2005 - 2006 Season

They're Playing Our Song | Turn of the Screw | Clarance Darrow | Uh, Oh, Here Comes Christmas | Shame the Devil: An Audience with Fanny Kemble | Inside Out | A Midsummer Night's Dream | All in the Timing

All in the Timing

Delightful "All in the Timing" Mentally Challenges at Actors' Summit
Roy Berko (Member, American Theatre Critics Association), The Times Newspapers

The world according to David Ives, the author of "ALL IN THE TIMING," now on stage at Actors" Summit, is a very odd piece. Ives loves to play with the English language and disorient an audience. On the surface, the segments don"t seem to hook together. In actuality they do. They all deal with language. They probe the way language is used, how it is created, and whether people are really communicating when they use language.

This is both the strength and weakness of the script. It will delight many but frustrate those who like things clearly spelled out.

"ALL IN THE TIMING" was originally a book of six one-act plays by David Ives written from 1987 to 1993. The current script contains fourteen one acts.

Actors" Summit is using the original script. The short plays include "SURE THING" in which a man and a woman meet for the first time in a cafe, where they have an awkward meeting continually reset each time they say the wrong thing, until, finally, they connect.

"WORDS, WORDS, WORDS" displays three chimpanzees in their attempt to write Hamlet.

"THE UNIVERSAL LANGUAGE" finds a man and a woman falling in love while communicating in the invented language intended to be used as part of a con game.

"PHILIP GLASS BUYS A LOAF OF BREAD" is a musical parody of contemporary composer Philip Glass, in which he has an existential crisis in a bakery.

"THE PHILADELPHIA" concerns a man in a strange state where he must ask for the opposite of what he wants in a restaurant.

In "VARIATIONS ON THE DEATH OF TROTSKY" Leon Trotsky dies, and dies and dies.

The Actors" Summit cast, under the adept direction of A. Neil Thackaberry, does a consistently excellent job of developing the many roles they portray. Both Alicia Kahn and Noah Varness milk the humor out of "SURE THING." Kahn, Peter Voinovich and Sally Groth totally 'monkey-around' in "WORDS, WORDS, WORDS."

Sally Groth and Peter Voinovich do an amazing job of making the audience understand a language that is not understandable. Their ability to remember the complex lines is amazing. The Philip Glass piece is creatively staged as the actors move in parallel time to the composer"s discordant music. Kahn, Varness and Voinovich are excellent as people caught in black holes where they can"t get what they want.

Only "VARIATIONS OF THE DEATH OF TROTSKY" falls short. The piece becomes tedious and doesn"t have the creative power to wrap up the evening. Ives, in explaining why he writes for the theatre stated, "Our lives happen in voices: in inner monologue and outer dialogue, in scenes of interwoven tension and resolution with comic byplay. As drama. As comedy. As a live, local, handmade event. As theater."

CAPSULE JUDGEMENT: Ives" "ALL IN THE TIMING" displays his philosophy and receives a fine production at Actors' Summit.

A Midsummer Night's Dream (4 Reviews)

Actors' Summit presents the Shakespeare classic
Zachary Lewis, Special to The Plain Dealer

The characters they play may get lost in the woods, but as a company, the Actors' Summit team has found an attractive path through the forest of possibilities that is "A Midsummer Night's Dream."

Realizing the maximum potential of its small theater, the Hudson-based theater ensemble, directed by A. Neil Thackaberry, has mounted an ornate, traditionally minded interpretation of Shakespeare's early comedy pleasing to the eye, ear, and intellect.

The enchantment begins at first glance. Bunches of flowers line the green, doughnut-shaped stage, suggesting a grassy clearing in a garden, and the opening characters enter wearing the first of MaryJo Alexander's many richly elaborate costumes.

But it is the actors who complete the spell in this tale of amorous confusion. Without exception, the principal cast members operate with a secure, comfortable grasp of the text and do their best to convey both its intrinsic beauty and layered meaning.

Playing Oberon, Thackaberry speaks slowly and deliberately, relishing each word and flavoring his attitude with a pinch of real malice. Sally Groth, as his wife Tiania, is every bit his match, arguing with backbone and wooing her imagined lover with queenly sensuality.

Otherwise dominating the fairy kingdom is Puck, Oberon's playful assistant. Sasha Thackaberry puts a unique spin on the character, a few stilted lines notwithstanding, slinking about the stage like a cat and exiting dramatically.

The four young lovers at the play's emotional core are delightful. Kathleen Cutter and Alicia Kahn portray Hermia and Helena as youngsters wide-eyed and prim but also determined and capable of losing their tempers. Noah Varness' Demetrius is a bit brawnier than Andrew Narten's dandyish Lysander, but they both play the fool with equal mastery.
Finally, no one who sees this production will forget these Rude Mechanicals. The lanky, high-voiced Aaron Coleman is hilariously well-cast as Flute, the bellows-mender who becomes Thisbe in the play-within-the-play, and there's probably never been a dimmer-witted Snug than Devon Stanley's.

But Peter Voinovich very nearly consumes the stage as Bottom the Weaver. Auditioning for his part as Pyramus, he gets choked up imagining his own theatrical ability, but when he actually gets his big chance before the Duke, he goes wildly overboard in an absurdly physical death scene.

If this had been a real forest, he'd have taken out a few trees.

Delightful "A Midsummer Night's Dream" at Actors' Summit
Roy Berko (Member, American Theatre Critics Association), The Times Newspapers

Seeing Shakespeare at American theatres, especially a theatre that doesn't specialize in classical productions, can be a forbidding experience. Fear not. In general, Actors Summit's "A MIDSUMMER NIGHT'S DREAM" is a delightful experience.

Less is known about "A MIDSUMMER NIGHT'S DREAM" than most of Shakespeare's writings. Not only the date at which it was written, but why the play was scribed is up for discussion. It is assumed to have been developed between 1594 and 1596, early in Shakespeare's life. It might have been written for an aristocratic wedding. Some Elizabethan scholars suggest it was written for the Queen to celebrate the feast day of St. John. Also, in contrast to Shakespeare's pattern for many of his other offerings, there is no known source for the play's plot. One theory is that it is loosely based on "The Knight's Tale" from Chaucer's "CANTERBURY TALES." Though popular with viewers, most critics agree that the comedy is not one Shakespeare's best plays.

The story features three interlocking plots, all of which are connected by marriage. Two couples, Hermia and Lysander and Helena and Demetrius, run away into the fairyland forest in order to avoid forced marriages, are pulled apart and then brought together through some shenanigans pulled off by the impish folk character Puck. The third couple, Oberon and Titania, the King and Queen of the Fairies, are also in a love/hate/love situation. Add a play within a play by a group of inept actors, and we have some wonderful light and joyous moments.

As one critic stated, "If "A MIDSUMMER NIGHT'S DREAM" can be said to convey a message, it is that the creative imagination is in tune with the supernatural world and is best used to confer the blessings of nature upon mankind and marriage." Actors' Summit's production is filled with many very good and some mediocre acting.

Kathleen Cutter is delightful as Hermia. Alicia Kahn lights up the stage as Helena. She has a wonderful sparkle in her voice and face which compels one to smile and empathize with her as she speaks.

Andrew Narten (Lysander) and Noah Varness (Demetrius), are both fine and help complete the charming duet of lovers.

A. Neil Thackaberry, as Theseus, and Sally Groth (Hippolyta) playfully create the mature couple.

Though he sometimes knows no restraint, Peter Voinovich was the audience favorite as Bottom, the weaver who turns into a jackass.

Bob Parenti, playing the dual roles of Egeus, father of Hermia and Quince, a carpenter stumbled over a number of his lines and was often unbelievable.

Puck needs to be impish, charming, delightful. Sasha Thackaberry was simply not "puckish" enough, often becoming slave to the poetic rhyming pattern. Mary Jo Alexander's costume designs were wonderful as was the creatively designed set.

Director A. Neil Thackaberry has shortened the play so that it runs two-hours, including intermission. No one, except a Shakespeare scholar, will realize that there have been cuts in the script. He has paced the show well and wisely has his actors using Shakespearean dialogue with General American pronunciation which results in ease of understanding.

