Sweat Packs a Punch at RLTP

In Buffalo, we know what it’s like to live in a factory town. In some families, working at the plant is part of your legacy. Maybe it’s your father or uncle who put in the word that got you that job, just as his uncle or father did for him. You expect the security of having a job in a place that holds meaning. You grew up with that comfortable wage and a security blanket of benefits. A different job would be out of the ordinary, unfamiliar, maybe not in step with your family and friends. Also in Buffalo, we know what it’s like when the factories start shutting down and those good old reliable jobs go away.

That’s at the core of Sweat, the Pulitzer Award winning and Tony nominated play by Lynn Nottage, on stage now at Road Less Traveled Theater.

It’s fierce, it’s powerful, it’s emotionally draining and at almost three hours long, it’s fanny fatiguing, too.

It’s also a reminder that the human condition is resilient but also frail when threatened, and that when your work and your life are tightly woven together, any change is devastating on both the personal and professional levels.

This isn’t theatre for the faint of heart: this gritty production is reminiscent of the best days of the Subversive Theatre Collective, with its deep roots in labor and social justice storytelling.

Sweat is the story of a trio of friends – Tracey (Lisa Vitrano), Cynthia (Davida Tolbert), and Jessie (Diane DiBernardo) – and the close friends-as-family bond they formed after years of working together, celebrating birthday, nursing hangovers, and supporting each other through personal ups and downs. Tracey and Cynthia have another bond: their sons Jason (Johnny Barden) and Chris (Jake Hayes) are also pals who work together.  They all hang at Howard’s Tavern where Stan (David Mitchell) tends bar and Oscar (Alejandro Gabriel Gomez) does the cleaning up. All is well, until plant management opens a new position to someone from the floor and Cynthia earns the gig (she needs it; husband Brucie is out of work and battling some personal demons). All the while, the plant is also cutting back, moving machines out of the plant in secrecy, and the workforce walks out on strike. There’s tension. There’s solidarity. There are handouts that feel more gratuitous than supportive. And then quiet Oscar takes a non-union job and he’s no longer the almost invisible presence in the background at the bar.

Director Victoria Perez and her perfectly-cast players gave this piece a very sharp edge. Characters are transformed in the 2000 (when times are good) to 2008 (oh what a difference eight years can make) time hop. (Confused? The TV screen at the bar flashes the dates, and the characters’ demeanor and clothing and makeup changes are exquisitely subtle.) Gina Boccolucci’s bar room set is cozily seedy in the best ways. Other scenes happen downstage under tight, bright spotlight. (Confused? Watch the neon Budweiser sign at the bar. When it’s on, you’re there). Nicholas Quinn gives us some dead-on sound cues, too, as music helps fill the passage of time. I love these small details best. So well executed and evocative, just like Diane Almeter Jones’ props; every item is there for a reason. When Stan makes his point by pounding on the bar, butts pop from the ashtrays. And then Adriano Gatto choreographed a bar brawl so vivid, so raw that yes, I had one hand over my eyes. Seriously. This was the moment that changed lives forever.

Every member of this cast was rock solid, and it was Mitchell who really stands out. To say why here would be too much of a spoiler, but damn, his character’s evolution was breathtaking. Other characters grew and changed, too, but anger and struggling for peace are expected in the human condition. Stan, however, has unique challenges and Mitchell nails this brilliantly.

Admittedly, there are some hard to see moments here, and the play ran really long (theater companion and I agreed, easily 30 to 45 minutes could have been excised without sacrificing the power of this plot. Playwright Nottage’s Pulitzer win and Tony nod were both well and hard earned. Perez’s direction, the cast, and the crew live up to this story and then some.

Sweat is onstage until May 21. It runs a little over 2:30 with one intermission. Tickets and details at www.roadlesstraveledproductions.org.

