This was a fairly uneventful year in the Tampa Bay theater world: American Stage and Stageworks came closer to moving into new buildings, and Gypsy Productions found itself out of a home when the Suncoast Resort closed down, taking its theater with it. But it was nonetheless a good year for lovers of drama: top authors like August Wilson, David Rabe and Neil LaBute were played on area stages, and we even saw two Shakespeare tragedies: Hamlet at The Studio@620 and Othello at American Stage. Easily, 10 of the year's shows were of exceptional quality. Namely:
1 Frozen. Bryony Lavery's play introduced us to three characters: Nancy, the bereaved mother of a murdered 10-year-old girl; Agnetha, a forensic psychiatrist; and Ralph, the leering, unrepentant murderer. Then, with bracing honesty and compassion, Lavery asked us to decide, along with Nancy, whether Ralph committed a "crime of evil" or a "crime of illness." In this powerful Stageworks production, Monica Merryman as the distraught Nancy and Richard Coppinger as the repugnant Ralph couldn't have made the question more significant — or the production more shattering.
2 Woman in Mind. The key to this Jobsite Theater tragicomedy was actress Ami Sallee Corley, who, as the mentally deteriorating protagonist, was funny, frightening, pathetic and remarkably charming. Corley played a woman torn between two families — one wretched and real, the other warm, loving but, alas, a hallucination. Also serving author Alan Ayckbourn in this memorable production were actors Steve Garland, Caitlin McDonald, Matt Lunsford and Shawn Paonessa. Together, they made the case that sometimes fantasy is an essential survival tactic.
3 Lobby Hero. It's not often that a play succeeds because its moral universe is so complex, but Kenneth Lonergan's comedy was that rare bird, an investigation of an ethical conundrum that made you really care about the solution. Curtis Belz was security guard Jeff, a loose-tongued, near-total loser; Joshua Goff was his boss, a man who knew more about a crime than he was comfortable saying; Cael Barkman was Dawn, a confused rookie policewoman; and the superb Steve Du Mouchel was Bill, a supercop with a sex addiction. The Stageworks production was mind-bogglingly delicious.
4 This is How it Goes. Leave it to Neil LaBute to write a play about white racism, and to make its narrator so undependable that we couldn't tell whether his story of a black/white marriage was genuine or a bigoted fantasy. In this tantalizing Jobsite production, nothing could be taken at face value: not the relationship of white Belinda with her African-American husband Cody, not the testimony of "Man," with designs on Belinda, or the stories that he told us — and himself — as he tried to break up the couple. How does racism change one's view of reality? LaBute left us wondering just how much any consciousness — especially our own — can be trusted.
5 The Birthday Party. The meaning of Harold Pinter's already-classic absurdist comedy is still up for grabs, but the delightful USF BRIT program production showed us once again that menace, cryptic dialogue, and enigmatically pregnant pauses can make wonderfully riveting theater. British guest artists Tim Woodward and John McEnery were terrific in the roles of the mysterious and abusive Goldberg and McCann, and Michael Wiley was fine as Stanley Webber, the poor shnook who was the object of their hazing. What did it signify? Nobody knows, and that, Virginia, is most of the fun.
6 Jane Eyre. Katherine Michelle Tanner was plain Jane and Shana Perkins was her alter ego, an unnamed beauty who longed to be free of her attic cage, to be allowed the untrammeled expression of all her capacities, female and human. In Polly Teale's adaptation of Charlotte Brontë's novel, Jane acted in front of us and "Bertha" upstairs danced the inner meaning of Jane's behavior, from cowed humility to exultant joie de vivre. The Gorilla Theatre production featured Nancy Cole's intelligent directing, Robin Gordon's thrilling choreography, and the triumphant return to the stage of Ned Averill-Snell as Rochester. Brontë's feminism was exceedingly well served.
7 Independence. Gypsy Productions didn't last out the year, but one of their last gifts to us was Lee Blessing's stirring tale of three sisters and their damaged, damaging mother. In the course of nine scenes, we watched the havoc Evelyn Briggs (the splendid Lynne Locher) wreaked on her strong but still vulnerable daughters, and the bonding of the three in the face of their ruthless, needy opponent. As directed by Trevor Keller and Brad Minus, Independence had the feel of life itself: unpredictable, only occasionally governable, and desperately important.
8 Gem of the Ocean. American Stage's production of August Wilson's formidable drama was all about acting, primarily that of Sharon E. Scott, who as 285-year-old Aunt Ester came across as powerful enough to carry the whole suffering world on her shoulders. But ranney, as the good Eli, radiated love and wisdom with every movement of his expressive face, and Kim Sullivan as Solly Two Kings kept us enchanted and saddened with his joy that seemed built on more pain than anyone dared acknowledge. This paean to African-American endurance and human solidarity was like nothing else in the entire season: loving and knowing and terribly wise.
9 Hurlyburly. Most of the Hollywood-type denizens of David Rabe's brilliant play, brought to us by Jobsite, were articulate and intelligent, but for no useful purpose. Having no moral or spiritual values, they lived only for what they could drink, smoke or snort; and of course the pleasure was never enough. The show's strongest actors were its women: Katrina Stevenson as the stripper Bonnie, Meg Heimstead as the terminally ambivalent Darlene, and Sarah McKenna as the teenage "Care package" Donna. It all took three hours but seemed to fly by in one. Scorching theater.
10 Sleuth. Andrew Wyke and Milo Tindle are both in love with the same woman: Andrew's wife. But how is Milo to support the woman in style? Andrew suggests that they stage a robbery, from which both will net millions. Milo falls for it — and so begins a game of cat-and-mouse wherein it's never quite clear who's the feline and who's the rodent. Eric Davis was excellent as clever Milo; Joe Parra was a worthy opponent as shrewd, portly Andrew. And not 'til the last card was turned up did you discover the winner. Kudos to American Stage for bringing us this hilarious romp.
And that was 2007. See you in '08. And may all your dramas be romantic comedies.
This article appears in Dec 26, 2007 – Jan 1, 2008.