Actors' Summit received a large grant to perform matinees for area students. Over 1000 young people will be exposed to Shakespeare through this anonymous grant. It can only be hoped that the donor will see fit next year and for years to come to make money available to allow area students to experience the wonders of live theatre.

CAPSULE JUDGEMENT: Actors' Summit's "A MIDSUMMER NIGHTS DREAM" is a delightful offering well worth seeing.

Actors' Summit charms with cozy Shakespeare
'A Midsummer Night's Dream' offers a magical evening in Hudson
Kerry Clawson, Akron Beacon Journal

It's delightful to have both fairies frolicking and lovers working out their tangled web of relationships right in your lap at Actors' Summit in Hudson.

The theater's production of Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream is charming from start to finish, thanks to an exceptional cast and the cozy setup of the small theater itself, which makes the Bard's words more intimate than ever.
Every seat's a good seat for audience members sitting on any of three sides of Actors' Summit's small, three-quarter thrust stage. Theatergoers don't miss one syllable of Shakespeare's magical discourse, thanks to both that proximity and the fact that the actors -- under Neil Thackaberry's direction -- really take their time with Shakespeare's timeless language.

They're not rushing, yet the pacing's still fluid in this enchanting comedy, which features a cast of 18. Actors' Summit has conserved by producing much smaller shows since the fall in order to put ample resources into this major Shakespearean production. It's wonderful that "A Midsummer Night's Dream", a grant-supported production, will be seen by 1,000 school children.

Set in Athens, Hermia loves Lysander and Lysander loves her, but Hermia's father Egeus says she must marry Demetrius. The couple decide to elope into the woods, which represent freedom, in order for Hermia to avoid either a death sentence or nunhood.

Titania and Oberon, king and queen of the fairies, have their own love war going on within the wood. With the help of Oberon's love potion and the mischievous sprite Puck, all manner of things are set upside down among lovers.

In the meantime, a group of ridiculous tradesmen, who fancy themselves thespians, rehearse the play Pyramus and Thisbe in an effort to impress Athenian Duke Theseus, who will wed the conquered Hippolyta.

Framing all of this merriment and confusion is a wonderful set piece that co-artistic directors Thackaberry and wife MaryJo Alexander call a ``fairy ring.'' The large ring is raked upward, with characters flitting on, in and around it.
The green set piece -- dappled with rose and white and trimmed with colorful flowers -- looks simple, but it provides ample staging opportunities. Director Thackaberry, who doubles as Oberon, has fairy actors hiding under it and others leaping, falling and rolling off it.

Speaking of fairies, no one captures the bewitching spirit of this play more perfectly than Sasha Thackaberry as the lively Puck. The professional dancer -- clad in a snake-print stretch velvet and sparkly cap -- spins, leaps, crouches and darts as the nimblest Puck I've ever seen. Both her dynamic movement and her spirited acting make for a beautiful performance.

Actors' Summit newcomer Kathleen Cutter looks like a redheaded china doll as Hermia, whose feminine sweetness is utterly disarming. As the lovelorn Helena, Alicia Kahn serves as an amusing foil to the much-sought-after Hermia.
They're beautifully clothed in what costume designer MaryJo Alexander calls "fantasy Elizabethan'' creations, a sumptuous blend of gowns, robes and accoutrements with greens, roses, blues and maroons as the dominant colors. Alexander also adds sparkle to the girl fairies' diaphanous wings.

Noah Varness and Andrew Narten are believable as the competitive Demetrius and Lysander, and Thackaberry and Sally Groth lend a regal presence as Theseus/Oberon and Hippolyta/Titania.

The laboring mechanicals, led by Peter Voinovich as Bottom, provide plenty of laughs in their bumbling roles. Thackaberry's inventive staging has Bob Parenti as Quince sitting in the middle of the fairy ring, coaching the players through their silly performance. Thackaberry also has Devon Stanley as the lion roaring multiple times, since his courtly audience likes it so much.

Voinovoich takes the cake as Bottom, who not only is transformed into an ass while under a magic spell, but also is absurdly melodramatic as Pyramus in this comedy's play within a play. Audiences will thoroughly enjoy seeing this large actor fling himself all over the fairy ring and roll down it crazily in a death scene that seems as if it will never end.

'Midsummer Night's' pleasant romp at Actors' Summit
David Ritchey

HUDSON - William Shakespeare (1565-1616) could make an audience laugh. More than 400 years after he wrote "A Midsummer Night's Dream," the play can still hold an audience's interest and make them laugh.

Actors' Summit Theater has brought this comedy to the stage in a solid, yet humorous, production. Much about this production is tied to the Elizabethan age and Shakespeare's Globe Theater. This is a refreshing change from the current fad of modern or semi-modern settings for Shakespeare.

In the Actors' Summit Theater, the audience sits on three sides of the playing area. This is authentic. But for this show, the set is a classic circle, reminiscent of the Globe's playing area. This circle is tilted toward the audience, and the center of the circle is filled with flowers and other plants one might find growing in a forest.

Shakespeare set "A Midsummer Night's Dream" in Greece. However, he never visited Greece and didn't have picture books to give him a view of the country. So, despite what is printed in the script and various program notes - think England. Shakespeare wrote about the world he knew - that narrow corridor between Stratford-on-Avon and London.
Shakespeare surely saw the fields of yellow flowers and the streams cutting across the fields. Occasionally on this road, one will see a castle nestled in a clump of trees. This is the setting for "A Midsummer Night's Dream."

The plot includes royalty, fairies and rustics (low characters). This is a wonderful mixture that guarantees confusion and laughter. The plot is easier to follow on the stage than when it is read. Lysander loves Hermia and Hermia loves Lysander. Helena Loves Demetrius; Demetrius used to love Helena but now loves Hermia. This soap-opera style love triangle - or is it a square? - becomes more confused when Hermia's father demands she marry Demetrius. At this point the fairies get into the action and place a love potion in the eyes of some of the characters - when they awake, they will love the first person they see. Of course, the fairies get confused as they go about their matchmaking and make falling in love even more humorous than it usually is.

Puck, a fairy, places a spell on Bottom and places a donkey's head on the rustic. Titania, queen of the fairies, has been given the love potion and awakes to fall in love with Bottom and his donkey's head.

But, as Shakespeare wrote, all's well that ends well. And the right people get together and live happily until the curtain call.

However, in preparation for the wedding party, the rustics write a play, which is a parody of the plays of Shakespeare's day. The title of their production is "The Most Lamentable Comedy, and Most Cruel Death of Pyramus and Thisby." The audience follows the writing, rehearsal and, finally, the performance of this play-within-a-play. And, what a merry company of actors brings this show to life. The mechanics are Quince (Bob Parenti), Snug (Devon Stanley), Bottom (Peter Voinovich), Flute (Aaron Coleman), Snout (Irving Korman) and Starveling (Scott Thomas). The story of "Pyramus and Thisbe" is a classic love story of Shakespeare's time. The couple fall in love but are kept apart by a wall. When they finally get together, Pyramus is dead, and when Thisbe discovers her love has died, she kills herself. (One might say this is the comic version of "Romeo and Juliet.")

But no detail can be omitted from this production. Korman as Snout plays the wall. On a rope around his neck, he wears a stone wall that extends almost to his feet. He extends his arms so that the lovers can speak through a chink in the wall, his outstretched fingers.

Bottom explains to the audience that he will not really die and then plays the longest death scene on record. Voinovich is a large man and, yet, he falls, rolls down the walls of the set and flops his body about the playing area until finally he seems to die. Then he rises to explain that his soul has flown to heaven as he flutters his hands in a bird-like gesture.

He stopped the show. Even the cast applauded his death scene. This scene is so well-directed and so well-played that audience members were talking about the scene as they left the theater.

Coleman plays Thisby with a small, high-pitched voice, a long, white gown that doesn't quite fit, a well-padded bra and a platinum wig that seems to have a mind of its own. Coleman is the perfect foil for Voinovich. When the two play their love scenes, it's low, low comedy at its best.