Advertisement

Suspense on Stage at RLTP

Remember “Long Distance Call,” that episode of the incredible and timeless TV classic The Twilight Zone, where Billy Mumy’s grandmother gives him a play telephone and then she dies the next day? Whenever he picks up the phone, his grandma is talking to him.  The Thin Place, the new production at Road Less Traveled Theater, is as riveting and haunting as that 1961 episode. Maybe even moreso. Yes, I checked the backseat of my car before I got in after the show.

This is the WNY premiere of another work by lucas hnath and it breaks the fourth wall (while storytelling about the fifth dimension) in a way that is his signature style. As the story begins, house lights are up for several minutes as Hilda (Renee Landrigan) holds a cup of tea and starts talking about her grandma and their special relationship. Grandma was encouraging Hilda to see with her third eye, the one that is just behind her ‘seeing’ eyes, where communication is more felt than heard. Hilda’s mom called this satanic and demonic and banned Grandma from her home. Yet the lessons resonated with Hilda who would often sit quietly by candlelight to attempt to communicate with her grandma after she passed.

Hilda is an adult now, no longer living with her mom, when she meets Linda (Margaret Massman), a spiritual medium and she is captivated. They become friends and she soon meets others in Linda’s earthly circle, Sylvia (Kristen Tripp Kelley) and Jerry (David Mitchell), well-heeled jetsetters who have a different perspective on Linda’s ‘gift.’

Wow. Sounds like a simple parlor drama/relationship story, right? Nope. There are layers of story in here and piles of theatre magic wonderfully executed by the production team. Dyan Burlingame’s set is deceptively simple and Diane Almeter Jones’ props are the same. John Rickus does some creepy-good things with lighting; delaying and slowing the dimming of the house lights, cutting the stage lights (the theatre companion and I disagree on the critical duration of this black out. He says no more than :45 and I maintain it was a good 2:00 that I clutched his hand in terror). Sound Designer Katie Menke had some off-stage shattering and clattering to create, too.

Landrigan as Hilda ran the full emotional gamut, from almost shy to very knowing. This was an elegant performance. Massman was clever, convincing, mystical as the medium who was….or wasn’t. Tripp Kelley was easy to detest as the ‘friend’ with a jealous streak, and Mitchell brought a keen balance to this trio of women in complicated places.

All this was brought together by director Scott Behrend who let the strength of this content guide the simplicity of its presentation. This production is flawless, stop to finish, with its exquisite combination of story, actors, and production.

What I loved most about reading the playbill (yes, an actual book on paper with ink already) was reading about RLTP’s Bridge Program which has a college and high school student engaged in the production alongside working professionals. Best wishes to Brenda Bridges and Liam Rio respectively as you learn from the best in the business. I also loved the insert that had the story behind the story.

The Thin Place runs a gripping 90-minutes, with no intermission which would have broken the suspense and taken you away from a place beyond here and the beyond.  Find tickets and other info at www.roadlesstraveledproductions.org.

Guards at the Taj at Road Less Traveled Productions

I’ve always loved a good buddy story. Butch and Sundance, Thelma and Louise, Oscar and Felix…you get it. One is always solid, pragmatic while the other is more spontaneous, creative, free-falling through life because the other buddy is both the emotional safety net and soft place to land. Road Less Traveled Productions has the ultimate in buddy experiences onstage until December 11.

The two Guards at the Taj share that same rapport. Babur (Darryl Samira) and Humayun (Afrim Gjonbalaj) are on the lower rung of imperial guards gate-keeping the 22 year construction of the Taj Mahal.  They are to follow a strict protocol: they are to keep their backs to the construction site at all times with swords raised in their right hands; they are not to speak; and they are not to scale the wall to sneak a peek at the beauty that is being created behind them. No, they are not to see the work of 20,000 laboring men. But these young guards, who also shared military experience, are curious. Even through Humayun keeps reminding Babur to be quiet, stand tall, take this role seriously, they do fall into the easy banter of two guys on the job, until they realize that their work will include an unthinkable, unfathomable task. You see, the architect has asked the Shah to allow the workforce to view the completed Taj Mahal before it’s revealed to the rest of Agra and the world. This is an affront to the Shah, and there will be consequences. Babur can’t fathom that, nor can he zip his lip about his opinions, despite Humayun’s emphatic reminders. And this is where the buddy story takes a dark turn.

