder in the enigmatic closing moment, which reminds me of the final scene of Aaron Sorkin’s The Farnsworth Invention from Kavinoky’s 2009 season.

The Lifespan of a Fact runs two hours with a 15-minute intermission until June 26. Mask wearing is still required to keep us all safe and healthy. Visit http://www.kavinokytheatre.com for tickets and details.

D’Youville Kavinoky Play Looks at Addiction and Recovery

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“It’s the nouns you have to look out for…the people, places, and things…,” is a poignant line in People, Places, and Things, on stage now to May 22 at the D’Youville Kavinoky Theatre. This is a powerful story about addiction and recovery, the death-defying lows and the terrifying highs that are part of this very human condition.

You’re used to seeing a few serious, soulful dramas every year in this lovely space. You’ve probably seen plenty of plays and movies where someone is drinking or using. Chances are someone in your family or circle of loved ones is struggling with something similar. But you’ve probably never seen a production that is so intense, so gripping, and so well executed as this. Director Kate Mallinson and the cast with Aleks Malejs in the lead role put their hearts into this and it shows in every word and movement. And no, I’m not overselling this. Duncan MacMillan’s play is remarkable and this cast and crew elevated this work to become an experience.

Malejs is Emma, an actor who – in the opening scene – loses focus on-stage during a production of Chekhov’s The Seagull. A series of flashbacks show snippets of her life, dancing, clubbing, using…until she crashes and checks into rehab. There she’s haunted by images of herself (Mallinson created some special stage magic here) as she’s trying to control the uncontrollable state of her being. She falters, fails, tries again. It’s not a cliché to say that she triumphs in the end: every day is a new challenge, a new struggle on the road to sobriety.

This is raw, exquisite work by Malejs, who by day in her ‘real life’ is a Peer Specialist for Save the Michaels of the World, Inc. She has lived experience and she brings that to her performance tenfold. She’s not some doddering drunk or strung out junky: her character is complex, endearing, frustrating. She’s alone with her acting career where she’s surrounded by characters and and offstage, she’s haunted by familial pain. Those two halves make a very troubling, human whole. Maureen Ann Porter is the center’s doctor, therapist, and later Emma’s mum. She trebly ironic here: in one character she’s understanding and supportive. In another role she’s wary, tired, and bitterly disappointed. It’s a wonder to see Porter shift like this. Gregory Gjurich, one of the region’s most versatile comedic actors, is Emma’s dad and a variety of ensemble roles where his skill for drama is mesmerizing. He preaches his addiction to heroin with the passion of clergyman. (There are glimmers of humor sprinkled in the script. After a twisted and prayerful monologue, Emma is encouraged to say “amen,” she’s hesitant until she’s reminded that it’s like hitting ‘send’ on an email. In another exchange with the same peer counselor, she scoffs “are all your references from cartoons? Read a book!”) Ah, humanity. Ben Michael Moran, Gabriella McKinley, Diane DiBernardo, Dylan Zalikowski, Afrim Gjonbalaj, Christopher Guilmet, and Michele Roberts effortlessly slide in and out of their ensemble roles gracefully. You do get the sense that this ensemble – in real life – connected perhaps through common bonds or their actor’s empathy. As the cast when they chant “don’t come back” as their fellow clients leave rehab, there is strength and hope in their sincerity.

David King designed a deceptively simple set that frames the stage action as well as it does the projection crafted by Nicholas Taboni. Through Taboni’s choices, Brian Cavanagh’s lighting, and Geoffrey Tocin’s sound, we are in Emma’s psyche as it sorts through layers of images and influences. Diane Almeter Jones and Amber Greer and Andrea Letcher round out the team with props and costumes that knit the visual experience together so well.

D’Youville Kavinoky waited a few years for this one (thank you, COVID), and perhaps that has added to its relevance. The isolation and fear of COVID is making us more aware of mental health diagnoses and addiction struggles. Executive Artistic Director Loraine O’Donnell made some very thoughtful programming choices by inviting area behavioral health agencies to share information on Thursday evenings and participate in a post-show talk-back. She also suspended sales of alcoholic beverages on Thursday nights, too.

COVID has truncated the show’s run, so make ticket arrangements now at kavinokytheatre.com. The show runs for two hours with a 20-minute intermission. Bright lights and some strobes may be uncomfortable for some audience members. Trigger warning:  smoking, drug use, alcohol references, and suicidal ideations are prevalent. Help and hope is just a click away:

Save the Michaels of the World, Inc.

Spectrum Health and Human Services

Horizon Health Services

Evergreen Health

BestSelf Behavioral Health

Make Haste to D’Youville Kavinoky

/ cheriemessore

To paraphrase Jane Austen, “It is a truth universally acknowledged that productions at D’Youville Kavinoky Professional Theatre are gorgeously staged and thoroughly enjoyable.”

Well, that’s what this affirmed Janeite thinks about Kate Hamill’s adaptation of the iconic novel Pride & Prejudice on stage now to March 27.

While Hamill took some liberties, they were noble and with purpose to advance the storyline admirably for the stage. Director Kristen Tripp Kelley is no stranger to Austen or Hamill: back in 2019, she was a Dashwood sister in Irish Classical Theatre Company’s production of Austen’s Sense and Sensibility. She also cast S&S alumni Ben Michael Moran and Renee Landrigan and they were fine choices indeed.

If you yawned through your high school assignment to read the book –  only to delight in the British TV series in 1995 (two words: Colin Firth) – which prompted you to read the book again and love every smartly crafted sentence, you will enjoy it all again on stage. Yes, it’s abbreviated but the most delicious moments are here. Moran is wonderfully smug as Mr. Darcy, the proud man who’s in want of a wife who is not his cousin. Landrigan is double cast as Lydia, the silly youngest sister of the Bennet clan and the haughty Lady Catherine DeBourgh. There’s other clever double, n’igh triple, casting here, too. Lissette is both the winsome Jane Bennet and Miss DeBourgh (under layers of black lace). Diane DeBernardo is the easily vexed Mrs. Bennet and the drole servant. Chris Brandjes is the calm father Mr. Bennet and the eager-to-marry Charlotte Lucas. Jake Albarella is Darcy’s best friend Mr. Bingley and Bennet sister Mary. Jake Hayes brings it as creepy Mr. Collins, slightly dodgy Mr. Wickham and Miss Bingley. Yes, there’s some fine gender-bending here and these three actors carry it off superbly. Lest we forget the equally proud Elizabeth Bennet, charmingly played by Gabriella McKinley.  

The whole experience is Regency literature come to life. David King’s set is elegant and complements without competing with theatre’s design. Lindsay Salamone’s costumes are exquisite with rich colors and textures you can see at the back of the house. Robert Cooke choreographs some lovely reels and other period dances to contemporary music played in an early 19th century style. Yes, Journey never sounded so prim and proper. The musicians aren’t identified in the program, but this touch was a delightful aural surprise.   

Even if you don’t lock into the plot (in brief, girls must marry well to save the family’s fate and it’s a mother’s duty make perfect matches her full time raison d’etre), there’s a lot to enjoy here, particularly Albarella, Hayes, and Brandjes in their multiple roles. After missing so much live theatre the past couple years, it’s just good to relax and laugh in this luscious house again.

Pride & Prejudice runs about two hours with a 15-minute intermission. Find details and tickets at www.kavinokytheatre.com.