Shakespeare should be this much fun. This show is a perfect introduction for the young to the world of Shakespeare. The production, under Neil Thackaberry's direction, is accessible to young audience members. In fact, because of a grant from the Ohio Arts Council, Actors' Summit will be able to perform matinees for more than 1,000 students at special matinees.

Inside Out (3 Reviews)

Show is laugh-out-loud funny espite losing actress, Actors' Summit musical `Inside Out' is fun night for the girls or for a date
Kerry Clawson, Akron Beacon Journal

The folks at Actors' Summit take the adage "the show must go on" seriously. Sadly, Cleveland Heights actress Lissy Gulick, one of the stars of the musical Inside Out, learned after opening night Friday that her father, Brooks Jones, had died.

Gulick stepped down from the role of therapist Grace, and co-artistic director MaryJo Alexander assumed the role Saturday evening, when I saw the show.

It's a tribute to Alexander's professionalism that in less than 24 hours, she had learned the show's blocking and songs and made Grace's lines believable. Alexander held her script and score for Saturday night's performance, losing her place for only a couple of moments in her dialogue and song.

Alexander will continue the role through the run to allow Gulick time with her family. The cast is going back into rehearsal in preparation for this week's performances, which begin Thursday.

Despite the difficulties that plagued opening weekend, the musical is often laugh-out-loud funny.

The show, which ran off-off Broadway and then off-Broadway, was created by Doug Haverty and Adryan Russ. The Hudson production is Inside Out's regional premiere.

Five women of vastly different personalities meet for a weekly group therapy session, facilitated by Grace. At first, it seems improbable that a therapist would let these patients rag on each other the way they do; one would assume that most therapists lay down pretty strict ground rules for how patients may speak to one another.

But soon, we realize that Grace uses both role-playing and her patients' pushing each other's buttons as avenues to self-discovery.

None of this is terribly deep, including the story, but the singing and comedy are fun. Shani Ferry, as the hippy-dippy New Age lady, has some outrageously funny lines and delivers them with zest.

This musical trots out just about every female neurosis imaginable. Burning questions include: Will I ever lose my baby weight? Is my husband cheating on me? Can I rejuvenate my stalled career? Can I move past the third date with a man? Do I have the courage to pursue a loving relationship? Which comes first, career or family?

We forgive all the female stereotypes because they're presented in such comical style. In If You Really Loved Me, a laundry list of women's needs runs from the sublime to the ridiculous.

Inside Out provides a fun girls' night out or a good excuse for a date night. (Men, rest assured: no male bashing.)
Other characters include insecure singer Dena (Tricia Bestic), who's afraid of failure; first-time mom Molly (Beth Cubbison); no-nonsense lesbian Chlo (Jessica Dunphy); and controlling, high-powered career woman Liz (Jacqi Loewy).

Some of the humorous lyrics women can relate to include: "Make me less of a glutton/ Make my Levis button" in Cubbison's tune Thin.

Both she and Dunphy are newcomers to Actors' Summit's main stage. Dunphy has a wonderfully sassy, often sexy stage presence: You can't keep your eyes off her when she's singing and talking.

The ensemble generally works well together, with the lovely Bestic taking center stage most often as the washed-out diva, Dena. It's enjoyable to hear most of the singing, except for Loewy's. Her weak vocals were off-key and sounded as if she were shouting in most of her solo moments Saturday evening.

The whole ensemble's a hoot, however, in the doo-wop-style number Do It at Home, with cute staging by director Neil Thackaberry and clever double-entendres bound to bring giggles.

'Inside Out' session laborious, dated
Tony Brown, Cleveland Plain Dealer

To be upfront about it, I am not the target audience for "Inside Out." As a middle-aged, recently divorced man still embroiled in child-visitation issues, I had little patience for this self-indulgent little musical about an all-female group therapy session.

You need to know that not because it's important whether you particularly care that I had an urge to strangle a couple of these six characters (I dealt, as they say in group, with my anger feelings), but because you might want to sprinkle this review generously with sodium. That said, this Adryan Russ/Doug Haverty pocket musical, which was first seen in 1992 under the title "Roleplay" and resurfaced off-Broadway two years later in its current form, is certainly a product of its time.

And in the laborious new production that opened over the weekend at Actors' Summit in Hudson, it's as dated as the Jurassic.

In the early '90s, group therapy was a new and popular psychological frontier, and issues of careerism and mommyism and moneyism topics of discussion. Nowadays - at least the way they're handled here - that frontier and those topics come across as tiresome cliches. The songs, a mix of gospel, pop, patter and even rap, are actually still kind of fun from time to time. The depressing part is the painful role-playing, epiphanies and back-sliding that passes for dialogue in between.

At Actors' Summit, director Neil Thackaberry worsens a bad situation by letting the pacing of these bull sessions drag on. There are holes in the timing during which you could read the collected works of Freud and Jung and still have time left over for their biographies. And musical director Michael Flohr, who's handy enough at the piano, seems to have spent scant time coaching his singers, some of them well-established stage artists in these parts but definitely not on their best game here.

Tricia Bestic, for example, might be one of the Cleveland area's most charming cabaret-style chanteuses, but as the newcomer to the therapy group, a has-been pop singer, she's uncharacteristically flat.

The two other Actors' Equity Association performers - Lissy Gulick as the motherly, thrice-divorced therapist and the charming Jacqi Loewy as the high-octane career-mom - fare slightly better but still don't seem empowered when it comes to their singing or acting.

(Gulick, whose father died over the weekend, left the cast after the Friday night opening; she has been replaced by MaryJo Alexander, Thackaberry's wife and theatrical partner.)

The only character I connect with is Sage, the free-inhibited hippie-chick type, and the cute, squeaky-clean Shani Ferry sings her with utter aplomb. Knockout newcomer Jessica Dunphy makes the most of an utterly stereotyped role, that of a frustrated lesbian and mother to a horror-child.

Again, feel free to ignore any of the above due to the testosterone-filled baggage that may have blocked this observer's view of "Inside Out's" redeeming qualities. On the other hand, don't say I didn't warn you.

Group therapy entertaining at Actors' Summit Theater
David Ritchey

HUDSON - Repairing broken emotions and broken lives is the subject of "Inside Out," which is on stage at Actors' Summit Theater.

This new show deals with a therapist, Grace, and five members of her therapy group.

Each member of the group has a problem that requires the "work" of everyone in the circle. Molly is too fat and can't hold her husband's attention. Liz is a business tycoon and workaholic and those traits may end her marriage. Sage has low, low self-esteem. A single parent, Chlo is a lesbian who isn't meeting any interesting women. Dena had a career as a singer, but she made a bad choice and now her career seems ended and she's broke.

Grace, the therapist and group leader, has had several marriages, each to a younger man.

"Inside Out" is a musical. Each character sings about her problem and sometimes the other members of the group provide backup. Doug Haverty (book and lyrics) and Adryan Russ (music and lyrics) have written a thought-provoking play. Any audience member might say, "Yes, I know that character" or "Yes, I am that character." These women are familiar.

Unfortunately, Haverty has taken the easy way out. He should cut deeper and make his characters bleed. He superficially solves too many serious problems. Often, the audience doesn't see the problem being solved. We merely hear the report to the therapist of how the problem ended. Consequently, the playwright doesn't challenge the audience; he merely attempts to entertain us. We deserve better.

One of the bright spots of the show is Molly's divorce ceremony. She brings her marriage certificate to the group, places it on the table and sings about the joys of being out of a bad relationship. The only thing this scene needed was for someone to burn the paper while the cast sang in praise of divorce.

Unfortunately, the five clients aren't likable women. Each, in her turn, seems self-centered and self-absorbed. I wish that I liked each of them more. In addition, a sudden burst of anger from one woman directed to another woman doesn't seem motivated. And this happened several times. These women suffer too much soap opera angst. We should be involved beyond merely watching this melodrama. We should have more empathy for each character and her problems, which would make the show audience-involving. Where are the desperate housewives when you need them?