Playwright Rajiv Joseph’s award-winning script was inspired by myths, legends, and some history about how the Taj Mahal was constructed. The result is an intense and emotional experience that examines the boundaries of loyalty, honesty, and family responsibility.

Both Semira and Gjonbalaj are exceptional  here. It’s easy to get caught up in Semira’s boyish curiosity and enthusiasm as he dreams out loud about inventing a flying machine and seeing the world. Yet Humayun’s respect for rules has its virtue, too. This is riveting theatre that will linger in your mind as you reflect on its content and pull away the layers of their words, their actions, and the consequences they will face. It’s good to see Semira in this role after playing Arthur is MusicalFare Theatre’s easy-to-forget staging of Camelot. Gjonbalaj has a penchant for rich, complex roles as his character in RLTP’s Disgraced in  2018 and last season in D’Youville Kavinoky’s fierce People, Places, and Things.

Dyan Burlingame’s set is austere: the façade of a construction site is pretty blasé, but add John Rickus’ vibrant lighting design and Kate Menke’s sound that you can almost feel and the whole effect is unified and powerful. Director Kate Mallinson had a rich palette here.

I’ll be blunt: there were some scenes that were hard to watch. And they were meant to be that way. The 17th century was a brutal time and a grieving, entitled monarch could make his own rules.

Guards at the Taj runs just under 90 minutes with no intermission. Find info and a link to tickets at http://www.roadlesstraveledproductions.org.

Mysterious Circumstances at Road Less Traveled

Mark Twain was right: Truth is stranger than fiction. In the case of Mysterious Circumstances, sumptuously presented now by Road Less Traveled Productions, an unsolved true crime (or was it?) might be solved by the iconic fictional sleuth who ‘died’ 113 years earlier.

Complicated? Not really. OK, maybe a little. Mysterious Circumstances is the true story Richard Lancelyn Green, a noted literary scholar and collector of Sherlockiana. Yes, he liked all things Sherlock Holmes and was particularly keen on some personal papers said to belong to Holmes’ reluctant creator, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. In real life, Green died in 2004. Was it murder, or an elaborately staged suicide that may have been inspired by a Holmes plot? Therein lies the mystery…well, at least one mystery.

Mysterious Circumstances was written by Michael Mitnick who was inspired by a New Yorker article written by David Grann following Green’s death. Director John Hurley, the production team, and the cast created a tight, fast moving, and clever treatment where the phrase “Elementary, my dear Watson” was never spoke.

It really is a fun show with some clever stage movement and lots of layered and well-nuanced details. There are lots of little throwbacks to Holmes and the Conan Doyle oeuvre. I do love a show where all the actors – not just the ensemble – take on multiple roles. It must make the backstage operation well-orchestrated havoc, and it certainly keeps the audience on their proverbial toes, but that’s the fun of it all. The story also time hops from 1894 to 2004, using two neon lit portals (remember The Time Tunnel from 1960s TV?) to mentally escort you hither and yon.

The Cast

Ben Michael Moran is both Green and Holmes. Both characters are focused and intense in their unique ways and Moran makes this work splendidly. As Holmes, he captures all the Basil Rathbone quirks from the movies and as Green he’s a charming geek when talking all things Holmes and awkward and uncomfortable in social situations.  Peter Palmisano is Sir Arthur Conan Doyle and a properly brogued police officer. I loved his change in posture: proud, tall, and strong as Conan Doyle and stoop-shouldered and unkempt as the cop. David Marciniak’s two main roles are as Watson and one of Green’s personal admirers. It’s a great morph from buttoned-up gentleman to slightly skeevy sales guy on the road and on the make. Greg Howze is a Green admirer in a bar scene and then a competitive American Holmes collector. I loved Nicholas Lama’s first entrance as a cabby and the smart use of two standard office chairs as the cab in a well-choreographed scene with some fun deductive reasoning, too.  Jeremy Kreuzer – in maybe the smallest roles of the cast – has some of the most critical scenes, as Jean Conan Doyle’s protective butler (his eyes and his hands are equally expressive) and as “dead” Green when Moran is Holmes. He pulls comic just back from slapstick to make this scene absolutely work.

