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Post-Standard, The (Syracuse,
NY)
June 16, 2001
Section: CNY
Edition: Final
Page: D6
APPLESEED'S 'ONE-ACTS' REDEEMED
BY 'FAITH'
THE OTHER TWO PRODUCTIONS COME UP SHORT.
Laurel
Saiz, Contributing Writer
The last play of Appleseed's
"An Evening of One-Acts" saved what was otherwise a slow-moving evening.
"Faith," by Israel Horovitz
and directed by Linda Lance, was bright, quickly paced and a play one could
relate to. The
first, "He's Having a Baby,"
written by Fred Carmichael and directed by Greg Holtham, was cartoonish
and
anachronistic, while "White
Lies," written by Peter Shaffer and directed by Beth Suzanne Ferrara, was
exceedingly
tedious.
"Faith" takes place around
the statue of Polish King Wladyslaw in New York City. Stoned-out Roger
(Wolf Warrens)
has called together his
college short-story workshop after more than 20 years.
The three who show up (Ellen
M. Barnes, Greg J. Hipius and Cathy Greer-English) reminisce about their
hippie days -
focusing on the time around
Robert Kennedy's assassination. This play has numerous drug references,
and Roger
smokes "reefer" on stage.
Pretty bold stuff for a church basement but odd in conjunction with the
umpteen uses of the
word "friggin," a clear
substitution for a stronger word.
Not everyone in the audience
looked as if they had been in college in the '60s and most probably did
not spend their
days in a drug-induced haze.
What was believable about "Faith" was looking back on your youth with a
jaundiced -
and nostalgic - eye.
Erin Shaughnessy stole this
40-minute production, perfectly embodying a rather punkish, yet sensitive
daughter of one
of the adults at the reunion.
"He's Having a Baby," the
shortest work at just 15 minutes, was based on a novel premise but was
weirdly dated.
Imagine if men - not women
- went through nine months of pregnancy and then labor. Cute possibilities
there. However,
Carmichael's play did not
have any more plausible hooks to fully engage you with this comic incongruity.
In this world, Lamaze does
not exist, and the other parent is not allowed in the delivery. The women
wait alone,
guzzling coffee and smoking
cigarettes, like a throwback to Donna Reed days. Was this supposed to be
a spoof on
the'50s or an honest attempt
at gender-bending imagination?
The actresses, Melissa K.
Kuersteinter, Nora O'Dea, JoAnne Simiele, Pamela Hipius and Lisa Coombs,
were
committed, but the script
did not deliver.
Most problematic was "White
Lies," with Lois Earnshaw as the fortunetelling Baroness Sophie Lemberg
and Dave
Tobin and Mark Allen Holt
as musicians Frank and Tom. Frank persuades the fortuneteller to give Tom
a fortune that
will scare him. Instead
of the intended effect, Sophie and Tom open up to each other, revealing
the ways they have
been masquerading in life.
The dialogue and speed at
which this unveiling takes place plod on for the bulk of an hour.
The details
What: "An Evening of One-Acts,"
presented by Appleseed Productions Friday night.
Where: Atonement Stage, 116 W. Glen Ave., Syracuse.
Performance time: 2 hours,
20 minutes, including one intermission.
Attendance: 50.
Length of run: through June
23; tickets: $6 and $8; call 492-9766.
Family guide: Repeated drug
and sexual references.
Copyright (c) 2001 The Herald
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