The actress who played Grace (Lissy Gulick) on opening night withdrew from the show because of a family emergency. The theater's artistic director, Mary Jo Alexander, has taken over that role. Alexander has the strong singing voice the Grace role demands. I suspect that by this weekend, Alexander and the show will be up to the standards of Actors' Summit.

The real star of "Inside Out" is Michael Flohr, the musical director and accompanist. Flohr often works at Actors' Summit, and the reason is simple - he's good.

Neil Thackaberry (director) keeps the action and the comedy moving at a brisk pace. Each of the characters is distinct - that is due to the quality of the performers, the excellent direction and appropriate costumes. The costumes, which were the responsibility of Alexander, reveal a progression in each character's emotional development.
The over-riding arc of this play is the support women give to each other.

Despite problems in the script and in some of the music, this production offers women something to cheer about.

Shame the Devil: An Audience with Fanny Kemble (3 Reviews)

'Shame the Devil' engaging, overly static, too
Tony Brown, Cleveland Plain Dealer

Celebrity causes (George Clooney and politics, Bono and debt) are nothing new, as we learn in "Shame the Devil," Anne Ludlum's one-woman show.

It takes up Frances Anne "Fanny" Kemble (1809-93), scion of an illustrious British theatrical family and the most popular actress of her day.

While on a U.S. tour, she married a "Philadelphia friend" who secretly owned slaves in Georgia. Appalled (and divorced), she used her fame to fight slavery.

It's a lovely little evocation, and director Neil Thackaberry and actress MaryJo Alexander bring to it entertaining, though often overly static, life.

The best parts tend to be Kemble's spontaneous bursts into Shakespearean poetry, and not her anti-slavery remonstrances.

One-woman show needs more. `Shame the Devil' aims to tell whole truth about a plantation in Georgia, but leaves gaping holes
Kerry Clawson, Akron Beacon Journal

Talk about the greatest possible conflict of interest:
British actress Fanny Kemble was an abolitionist and her husband was a slave owner.

This real-life dilemma, rife with conflict, is detailed in the Actors' Summit production Shame the Devil: An Audience With Fanny Kemble. Co-artistic director MaryJo Alexander takes the stage in this historical one-woman show, written by Anne Ludlum.

Kemble, who came from a family of British actors, was pushed into acting as a way to save her family from financial insolvency. She came with her father to the United States with just one goal: To make money.

That she did. And along the way, she met and married Philadelphia bachelor Pierce Butler. At the time, she didn't know that he stood to inherit two Georgia plantations.

As portrayed by Alexander, Kemble is a free spirit and an intellectual, much more interested in pursuing writing and scholarship than in acting.

The play takes place on the evening of her career comeback, while she waits for her stage reviews to come out in New York. She has divorced and wants to tell her friends (the audience) her side of the story.
"I will tell the naked truth and shame the devil,'' she says.

Through the use of Kemble's own writings -- namely her Journal of a Residence on a Georgian Plantation -- Alexander gives us an inside look at a slave establishment. Her Kemble has an unwavering sense of morality and compassion, as well as a healthy dose of humor.

Alexander also shows us Kemble for the early feminist that she was: She was rightfully indignant at having to legally turn over all of her publishing earnings to her husband while they were married.

The play, which takes place four years after Kemble separated from her husband, has some holes. For instance, what did Kemble do from 1846 to 1849, between her separation and her divorce?

What did her enlightened family back in England think of her living on a slave plantation? How did this affect her daughters' upbringing?

Did Kemble act for long after her 1850 comeback? Was her relationship ever fully restored with her daughters?
Through Shame the Devil, we see that Butler was a heavy-handed man who all but destroyed his wife. He not only gained custody of their daughters, he also printed a slanderous statement against her on their divorce that fed the gossip mills.

In the context of this play, we don't learn much about Kemble actually working as an abolitionist. That happened after her divorce.

In fact, as Kemble was traveling to the plantation for the first time, she naively expected that the slaves there would be content.

Once she saw the slaves' deplorable living conditions, she tried to alleviate their suffering by caring for the sick. She also made the slaves clothing and taught some to read.

Kemble knew the penalties for teaching a slave to read could be fines, imprisonment or death. But she did it anyway.
``Unrighteous laws are made to be broken,'' she said.

She petitioned Butler on behalf of the slaves' basic needs, but he accused her of meddling.

In the play, the strongest statement Kemble makes to her husband is this: ``You care nothing about the sick slaves. To you, black people are tools.''

It wasn't until about 25 years after Kemble wrote her plantation journal that it was published -- during the Civil War.
To Kemble's credit, that document helped persuade England to withhold financial and military support from the South during the Civil War.

This intimate, 90-minute show runs without an intermission. It provides value as a pre-Civil War history lesson from the perspective of an outsider.

We know that Kemble was an admirable person. We just wish playwright Ludlum had done more to fill in the blanks about who she was.

Actors' Summit stages "Shame the Devil"
David Ritchey

HUDSON - Actors' Summit Theater's most recent production, "Shame the Devil: An Audience With Fanny Kemble," takes an insider's look at the realities of slavery.

Fanny Kemble (1806-1893), one of the leading actresses of the 19th century, found success on the English and the American stages. She was a member of the theatrical family that included the Kembles and her aunt, Sarah Siddons, considered by critics as the greatest tragic actress of her time. She held her place in that family as one of its outstanding theatrical lights. Kemble was unique on the stage because of her ability to succeed both in comedy and tragedy.

In 1834, while performing in Philadelphia, she met Pierce Butler, a wealthy bachelor who inherited two plantations in Georgia. Kemble retired from the stage to become the first lady of a plantation. There, she kept a journal, which later was published as "Journal of a Residence on a Georgian Plantation in 1838-1839." In this journal, Kemble describes the conditions of her husband's slaves, including the mistreatment of slaves, the lack of medical care and the sexual abuse of the female slaves by the white overseers. This journal was important in the slavery discussion in the United States and provided additional support for the movement to free the slaves.

Anne Ludlum (playwright) adapted Kemble's journal into the play "Shame the Devil: An Audience With Fanny Kemble." The title comes from an American colloquialism: "I'll tell the truth and shame the devil." The setting of the play is in Kemble's home immediately after she presented a reading in New York of "Romeo and Juliet." She has invited a few friends to her home to await the reviews. The audience represents those friends.

MaryJo Alexander (Kemble) has performed in many roles at Actors' Summit and finally has a role that reveals what a gifted actress she is. Alexander, of course, plays Kemble, but she also plays some of the other people who live on the plantation, including men and women, free and slave. In addition, the playwright has Kemble illustrate some of her stories with passages from plays by William Shakespeare. Alexander's voice soars (as did Kemble's voice), but she seems to reach the low notes with great ease, too.

The script is based on "Journal of a Residence on a Georgian Plantation in 1838-1839" and, therefore, the focus is on Kemble's life on a plantation. She provides enough background for the audience to understand who she was before she moved to Georgia and that exposition explains what happens to her after she left the plantation and her divorce from Pierce.

This is a tough role for any actor. Alexander took the stage and held the audience spellbound for 90 minutes without an intermission. The audience didn't shuffle or move about. Everyone was locked into the fascinating story she told. Alexander captured her audience and didn't let us go until she recited the final lines from "The Tempest."

Uh, Oh, Here Comes Christmas (2 Reviews)

Actors' Summit provides winning two-character musical on stage
Kerry Clawson, Akron Beacon Journal

Despite what the title sounds like, Uh, Oh, Here Comes Christmas does a heartfelt job of helping audiences capture the holiday spirit at Actors' Summit in Hudson.

In this age of rampant commercial-ism, the play based on books by Robert Fulghum is an attempt to become grounded and enjoy the true spirit of the holidays. Uh, Oh is beautifully written and performed, often reaching poetic heights. Actors' Summit's five-person cast, led by director MaryJo Alexander, creates a wonderful energy and humor, also imparting a sense of magic and wonder to the season.