It’s Wendy Hall’s transformations that are most startling. She’s the Victorian-sickly (first) wife of Conan Doyle, a competitive Sherlockian, a police officer, and Conan Doyle’s daughter, Jean. As Jean, the tilt of her head, her trembling right hand, the decline of her disposition and demeanor is disciplined, precise. This was a superb performance.

The Crew

I loved the sophisticated stagecraft that brought this all together. Dyan Burlingame’s set design incorporates puzzle outlines as art in an interesting way. Production Stage Manager Stephen Brakey and Assistant Stage Manager Tiffany Jaramillo kept the action moving. Sound, costumes, props are on point.

Mysterious Circumstances is the real deal: a true story steeped in fiction created by an author who didn’t want to be known as the father of crime fiction. It’s a fine production and a great way for RLTP to launch season 19.

Mysterious Circumstances runs a full two hours with a 15-minute intermission until October 15. Tickets and details at https://www.roadlesstraveledproductions.org/. BYOD – bring your own deerstalker.

Islena is a Celebration!

Islena means islander. For Victoria Perez, being an islander is part of who she is and always will be. It’s in her soul.

Islena is also the perfect title for her original one-woman show, a glorious celebration of her life as an islena transplanted at a young age to Buffalo.

This is exuberant, boisterous celebration, a collaboration between Victoria and her sister Maria Perez Gomez (who directs the show), includes a quintet of musicians and a rotating cast of musical guests. Victoria uses her considerable stage chops to portray all her family members in this fast-paced hour: with a tilt of her head and a change in her voice, she wraps you in the circle of love that is her family.

The show begins in her feast-for-the-eyes kitchen. Victoria is about to celebrate her 40th birthday and while she dances around cooking up a favorite family dish, she’s telling her story about her family’s move, from home to here. As you would expect, it wasn’t easy. She was different. She didn’t speak the same language. The local food had no flavor! But her twin brother made her laugh at his little boy antics and she had the love of her big sister to help her through. For this special birthday, her husband is surprising her with a trip home. Home! She’s grown comfortable here, built a beautiful life, launched her Raices Theatre Company…but her island, Puerto Rico, is in her heart.

It’s hard not to love this show. It’s full of Victoria’s natural energy. I don’t speak or understand Spanish or Spanglish even, so some of the dialogue was lost on me, but I felt her joy and (and sometimes her pain) with every word. There are plenty of fun little bits, too, like the song her uncle would sing about her bland food complaints, and the sound of island frogs, how her brother taught her the proper salsa rhythm for dance. Tiffany Jaramillo designed a dream kitchen set with lots of red accents, that shares the stage with her floral, peaceful bedroom. It’s the perfect backdrop for a woman with a foot in two places.

You’ll walk out smiling. Maybe you’ll even dance a little…try a salsa…just remember, 1-2, 1-2-3.

Islena is a fast hour performance, no intermission, at Road Less Traveled Theater’s Main St. home, to July 3. Find more info at http://www.raicestheatercompany.com.

Little Women…now…At Last!

Louisa May Alcott’s coming of age chick lit classic Little Women has been required reading since its 1868 publication. Hence, it’s multiple iterations on stage and screen: everyone loves the four plucky sisters of Concord, MA, their stalwart mother, and the men who dance around their periphery of their lives. Except me. I know, some may think I need to revoke my woman card, but the book and its adaptations have never appealed to me.

