Step back, says the French proverb, in order to jump better. And maybe that's right: Maybe there's nothing to hurl us into 2002 better than a look back on the best of 2001. So here are my Top 10 — the (locally produced) plays that did Tampa Bay proud last year, and that stand as examples for the year, and years, to come. Remember and be grateful for …
1. The Laramie Project: In Stageworks' powerful production of Moises Kaufman's play, nine actors played more than 60 roles and brought us the town of Laramie, Wyo., where gay student Matthew Shepard was tortured and beaten to death. Thanks to Anna Brennen's impressive direction and the busy cast's terrific acting, you really came to feel that you knew a whole population, from policewomen and ranchers to baffled friends of the murderers and hospital workers. This was more than a documentary — it was an eloquent reminder that, in a world of diversity, we all have to take responsibility for living decently with human differences.
2. Webb's City: The Musical: Making a return visit to the Mahaffey Theater, Webb's City wowed a cheering audience with the unlikely story of Doc Webb and his I'll-try-anything drugstore. Bill Leavengood's script was emotionally wise, Lee Ahlin's music and lyrics were consistently first class, and in the lead, Steve Wilkerson was just about perfect. This was a true special occasion, a unique affirmation of local history that also happened to be a lot of fun. Three cheers for Webb's City, dancing chicken and all.
3. From the Mississippi Delta: Dr. Endesha Ida Mae Holland's play took a difficult story about poverty and backwardness in a small Mississippi town, and made it utterly conceivable, from the lead character's early experiences of rape and prostitution to her eventual escape to a kinder culture and a university doctorate. Three talented actresses — Sharon E. Scott, Melanna Gray and Khanya Mkhize — played more than 20 roles in this American Stage production, but special praise has to go to Scott, who in the part of the indomitable midwife "Aint Baby," presented a stunning example of human courage in a world of adversity.
4. The Designated Mourner: Wallace Shawn's dramatic parable, in a fine production at Gorilla Theatre, was ostensibly about a cowardly young man in a repressive society. But it didn't take much thought to see that in fact Shawn was accusing middle-class audience members of turning a blind eye to the world's poor, and of fostering the disappearance of social activism and progressive thinking. Shawn's method of narrating his story — with three seated characters speaking directly to the audience — was somewhat cold in a literate way, but actors David Shapiro, Martine Friesen and Claude Dorge always kept the proceedings fascinating. This was provocative theater, complex, intelligent and resonant.
5. Spunk: George C. Wolfe's adaptation of three Zora Neale Hurston short stories was an inspiring work that, like a Rembrandt painting, suffused not only its subjects but its spectators in dignity. Its innovative structure had Nathan Burton, as the "Blues Professor," performing on piano and guitar around and beneath the dramatic action, and Sharon E. Scott, as "Blues Speak Woman," turning the onstage drama into sung blues only seconds after it occurred. Actors Tawanna Benbow, Brian Marable and Raphael Peacock rounded out a strong cast at American Stage. Lino Toyos' multi-leveled set in red and green was just as impudent as it should have been. This one was top notch all the way.
6. A Couple of Blaguards: From its very first minutes, when Howard Platt as Frank McCourt and Michael T. Judd as his brother Malachy sang a toast to the city of Limerick, A Couple of Blaguards became a kind of collusion between actors and spectators at American Stage. So you really didn't spend your childhood dirty and hungry on a Limerick lane, with so little money that "your arse hangs out through the hole in your trousers"? No matter — Platt and Judd's delivery was so intimate and engaging, you felt you were there with them. Yes, the two brothers tried to make a joke of just about everything. But after all, much of their story was about poverty, failure and error. And what better than humor to salve wounds and restore a little balance?
7. The Complete Works of William Shakespeare (abridged): This show was silly, sloppy fun, a hit-and-miss assault on the Bard that at best was hilarious and at worst (pleasantly) sophomoric. Jobsite Theater actors Jason Evans, David Jenkins and Robert Ray Morgan romped joyously through Shakespeare's loftiest creations, demolishing everything that came in sight without ever suggesting disrespect for what they were wrecking. Favorite moments: the history plays as a messy game of touch football; a hilarious three-man rap version of Othello; an abbreviated Hamlet in reverse; and Evans spewing water from his mouth in order to evoke the drowning of poor Ophelia.
8. Blown Sideways Through Life: In this one-woman Stageworks production, author Claudia Shear gave us articulate, comic glimpses of the 65 or so jobs she'd worked at during her life, from waitress and nude model to whorehouse receptionist and actress in an Italian movie. As superbly portrayed by Carol A. Provansha, Shear whisked us from job to job, from bizarre encounter to bizarre encounter, always aiming to convince us that, like her, we're all misfits, oddities, with "at least one story that will stop your heart." At worst, Shear's comments were merely well-phrased and amusing; at best they were genuinely, painfully profound.
9. Desire Caught By the Tail: When the Alley Cat Players brought their staged reading of Desire to the Silver Meteor Gallery, they performed the necessary task of affirming the continuing relevance of non-realistic theater. And so what if Pablo Picasso's surrealist farce featured a nearly incomprehensible plot, bizarre juxtapositions, a slew of non sequiturs and puzzling characters named "Thin Anxiety," "The Onion," and "Big Foot"? The fact is, there was and is more to drama than heated arguments on a living room set. Thanks to Alley Cat, we were reminded that the stage can be revolutionary.
10. Visiting Mr. Green: What this show was really about was the art of acting, its ability not only to animate a script, but also to redeem it. Thespians Ronald J. Aulgur and Brian Shea were so impressive for two acts that this production radiated humanity almost in spite of it formulaic script, about the encounters of an elderly Orthodox Jew and a young gay male. American Stage is usually careful in its casting, but in this case the theater happened upon something like perfection. This was a production to remember.
Mark E. Leib can be reached at mark.leib@weeklyplanet.com or 813-248-8888, ext. 305.
This article appears in Jan 3-9, 2002.