The only thing marring this show is that the cast had serious problems singing along to a recorded accompaniment in the opening number. Sebastian Birch, a professor at Kent State University's Stark Campus, created the recording.
The cast needs an extra musical rehearsal in order to synchronize: Each singer seemed to be at a different tempo during the same song Saturday night. The problem occurred to a lesser degree in other songs, too, including a Scrooge Vegas act with two female backup singers. Live musical accompaniment, likely not employed due to budget limitations, would have worked much better.

At the other extreme, Sally Groth delivers a beautifully impassioned solo about the winter solstice later in the show.
The words from the title, "Uh, Oh, Here Comes Christmas,'' are referred to in two vignettes. In one, it's the title of a snazzy showbiz Vegas number with Scrooge. The second scene is about a couple simplifying their lives in order to avoid holiday crisis.

Here, Bob Parenti's Phil imparts joy as he recounts a lesson he and his wife learned from the American Indians of New Mexico: Dec. 15 through Jan. 15 is "the time of being still.''

Under Alexander's direction, none of the 15 vignettes is cloyingly sentimental. We are reminded of the true spirit of Christmas through heartwarming stories including the pure joy of a child, disastrous church pageants, a child's gift of the heart, and an unwanted doggy addition to the family.

For this piece, writer Fulghum has achieved the insight of someone who has led an amazingly varied life. He has worked as a singing cowboy, pursued a short career with IBM and served as a minister. He's also an accomplished visual artist, sings, plays guitar and mandocello, and founded a rock 'n' roll band. Fulghum has published seven best-selling books, including All I Really Need to Know I Learned in Kindergarten.

In Uh, Oh, several pieces are standouts for their emotion, heart and warmth. Peter Voinovich's character yearns to briefly be a 5-year-old again, to laugh and cry a lot, and to be "terribly vulnerable -- to joy.''

Another Christmas wedding scene begins as a culture clash but ends in love and harmony. And a church service featuring a juggler has both magic and faith.

The most humorous vignettes include a power struggle over a Christmas pooch, where both Neil Thackaberry and Groth excel. Thackaberry also is especially funny in a scene about the refrigerator -- the most important item in the house for the holidays. Here, descriptions of delicious holiday delicacies contrast with crazy combinations of leftovers that Thackaberry's character creates for a solitary, middle-of-the-night feast.

As part of that contrasting scene, Mary Jane Nottage has a mischievous sparkle in her eye during a moment of family confessionals.

Uh, Oh tries to offer a little something for everyone, including segments about the winter solstice as well as a couple of religiously based vignettes.

When the audience sang along with the cast in the show's final Silent Night, it was a reverently beautiful moment. After the actors blew out their candles, we would have liked to bask in that darkness for a moment, before the lights came up for the curtain call.

'Uh, Oh,' it's too much of a good thing
Linda Eisenstein, Special to The Plain Dealer

If you're a fan of inspirational literature, the name Robert Fulghum needs no introduction. With a gentle sense of humor and an optimistic, homespun philosophy, the former Unitarian minister's collections of light essays have landed on best-seller lists since the 1990 debut of his popular "All I Really Need to Know I Learned in Kindergarten."
Fulghum's books have also had several stage adaptations, and a holiday-themed show - "Uh, Oh, Here Comes Christmas" - is currently running at Actors' Summit in Hudson. Adaptors Ernest Zulia and David Caldwell have done little to dramatize Fulghum's stories. Rather, they're essentially performed versions of the essays themselves, with five actors reciting Fulghum's first-person anecdotes.

The effect is rather like hearing 15 nostalgic, uplifting holiday sermons by your favorite pastor, back-to-back. No matter how winning, heartwarming or well-written some of the anecdotes are, or how well-performed, eventually there's a cloying effect - like eating a full-course meal of nothing but sugary sweets.

The Actors' Summit cast and director MaryJo Alexander do their best to animate the material. You can lift a cup of holiday wassail to co-artistic director A. Neil Thackaberry, the genial presiding spirit who inhabits Fulghum's reminiscences as comfortably as a well-worn holiday sweater. He's an ideal interpreter, bringing a mixture of warmth, tartness and rueful recognition to his portrayals of exasperated husbands, absent-minded fathers and midnight refrigerator raiders.

Peter Voinovich turns in some lovely work as well, with a monologue about wishing he were a boy again. Bob Parenti shows some gruff crust in two of the more dramatized segments, as a rabbi grandfather in a story about a marriage between a Catholic and a Jew, and as the narrator of a Christmas pageant gone badly awry, thanks to a live donkey.
The women's material isn't up to the men's, although Mary Jane Nottage has fun with a running gag about a burgeoning poinsettia that won't die, and fresh-faced Sally Groth is delightful as a wife who wants a dog for Christmas.

The three songs by David Caldwell stick out like sore thumbs. The two mildly satiric group numbers that open each act are raggedy and off-kilter, at odds with the rest of the sentimental material. And poor Groth is saddled with a real clunker, an incongruous second act aria to the winter solstice.

Between the homey set of Christmas trees and fake fireplace, carolers at intermission, and a singalong "Silent Night" at the end, this show is for those who want their Christmas entertainment full of nothing but nostalgia and stories with moralizing happy endings.

At more than two hours, that's an awful lot of sugarplums.

Get ready ... Here comes Christmas
David Ritchey

HUDSON - Bah, Humbug! If the blues plague you this time of year, you may be on your way to becoming a Scrooge.
Don't worry, being Scrooge isn't the worst thing that can happen to you.

Actors' Summit Theater provides the cure for those holiday-season blues with the production of "Uh, Oh, Here Comes Christmas." The play is based on books by Robert Fulghum and was adapted to the stage by Ernest Zulia and David Caldwell.

The production is comprised of vignettes or scenes grounded in Fulghum's essays. Some make the audience laugh, while others may bring a tear to even Scrooge's eye. But, whether you're a Scrooge or one of those people who fills the house with a dozen or more decorated trees, you'll find something of merit in "Here Comes Christmas."
The play starts with Scrooge telling the ghosts to leave him alone, as he likes being a curmudgeon. The second act opens with a Las Vegas version of the "Scrooge Show," with dancing girls.

But, somewhere in the middle of the play, we find scenes that remind us of our place in the world and our place on the family tree. A father takes his son to ring the bell at the Salvation Army kettle. The son asks, "If we have a Salvation Army, do we have a Salvation Navy, a Salvation Air Force? Who does the Salvation Army fight?"

Later, a woman meditates on bad gifts. "If it's the thought that counts, does a bad gift (a really bad gift) mean that the giver doesn't think much of you?"

A Christmas wedding unites an Irish Catholic and a Jew. His side and her side come to the wedding prepared to do battle. But after his grandmother, a third-rate opera singer, sings "Ava Maria" better than she has ever sung anything and after his grandfather, a rabbi, wraps the couple in a Hebrew blessing, both sides declare that a good thing, a very good thing, was done in this wedding. They realized that what they had in common outweighed their differences.

Another character reflects on the word "ponder" as in the New Testament story: "Mary kept all of these things and pondered them in her heart." The character notes that if we think it's bad in our lives at Christmas time, think of teenage Mary, pondering in the back stall of a stable. Her husband is muttering about taxes. The government leader wants to kill children. And, strange people ó shepherds, kings, wise men and angels - stop by with gifts for the baby.

In another section, the cast reflects on the idiosyncrasies of those folks seated at the Christmas feast. They know the meal is spectacular, and as they talk about the food and the recipes, Neil Thackaberry, as Nick, stands in front of a refrigerator and talks about the leftovers and about the best meals he has ever eaten. His character had eaten most of those meals alone. The meals included those items in the back, way back of the refrigerator - those things that have started growing mold, have hardened into something that needs to be sawed into bite-size pieces or that are made with Spam and pineapple, covered with chocolate sauce.

"Here Comes Christmas" is filled with gentle humor that's perfect for the whole family. However, this is not just a funny script. The authors open the door for audience members to go home and do some serious self-reflection.
Director Mary Jo Alexander leads an excellent cast - Bob Parenti, Sally Groth, MaryJane Nottage, Peter Voinovich and Thackaberry - through this meaningful production. Alexander deserves a metal of bravery for directing her husband and her soon-to-be son-in-law in this show.