Major props to playwright Donna Hoke for tackling this old chestnut and bringing it to 2022 relevance. Little Women…now made its world-premiere at Road Less Traveled Theatre after two years of Covid delays. The family is now at home in Western New York, Father is in the midwest helping his ailing cousin, and the four sisters still adore each other when they’re not dreaming and bickering.

Director Doug Weyand has an A-list cast and crew for this long-awaited production. The March sisters (Brittany Bassett as Meg, Sabrina Kahwaty as Amy, Heather Gervasi as Beth, and Alexandria Watts as Jo) play off each other well enough as they cope with their financial woes and general growing pains. Beth is no longer in scarlet fever’s grip: her maladies are anxiety-based with hints of long-haul Covid and perhaps an eating disorder as she raises her fist for social justice. Gervasi plays Beth frail and pale with determination. Bassett’s Meg is ready to be the young bride of John Brooke (Ricky Needham); he’s perfectly earnest and endlessly patient. Kahwaty’s Amy is the most transformed of the quartet: in Act 1, she’s the annoying and whiny adolescent and by Act 2 she’s matured into the sister with a secret love and the realization that her girlhood dreams can grow into another direction. Watts is a delight as Jo the ‘tomboy’ (who now is a women’s studies major) aspiring writer who isn’t ready to accept Laurie’s (so well played by Jake Hayes) affection. Lisa Vitrano rounds out the cast as Mom. The role model of pluckiness, she’s working in a diner to keep her quartet afloat. She’s wonderfully weary and wise, although at times she feels more like sister number five and not the matriarch.

Dyan Burlingame built a set that morphs from March family living room (obviously in a lovely home that’s starting to a get bit shabby as the finances run down) into the “Sister House” beach house. Some clever shutters here and slipcovers there do the trick, along with some beachy art and other objects deftly assembled by prop master Diane Almeter Jones. Nicholas Quinn has some fun with the sound design; the production is really a series of vignettes that span several years. Quinn connects these moving parts with period-appropriate song snippets. John Rickus adds his magic with focused lighting and illuminated “chapter titles” in the set’s TV screen.

The show gets laughs in the right places, sighs when necessary, and some tears when the family tale is most poignant. There’s one lovely scene where Jo’s writing comes to life, with some silhouette lighting and some expert stagecraft by Watts. This shouldn’t be a spoiler alert, but after almost two hours of foreshadowing, Beth’s death is an odd moment of melodrama complete with a gasp and a grasp to the white light.

Little Women…now is onstage until May 22. It runs a full two hours with a brief intermission. Find details and tickets at http://www.roadlesstraveledproductions.org.

Families and Cultures Clash in Tribes

Families and cultures: sometimes they connect and sometimes they don’t. Tribes, now on stage at Road Less Traveled Theatre, makes that point very clear.

Playwright Nina Raine crafted an interesting take on a family story. Parents and two of the three adult children are so wrapped up in their own orbits that they chose not to meet youngest son Billy in his unique culture. Billy was born deaf and his family’s choice was to fit him with hearing aids, teach him to read lips, and expect him to fit in. But those who live with a hearing impairment have their own culture, their own way of expressing themselves, that is different from hearing culture. This family, instead of embracing it, shut it down and the consequence is that Billy’s life has its arc. In this family unit, he is often the observer to their twisted family dynamic.

