True West
Tampa Repertory Theatre at Studio 120, USF campus, 3837 USF Holly Dr., Tampa.
Jan. 7-24. Thurs., 7:30 p.m.; Fri.-Sat., 8 p.m.; Sun., 3 p.m. tamparep.org/truewest.
It’s an excellent omen when the publicity photos for a production make you laugh, and that’s the case with the pics for Tampa Rep’s production of True West (kudos to photographer Desiree Fantal).
The raucous comedy/drama by Pulitzer Prize winner Sam Shepard follows the clash between an uptight screenwriter, Austin, and his ne’er-do-well brother Lee in their mother’s home 40 miles east of L.A. When Lee charms a movie producer into favoring his story idea over Austin's, the brothers' already testy relationship explodes, as each one gradually begins to take on qualities of the other.
By turns funny, violent and surreal, the play is a ready-made tour de force for the actors playing Austin and Lee. When the play was revived on Broadway in 2000, Philip Seymour Hoffman and John C. Reilly famously alternated in the two roles, an irresistible idea not just because of their respective talents, but because the mutability of identity is a key theme in Shepard's play.
Following that model at Tampa Rep, two terrific actors, Jack Holloway and Dan Granke, will alternate as the brothers as follows:
Lee: Jack Holloway (Jan. 7, 9, 15, 17, 21, 23); Dan Granke (Jan. 8, 10, 14, 16, 22, 24)
Austin: Dan Granke (Jan. 7, 9, 15, 17, 21, 23); Jack Holloway (Jan. 8, 10, 14, 16, 22, 24)
Jamie Jones and Caroline Jett fill out the four-person cast as the producer and Austin and Lee's bemused mother. (No, they won't be switching roles.) Megan Lamasney directs.
This article appears in Jan 7-13, 2016.