Actors' Summit has floundered for several years in attempts to find the right Christmas play. "Uh, Oh, Here Comes Christmas" may be the right script for this theater company. The script is bright and intelligent. The wit grows out of the human foibles that pop to the top like a big fruitcake at this time of year. The performances do not depend on physical humor or jokes forced onto the lines. The script has a simplicity and directness that is charming and winning.

Clarence Darrow (4 Reviews)

Clarence Darrow Wins Case at Actors' Summit
Roy Berko (Member, American Theatre Critics Association),The Times Newspapers

Clarence Darrow was probably the most celebrated American lawyer of the 20th century. Though he died in 1938, his fame continues. He is often quoted in matters of evolution, religion, unionism and freedom of expression.

Darrow's life has been put on the stage in several formats. In the 1970s a one-man production, "CLARENCE DARROW: A ONE MAN PLAY," starred Henry Fonda. "COMPULSION" centered on Darrow's defense of murderers Leopold and Loeb. "INHERIT THE WIND," by Cleveland and Elyria's Jerome Lawrence and Robert E. Lee, illuminated Darrow's defense of the evolution teaching science instructor John Scopes.

And David W. Rintels wrote the play "CLARENCE DARROW." which is now being staged by Actors' Summit, Hudson's professional theatre. Darrow has deep Ohio roots. He was born in1857, near Kinsman, Ohio. He lived all of his youth and young adulthood in that small community which helped set his life-belief patterns. He was admitted to the Ohio bar in 1878 at the age of 21. He later moved to Chicago where he established himself as a proficient lawyer and a powerful speaker. He gained a national reputation as a labor and criminal lawyer thanks to his 1895 defense of Eugene V. Debs, president of the American Railway Union, who had been arrested on a federal charge of contempt of court over difficulties arising out of the Pullman strike of 1894.

Darrow did not shy away from controversy. He took on cases and causes which he felt would advance human rights and protect against human indignity. His two most famous trials were the Leopold-Loeb murder case of 1924 and the 1925 trial of John T. Scopes. He saved Nathan Leopold and Richard Loeb from execution--but not from prison--for the murder of 14-year-old Robert Franks. The Scopes trial concerned the teaching of evolution, which was against Tennessee law. The prosecuting attorney in this famous "monkey trial" was William Jennings Bryan. Darrow had strong convictions on many subjects, especially religion. Once, when asked his attitude toward that subject, Darrow replied: "I am an Agnostic because I am not afraid to think. I am not afraid of any god in the universe who would send me or any other man or woman to hell. If there were such a being, he would not be a god; he would be a devil."

Though historical, Rintels' play is very contemporary. Several comments about the corruption of politicians, especially in the wake of the recent Bush administration's brushes with honesty, brought huge laughs and even applause from the audience. The teaching of evolution is in the forefront of the news with the push by religionists to force the teaching of the pseudo-science, "intelligent design," in public school science classrooms. The questions over the death penalty are still with us. Darrow's view on these topics is clear....politicians have to be monitored and questioned; evolution is science, creationism is not; and "I'm proud of the fact that 102 of my clients faced the death penalty and none were hanged!" As one openong-night attendee stated during the reception following the performance, "Where is Darrow when we need him?"

A. Neil Thackaberry is Darrow. His task is daunting. The number of lines to memorize is awesome...35 or so pages...all are his speeches! Thackaberry is excellent! His performance is relaxed and offhanded. He wisely doesn't fake an orator's voice. He invites us into his thoughts and memories as if they are completely spontaneous. He adds vocalized pauses and thought spaces to create total naturalism. He clearly separates casual conversation from appeals to the jury by not only changing his physical demeanor, but by putting on or taking off his jacket. His is a well-thought out performance which has been well-honed by director Alex Cikra.

MaryJo Alexander has done a stellar job with props and the single costume. The stage is littered with age-perfect "things." Things like an old upright typewriter, an old fashioned lamp, weathered books, and a worn leather chair. Darrow, who was noted as often looking like he slept in his clothes, which he often did, was perfectly dressed in an ill-fitting wrinkled suit, crinkled shirt and scuffed shoes.

CAPSULE JUDGEMENT: One-man shows are hard to stage as it is difficult to grab and hold an audience with little action and no interaction. Actors' Summit seems to have a way of pulling it off. Last year, Wayne Turney won acting raves (including a Times Tribute Award) for his performance as Harry Truman, and now Thackaberry pulls off this fine portrayal as Darrow. Go see this production! You will not only get a fine history lesson, but see a wonderful performance.

Clarence Darrow comes to life at Actors' Summit
By David Ritchey

HUDSON - Seldom is the real-life story of an attorney brought to the stage in a drama. However, that is not the case currently, as Actor's Summit Theater is staging the one-man production of "Clarence Darrow," a play based on legendary Ohio trial attorney Clarence Darrow.

Darrow (1857-1938), one of the most famous American lawyers, has been a character in several American dramas, including "Inherit the Wind." Darrow was best known for defending teenage thrill killers Nathan Leopold and Richard Loeb in their trial for murder in 1924, and defending John Scopes in the so-called Monkey Trial in 1925. Born in Ohio, Darrow lived and worked in Ashtabula for a number of years before moving to Chicago, where he represented Eugene Debs, the leader of the American Railway Union in the Pullman strike of 1894.

Playwright David W. Rintels based the play on the book "Clarence Darrow for the Defense," by Irving Stone.
"Clarence Darrow," directed by Alex Cikra, gives local audiences a chance to see a first-rate performance by Neil Thackaberry. While the show highlights some of Darrow's personal life, most of the performance is re-enactments of moments from Darrow's most famous cases.

In a one-character, one-actor show, audience members will have trouble knowing when the actor's work interfaces with the director's work. In this production, Thackaberry and Cikra have created a seamless performance. Both men did exhaustive research on Darrow and that research becomes visible in the show. For example, Darrow drank little alcohol. Yet, the stage has a large number of liquor decanters for Darrow's guest. When Darrow pours himself a drink, it is a mighty small drink. For the most part, he drinks water.

Thackaberry gives Darrow other characters for conversations. Occasionally, he speaks to one person, who is on a specific spot in the playing area. The imaginary character becomes real to the audience because Thackaberry's Darrow thinks the character is on that spot. At other points in the story, he speaks to a jury and the audience becomes the members of the jury.

The production takes place in real time. That is, the audience is Darrow's guests for the length of the play as he tells stories. The play doesn't have flashbacks or time changes. Darrow's stories cover many years, but everything is told as a reflection on the past. Thackaberry makes Darrow charming, kind and brilliant. By the end of the play, I wanted to have lunch with either Thackaberry or Darrow. Thackaberry's excellent acting had lifted me to a point of not knowing where the actor ended and the character started.

However, lunch, dinner or a theatrical production that gives only one person a chance to talk can be tedious. Thackaberry and Cikra recognized that pitfall and worked, for the most part, around that problem. Thackaberry is one of the best actors working in this area of Ohio. It's a pleasure to see him at the top of his form.

MaryJo Alexander (costumes and props) provided Darrow with a well-rumpled suit. At one point in the performance, Darrow notes that he has good clothing, but his friends insist that his clothes look like he slept in them. The line got a chuckle. Of course, the line is an overstatement, but rumpled is the Darrow look.

The set represents an office from the early 1900s. The authentic furniture, especially the desk and file cabinet, invite closer inspection. The set is a comfortable nest for Darrow. This is his home, his workplace, a place where he might visit with friends.

Alexander, who was responsible for the set and props, cluttered the playing area with items directly from the late 19th and early 20th centuries. She made Darrow's office look perfect for a man who collects people, stories and things.
It was a pleasure to sit in Darrow's office and have him talk to me about his life. Celebrities, especially dead ones, don't often give us that opportunity.

Show brings lawyer of Scopes trial to life
Kerry Clawson, Akron Beacon Journal

You learn something every day.