It took me a while and some reflecting to embrace this production for the fine work that it is. At face value, it’s a study in narcissism for the parents and a “finding their way” study for the older siblings. Act one is full of shouting. But it’s also clear that no one – except Billy – is actively listening to the words and the spaces between. Through the high decibel dialogue we meet oldest son Daniel (Johnny Barden) who is writing his thesis on how language is used, while getting over a break up, smoking pot, and dealing increasing levels of mental illness. Younger sister Ruth (Anna Krempholtz) is an aspiring singer who is struggling to launch her career in opera. Mother Beth (Margaret Massman) is trying to write a novel and patriarch Christopher (David Marciniak) is an academic learning Chinese…often wearing a headset when he’s not yelling and swearing. Billy (Dave Wantuck) has just moved home from university. He begins attending Deaf social event where he meets Sylvia (Melinda Capeles) and is drawn to her lively personality and connection to the Deaf community. She was raised by Deaf parents and is fluent in sign language.  It’s her story that adds more depth to the script: she is losing her hearing – as did her sister, a genetic malady – and through her we learn the difference between being deaf and learning how to be Deaf.

Capeles is remarkable in her role. The vibrance of her Artie Award-winning role in La Lupe: My Life, My Destiny from 2019 is tempered with a different kind of passion here. She’s caring, intense, and frightened by the changes in her life. She’s a good foil for Wantuck (who is new to the professional stage and quite remarkable here): where his character is ill at ease, she’s comfortable and accepting. One of the finest scenes is in act two when – for a brief few minutes – we share Billy’s point of view, thanks to a shift in sound design and lighting , expertly crafted by sound designer Katie Menke and lighting designer John Rickus.

Director Doug Zschiegner wove in exquisite layers of nuance with the dialogue and how it’s delivered. Many moments in act two are signed: subtitles on projection screens share the dialogue. The contrast between acts one and two is well handled and effective.

While it’s a struggle to fine anything likeable in the parents and sister Ruth, the interplay between Daniel and Billy and their complicated relationship is compelling. The brother who is studying language and the brother caught between two distinct communications modalities create the heart of Raine’s script. Daniel’s struggle with mental illness and the return of his childhood stutter are powerful backstories that further emphasize this family’s dysfunction.

A strong, solid cast, an introspection on how we communicate, and love story that struggles to hold on to love….Tribes is complex and well crafted by this expert cast and crew.

Tribes runs a little more than two hours with a 10 minute intermission and is onstage to March 27. Find tickets and details at http://www.roadlesstraveledproductions.org.

Hand to God Returns to Road Less Traveled Theater

Sabrina Kahwaty and Dan Urtz

I saw Road Less Traveled Theater’s production of Hand to God for the first time on March 8, 2020. It was the last show I saw that season before The Long Intermission.   It was a complete production, full of heart, humor, hell, and hope. RLTP wisely re-opened its 18th season by bringing it back and – if that’s possible – it’s gotten even better.

Robert Askins  penned a modern-day horror story, set in a Texas church, with  grieving widow Margery (Jenn Stafford), her shy son Jason (Dan Urtz), their earnest pastor (John Kreuzer), bad boy Timmy (Henry Farleo), and sweet teen Jessica (Sabrina Kahwaty, replacing Maura Nolan Coseglia from the 2020 crew).  Pastor Greg advises Margery to work through her grief by organizing a teen-driven puppet theatre, aptly named The Christkateers. Timmy is there to avoid a less than happy home life. Jason’s engaged because, well, Mom is the leader, and Jessica admits to an interest in puppetry. As they build their puppets in preparation for their first performance at service, Jason’s puppet persona Tyrone becomes aggressively Satanic. Even an attempt at exorcism (“Do Lutherans even do exorcism,” asked a quizzical Jessica) can’t break Tyrone’s hold over Jason.  Yup, there’s plenty of power in a cast-off sock with fluffy yarn hair.

Kudos go to designer/puppeteer Adam Kreutinger for creating the sock-alter egos. Set designer Dyan Burlingame created a main space that brought back plenty of church basement memories (I loved the “time out” cornered tricked out with the hell on earth motif), with its inspirational posters, cheery colors, and kid-size accoutrements assembled by props master Diane Almeter Jones. Shelby Converse got to choreograph some pretty outlandish fight scenes, too.  Director John Hurley had an A-list team for sure.

Urtz earned a 2020 Artie Award (Outstanding Actor in a Play) for his portrayal of meek Jason and the devil Tyrone. The sheer physicality of the role was impressive enough, then layer on the expressive emotional shifts and his whole performance is amazing. Stafford is a repressed randy mama when she’s not the demure church goer: her range is extraordinary. Farleo’s Timmy is hard to like and just as he should be. Kreuzer brings a quiet strength to Pastor Greg (who lands one of the funniest lines of the show if you remember The Exorcist), and Kahwaty’s sweetness as Jessica (with some spiciness as puppet Jolene) help bring the needed turn-around to Jason. All told, it’s a fine ensemble.

My frequent theatre companion won’t see shows a second time: for him the experience is one and done. I disagree: sometimes the second go-round brings out things you missed or you just see differently. That’s the case with Hand to God; I saw Margery’s pain manifest itself more deeply, and Jason’s sense of loss and confusion over his dad’s death simmering under the surface. There are some fine laughs and absurdity, too, but the poignancy of this story prevailed even moreso the second time around.  Even if you were among couple 2020 audiences, Hand to God is well worth revisiting.

Hand to God runs two hours with a 15-minute intermission to December 5. All COVID policies are in place (your vax card and ID will be checked at entrance and masks are required): you will feel comfortable in a safe place…even when Satan speaks.  Visit www. roadlesstraveledproductions.org  for details and tickets.

Patience is Indeed a Virtue for All for One Productions

For the cast and crew of The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Nighttime, the past 19 months must have been pure agony. The show was shut down opening night (thank you, Covid) after months of prep by All for One Theatre Productions, (the collaborative comprised of Shea’s 710 Theatre, MusicalFare Theatre, Irish Classical Theatre Company, Theatre of Youth, and Road Less Traveled Productions). Imagine the agony of sitting on this exquisite production. It was truly worth the wait.

Based on British author Mark Haddon’s 2003 novel, playwright Simon Stephen’s script  begins with a neighborhood tragedy: a teen discovers that his neighbor’s dog has been killed. The distraught owner is quick to blame the teen. Thus begins a two-hour journey of a painful truth, deliberate deception, and a young man’s search for order in a very disorganized world.

Samuel Fesmire gives a mesmerizing performance as Christopher, the accused neighbor. While not specifically called out, Christopher appears to live on the autism spectrum, high-functioning and brilliant with mathematics, and sometimes childlike in his need for routine and order. He walks in straight lines and turns at precise right angles, marks his steps as he walks (“Remember your rhythms,” says is teacher Siobhan played by Sara Kow-Falcone), and cubes prime numbers to reduce stress. Fesmire’s movements capture the tics and quirks of someone whose mind is always racing.  Kow-Falcone’s carefully measured passion and commitment to her student paint the perfect picture of an ideal teacher.

While searching for Wellington the dog’s killer, Christopher learns some hard truths about his dad (Anthony Alcocer),  his mom (Candice Kogut) and Wellington’s owners (Wendy Hall and Ben Michael Moran).   Moran and Hall also do double duty as part of the ensemble, too, playing minor characters and set pieces. That’s actually a pretty cool part of the production. People are often miming walls and doors on the Spartan grid set. Even in the opening scene, lighting outlines Wellington’s dead body along with the murder weapon. 

No surprise that a collaborative performance has a super-size production team. Director David Oliver and assistant director Lucas Lloyd built a good team with Lynne Koscielniak doubling up on scene and lighting design, Christopher Ash and Brian McMullen on the projection (there’s plenty of that, too, against the grid set), Gerry Trentham as movement director, and Jean Toohey as dialect coach to keep the British accents on point and in check.  It this was a band, it would be described as tight.

Overall, it’s a fine interpretation of the novel and a good depiction of what it’s like to live in a world that you often don’t understand when you’re otherwise abled. Fesmire as a Christopher will win your heart as you empathize with his daily challenges. I was less focused on the parental lying and infidelity: the acting quartet handled that well. It’s a tribute to the production company and its choice of show to see marquee actors like Pamela Rose Mangus and David Marciniak in ensemble roles here, too.