Until seeing the one-man play Clarence Darrow at Actors' Summit, I wasn't aware that the legendary trial lawyer was an Ashtabula, Ohio, native. The play, featuring the accomplished Neil Thackaberry, illuminates plenty of interesting background and career highlights about the man best known for his defense work in the 1925 Scopes monkey trial.
Based on the book Clarence Darrow for the Defense by Irving Stone, this piece delves a bit into the lawyer's personal life. But the re-enactments of key moments from Darrow's most famous cases carry the most drama.

Darrow, champion of the underdog, was impassioned about fighting ignorance, intolerance and hatred. He defended labor early in his five-decade career, and later devoted himself to fighting the death penalty.

The play's conversational style as well as Thackaberry's sheer skill and striking demeanor in creating this intimate story make for an engrossing experience. We're drawn in from the folksy details of the lawyer's first, $1 contract for a horse sale to the ugly details of a race-hatred case late in his career.

Darrow was a small-town, Ohio boy destined for great things. His formative years were spent with free-thinking, intellectual parents. His dad was an active participant in the Underground Railroad.

The attorney, known as the greatest criminal defense attorney in American history, had only one year of college and one year of law school. He took on unpopular cases that gripped the national conscience, defending everyone from two teen-age thrill killers to the MacNamara Brothers, who bombed the Los Angeles Times building in a labor dispute.
Through Thackaberry, this play becomes an engaging history lesson. Director Alex Cikra evokes an emotional range from the actor that's captivating, from the agnostic Darrow's quiet musings about mortality to his rantings about injustice, where Thackaberry assumes a severe face and glinting eyes.

Darrow, who spent most of his practice working in Chicago, lost only one murder case there among more than 100 cases. Not one of his murder defendants was hanged.

He never fit into the Chicago establishment, and never cared to. This is the guy who bought and had his first suit fitted from the Ashtabula Hardware and Emporium.

Clarence Darrow delves more deeply into Darrow's other landmark cases than it does the Scopes trial, known as one of the most important cases in U.S. history. Even after this evolution vs. creation case, Darrow said he never found religion.

The play has its share of folksy humor, with Thackaberry delivering lines such as this with perfect timing and zest: "I have never killed a man. But I have read a number of obituaries with considerable pleasure.''

Thackaberry also shines with another comedic bit about how Darrow selected a jury based on its religious preferences.

Some of Darrow's most memorable lines from the play include:
"Conspiracy... has been the weapon of every tyrant.''
"History repeats itself. That's one of the things wrong with history.''
"There's no such thing as justice, in or out of the courtroom.''

It only takes one fine actor to create human drama. That's part of the power of live theater: It makes history come alive.

Clarence Darrow comes to life at Actors' Summit
Tony Brown , Cleveland Plain Dealer

Seldom is the real-life story of an attorney brought to the stage in a drama. However, that is not the case currently, as Actor's Summit Theater is staging the one-man production of "Clarence Darrow," a play based on legendary Ohio trial attorney Clarence Darrow.

Darrow (1857-1938), was best known for defending teenage thrill killers Nathan Leopold and Richard Loeb in their trial for murder in 1924, and defending John Scopes in the so-called Monkey Trial in 1925. Born in Ohio, Darrow lived and worked in Ashtabula for a number of years before moving to Chicago.

"Clarence Darrow," directed by Alex Cikra, gives local audiences a chance to see a first-rate performance by Neil Thackaberry. While the show highlights some of Darrow's personal life, most of the performance is re-enactments of moments from Darrow's most famous cases.

In a one-character, one-actor show, audience members will have trouble knowing when the actor's work interfaces with the director's work. In this production, Thackaberry and Cikra have created a seamless performance. Both men did exhaustive research on Darrow and that research becomes visible in the show. For example, Darrow drank little alcohol. Yet, the stage has a large number of liquor decanters for Darrow's guest. When Darrow pours himself a drink, it is a mighty small drink. For the most part, he drinks water.

Thackaberry gives Darrow other characters for conversations. Occasionally, he speaks to one person, who is on a specific spot in the playing area. The imaginary character becomes real to the audience because Thackaberry's Darrow thinks the character is on that spot. At other points in the story, he speaks to a jury and the audience becomes the members of the jury.

The production takes place in real time. That is, the audience is Darrow's guests for the length of the play as he tells stories. The play doesn't have flashbacks or time changes. Darrow's stories cover many years, but everything is told as a reflection on the past. Thackaberry makes Darrow charming, kind and brilliant. By the end of the play, I wanted to have lunch with either Thackaberry or Darrow. Thackaberry's excellent acting had lifted me to a point of not knowing where the actor ended and the character started.

However, lunch, dinner or a theatrical production that gives only one person a chance to talk can be tedious. Thackaberry and Cikra recognized that pitfall and worked, for the most part, around that problem. Thackaberry is one of the best actors working in this area of Ohio. It's a pleasure to see him at the top of his form.
It was a pleasure to sit in Darrow's office and have him talk to me about his life. Celebrities, especially dead ones, don't often give us that opportunity.
The production, which is on stage through Nov. 20, runs about 90 minutes, with one intermission.
For ticket information, call (330) 342-0800. David Ritchey, West Side Leader

"Clarence Darrow," at Actors' Summit in Hudson, is the most traditional one-person show now in Greater Cleveland. One actor plays one person.

But playwright David Rintels' nuanced script excerpts the great defense lawyer's brilliant speeches and also glimpses inside Darrow's thought processes.

And the big bluff talents of Neil Thackaberry make you forget that you're in a theater, watching a performer. You find yourself sitting in Darrow's study, nodding and chuckling.

"Clarence Darrow" (based on a book by Irving Stone) concentrates on the lesser-known early career of one of democracy's greatest friends.

Here on display for all to see is the sublime poetry and fascinating wreckage of a great lawyer.

Turn of the Screw (3 Reviews)

Spare performance of James' classic is a turn for better for theater group
Linda Eisenstein, Special to The Plain Dealer

Two actors, bare stage, no props: That's the budget-friendly formula that has made Jeffrey Hatcher's adaptation of Henry James' atmospheric ghost story "Turn of the Screw" a staple in U.S. regional theaters. It's the theatrical equivalent of a high-wire walk, where the actors have to hold your attention at every moment.

Luckily, Actors' Summit director A. Neil Thackaberry and his dynamic duo, lovely Sally Groth and cadaverous Alex Cikra, squeeze every ounce of suspense out of Hatcher's two-handed retelling. That's a good thing, because the vehicle itself hits some bumps in the road.

"Turn of the Screw" is in the form of a Gothic tale. In 1872 England, an innocent young governess gets hired at a creepy manor house by a mysterious employer and promptly starts seeing threatening ghostly figures. But James' story, a masterpiece of indirection, always has been about the shadow side of sexuality, a cautionary tale about the forbidden and "the unspeakable": the sexual corruption of children.

In Thackaberry's production, you can't help but read the double meanings early on. From the faintly corrupt way Cikra licks his lips as the children's uncle, to Groth's feverish "Jane Eyre" fantasies about her employer, to a child's hesitation at the word "touch," we pretty much figure out that what's been haunting this house is creepier than a mere ghost. Early on, that helps create tension. But as the play continues, it also makes us get ahead of the story at times. That's when it's easy to get restless from the prosaic qualities of Hatcher's narration-heavy script - its diary format bogs the play down.

Nevertheless, the two actors do a handsome job with the material. Groth always has been an actress who seems illuminated from within. Under the stark lighting in her black gown, her face fairly incandesces with her emotional discoveries, from a quicksilver passion to protect her young charges to her battles with fear and dread.
Dressed in a formal frock coat, Cikra plays all the other characters. It's a delight to see the distinct characterizations he makes moving from secretive employer to hearty female housekeeper to 10-year-old boy - by subtle shifts of attitude and diction. In the story-theater format, he even becomes the sound effects, from a horse's whinny to a whispered "footfall" as Groth moves about the haunted house.

MaryJo Alexander's period costumes and the uncredited dramatic lighting set off the performances like the jewels they are.

Actors' Summit brings a strong dose of suspense to its production of The Turn of the Screw, a stage adaptation of the novella by Henry James.
By Kerry Clawson, Akron Beacon Journal

The play's introduction speaks of a tale of horror and death. It's not likely to give you nightmares, but the unfolding of this ghost story will keep you on the edge or your seat.