The show’s timing may feel uneven at times (the first act felt long and a trusted colleague felt act two dragged) but like Christopher, once you feel the rhythm of the story, it makes sense.

Thanks to All for One for bringing this powerful show to the 716 and not giving up on it when Covid  was threatening, This is good stuff.

The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Nighttime is a solid two hours with intermission and is onstage at Shea’s 710 Theatre to November 14.  Details and tickets at www. sheas.org.

Road Less Traveled Productions and Big Foot – A Killer Combo

It’s a production almost a century in the making, combining aural tradition of AM radio (first heard in WNY in 1920) and the ubiquity of Zoom, the 21st century answer to human relations during a pandemic.

Playwright Jon Elston admits to being intrigued by the late radio show host Art Bell and his call in show “Coast to Coast AM” that’s an homage to unexplained phenomena everywhere. Elston said, “I appreciate the opportunity he would get people to come on his show and given them a forum to say wild things. He let people come on his show and say whatever they wanted.   He was a right leaning libertarian with broad views.” One mystery in particular – Big Foot – is a topic, Elston said, that is “near and dear to my heart for close to 40 years.”

Elston’s fear and fascination with this creature was the inspiration for his play “Big Foot, A Live Virtual Theatrical Experience,” presented by Road Less Traveled Productions for two performances on October 2 and 9.

Yes,  Big Foot. Myth? Legend? Beast? Hoax?  Well, even science isn’t really sure.  There’s even a branch of pseudoscience – cryptozoology – devoted to the study of the existence (or not) of Sasquatch and his brethren, For Elston, the mystery (or is it suspended reality?) is part of the allure that makes for interesting theatre during these unprecedented times.

“I wanted to write about this,” Elston said, “and Scott Behrend (RLTP’s artistic director) knew this, and he has been amused by it as most people are. But desperation is the mother of invention, so he offered me the opportunity to write the play and see it become a reality online.”

For director John Hurley, that was the key: Elston wrote the play to be produced in the online environment.  “Jon wrote the play for Zoom,” said Hurley, “so we’re not trying to adapt the play to this format.”

Running only 35 minutes, the actors – Jake Hayes, Lisa Vitrano (veteran of other Elston world premieres), Robyn Horn and Peter Horn – will perform from the safety of their homes. There was only one scene shot on location. Sara Foote, stage manager, will be in the theatre, calling the show, give the prompts, and – from her position at the computer – controlling what the at-home audience will see on screen. Elston said, “I don’t think it would have been possible to do this show in the live theatre environment.

The story is set in Niagara County, as married couple Charlie and Bea (the real life married Horns) listen to a late night radio program on the paranormal hosted by Wild Doug Wilford (Hayes) with paranormal expert Earlyne Harvest Smith (Vitrano) as his subject matter expert guest. But wait? Is that….Sasquatch himself roaming the woods surrounding Charlie and Bea’s home? Elston adds to the nuance of the story by building a twist of conflict. “There’s a nice debate in the shows,” he said. “ It’s funny, there’s a kind of humor and real situation and it’s serious, too,” Elston said. If writing about giant man-animal-being isn’t surreal enough, creating theatre to be performed for an online audience, viewing it on a screen and not on a stage like the rest of our current situation: unprecedented. Elston said, “This is an exciting time and a scary time. People haven’t done this before. We’re learning in real time from each other. There’s a lot at stake here: do we just go without theatre for six months or a year or longer?”

“Big Foot, A Live Virtual Theatrical Experience,” presented by Road Less Traveled Productions for two performances on October 2 and 9, 8pm and runs a brisk 35-minutes, possibly shorter than any Zoom. Reservations at $15 and should be made prior to two hours before show time. Find details at https://www.roadlesstraveledproductions.org/bigfoot-a-live-virtual-theatrical-experience