In this two-actor play, Alex Cikra and Sally Groth deftly create an eerie atmosphere with only their bodies and voices as their tools. Spooky lighting also is used to notable effect.

The story, set in 1872, tells of recently orphaned Flora and Miles, whose uncle has sent them to live in his country home in Essex, England. The uncle hires a 20-year-old governess to care for the children, insisting on some very strange stipulations.

Soon, the governess begins to see the ghosts of damned souls haunting the children. She fights to preserve their innocence, their lives and their souls. But can anyone else see the ghosts, or is she the only one?
Besides serving as the narrator, Cikra plays 10-year-old Miles, his uncle (the master of Bly) and the housekeeper, Mrs. Grose. The versatile actor achieves these transformations in character solely through voice inflection and body language. Cikra makes no change in costume accessories, wearing only a suit with tails.

The story plays out on a nearly bare set, created by platforms at various levels and steps covered in black, velvet-like material. A staircase winding up to the children's nursery at stage right looks especially eerie when lighted from the top.

Adaptor Jeffrey Hatcher has made numerous changes to the original tale that improve the story. Flora is mute, and Miles becomes like a little demon.

Mrs. Grose openly doubts the presence of the ghosts from the start -- unlike her ready acceptance of the governess' spectral sightings in the book. The governess' sanity also is more questionable in the play, which makes the ghost story more frightening. Hatcher has added dialogue explaining that madhouses are full of governesses.

Hatcher has also added a series of riddles to the script that the intelligent Miles solves with uncanny speed. Hatcher creates a more fleshed-out background for the governess, giving a clearer reason for her lonely life, as well as her deep need to protect the children.

The Turn of the Screw's ending is a bit confusing, with a number of questions left unanswered: Did the children ever see the ghosts? Were they consciously deceiving their governess?

In some ways, the play provides more answers than the original story does. The novella never gives the ghosts a clear motive for wanting the young children. But the play gives a very specific reason that would have been quite shocking by 1870s standards.

The play also goes further than the novella in explaining the fate of the surviving characters.

Under the direction of Neil Thackaberry, Cikra and Groth keep the pace up as the tale's horror builds over 95 uninterrupted minutes. In the end, Groth's governess is believably unhinged as she makes a frightening final effort to save a lost soul.

Ghosts make for spooky doings at Actors' Summit Theater
By David Ritchey

HUDSON - If ghosts, unexpected bumps and stories of the strange make you shiver and get cold bumps up and down your spine, you'll enjoy "The Turn of the Screw", which is on stage at Actors' Summit Theater.

Henry James wrote the novella "The Turn of the Screw. Jeffrey Hatcher wrote the stage version.

"The Turn of the Screw" is a two-actor play. Alex Cikra plays several roles, including a child, the housekeeper and several mature men. Sally Groth plays the governess.

The story is set in an English manor house called Bly. The governess, a woman in her early 20s, has been hired to take care of two children, Flora and Miles, whose parents have died. Their only relative, an uncle, wants nothing to do with the children. He hires the governess and instructs her never to contact him. As the story unfolds, the governess learns she is a replacement for Miss Jessel, another young woman, who committed suicide. In addition, Peter Quint, the valet, with whom Miss Jessel had an affair, died. Miles has been sent home from boarding school for some "unspeakable offense. Flora has not spoken for several years.

The mansion seems crowded with ghosts and a variety of unexplained events. The governess often sees the ghost of Miss Jessel invite Flora to cross a stream of water to an island. Of course, if Flora goes into the water to meet the ghost, she will drown.

According to the governess, the ghost of Peter Quint invites Miles into dangerous situations, too. What is true? What is false? The governess frequently speaks of the need for touch and the absence of touch in her own life. At one point she kisses the 10-year-old Miles on the mouth (Miles is played by Cikra). Is this a story of repressed sexuality?
James and Hatcher leave the audience to decide if Bly is haunted or if the governess has emotional problems.
The multi-level set is completely black except for one small sliver of a gray stone wall. Cikra and Groth wear black, with only a few bits of color.

The program doesn't name the person responsible for the spectacular lighting. The lighting seemed to be mostly white and not covered with strong-colored gels. These spots of bright, white light made the black set all the more ominous.

Director Neil Thackaberry, Cikra and Groth have brought a chilling story to the stage. The multi-level set provides the visual variety that is so important when working with a two-actor script.

Cikra and Groth have worked together before in Actors' Summit productions. They are gifted performers who usually bring pleasure to their audiences. In this show, they also may bring shivers of fear to those seated before them. Cikra's stage time is more exciting than Groth's because he plays several characters and makes each one distinct with movement and voice and without a change of costume.

Groth grows from a timid young woman to a strong person who is capable of challenging ghosts and her own demons.

They're Playing Our Song

Actors' Summit provides winning two-character musical on stage
David Ritchey

HUDSON - Can a well-known, wealthy composer find happiness with a kooky lyricist? That's the question posed in "They're Playing Our Song," now playing at Actors' Summit Theater in Hudson.

Vernon Gersch is a famous, wealthy composer. He finds some charm in lyrics written by Sonia Walsk, and they meet at his apartment with the plan of writing some songs together. The work goes well, but a dinner meeting/date turns a working relationship into romance. The romance gets murky - she is attempting to get rid of an ex-lover and he has a reputation as a Casanova.

Neil Simon (book), Marvin Hamlisch (music) and Carol Bayer Sager (lyrics) are responsible for writing "They're Playing Our Song."

This is the first musical Simon wrote without basing the script on an existing story. This is Simon at his peak in writing one-liners. Unfortunately, one-liners don't lead to romance.

Hamlisch is known for lush, romantic music. He wrote his first hit, "Sunshine, Lollipops, and Rainbows, when he was 21. He received two Oscars for the title song and the score of the movie "The Way We Were". Another Oscar followed that for the score of "The Sting". Later he received a Tony and the Pulitzer Prize for "A Chorus Line".
Sager is known for her string of hit songs, including "Nobody Does It Better", "Midnight Blue", "Stronger Than Before" "On My Own" and "Arthur's Theme" (Best That You Can Do), for which she won an Oscar.

The plot of "They're Playing Our Song is based on the Hamlisch-Sager romance. He wrote the music; she wrote the lyrics. By the end of the play, they're living happily ever after. Unfortunately, the romance didn't survive for Hamlisch and Sager, and they later divorced.

One charming bit of the plot has Sonia wearing used clothing that was part of the costumes for well-known shows. Sonia's on-stage wardrobe includes costumes from "The Cherry Orchard, "Of Human Bondage, "Pippin and others.
The Actors' Summit production has an excellent cast in Donnie Long (Vernon Gersch) and Shani Ferry (Sonia Walsk). Both have voices that seem trained for musical theater. Microphones help the performers get the sound to the back row.

MaryJo Alexander (director and costumer) keeps the stage picture interesting. This is especially difficult with a two-character play. Alexander's costumes for both characters are interesting and stage-worthy.

Michael Flohr (music director) keeps the songs and therefore most of the action moving at a brisk pace.

This show has problems with the script. The script is too long for two characters to hold the audience's attention for more than two hours. Long, Ferry and Flohr work hard, but they're fighting the playwright and some of Hamlish's more forgettable music. The title song, "They're Playing Our Song", is memorable and has found a life outside this play. The rest of the score seems labored.

Vernon and Sonia are having a romantic dinner date the first time the audience hears "They're Playing Our Song. When a song he composed is played in the restaurant, he jumps to his feet and sings "They're Playing My Song. His song is, of course, followed by one of her songs, and she jumps to her feet, in her "Pippin" dress, and sings "They're Playing My Song". It's cute and charming.

This is a winning production.

Actors' Summit is a professional, not for profit, 501-c-3 professional arts organization. We are seeking volunteers and board members. For more details, email us or call MaryJo or Neil at 330-342-0800.

Actors' Summit is working under a developmental agreement with Actors' Equity Association (the Union of professional Actors and Stage Managers.)