Here’s what’s behind the curtain this week in Tampa Bay theater…
SUPPORT YOUR LOCAL ASSISTANT STAGE MANAGER: Per the script, the characters in Harold Pinter’s Betrayal (now playing at Tampa Repertory Theatre) guzzle booze in almost every scene. In Sunday’s performance, an actor who shall remain nameless carried a bottle on stage, and as he began to pour the first of several, he noticed that the brown tea posing as scotch had been replaced by the purple juice intended to pose as wine in a different scene. For several minutes under the lights, said actor mentally chided the assistant stage manager for confusing the fluids. Only when said actor exited did he discover that he had picked up the wrong bottle backstage. MORAL: Never doubt the crew. MORAL 2: The audience doesn’t really care what color the booze is. CL theatre critic Mark Leib gives the TampaRep production three stars.
ECCENTRIC IS GENETIC: If you’re a fan of Bailey White’s funny, charming tales of Southern eccentricity on NPR’s All Things Considered, you might think White inherited all of her goofy wit from her adorably nutso Georgia mother. What you may not know is that White’s father, the mostly forgotten Robb White, was a writer of cheap paperbacks, TV episodes and B movies, and a certified crackpot in his own right. Among other adventures chronicled in his memoirs, in the 1930s White illegally purchased an eight-acre dot in the British Virgin Islands for $60, and there he and Bailey’s mom endured a typhoon, an invasion by a Nazi boat captain and a surprise visit from the mother-in-law before being booted off the island by Her Majesty’s government for continuing to write inconvenient facts after having been told to please knock it off. At 2 p.m. this Saturday, Improbable Athenaeum will read eccentric anecdotes of the dangers of Southern life from Bailey White’s book Mama Makes Up Her Mind: And Other Dangers of Southern Living free at the Seminole Heights Branch Library, followed by an open storytelling circle wherein audience members can share tales about their own crazy families.
SEASON ANNOUNCEMENT SEASON, PART DEUX: Calling its just-announced season its “most ambitious” yet, Stageworks Theatre pulls the trigger on 2015-16 in October with the company’s first outing as a member of the National New Play Network: the world premier of Chad Beckim’s prison-set spelunking of race, sexuality and family Lights Rise on Grace, with a bonus original score by legendary local blues artist Maggie Council DiPietra. The season wraps up in June with the subversive, rollicking comedy 5 Lesbians Eating a Quiche, to be directed by Tony winner John Pinckard (Clybourne Park, A Gentleman’s Guide to Love and Murder). The Double Stuf between those two tasty cookies includes a one-man retelling of the Frank Capra classic It’s a Wonderful Life, Suzan-Lori Parks’ In the Blood (a reimagining of The Scarlet Letter, 21st Century style), the gripping Monkey Trial metaphor Inherit the Wind, and the concluding chapter of Neil Simon’s Eugene cycle, Broadway Bound, with actors Ricky Cona and Rosemary Orlando consummating the arc of the characters they played in Stageworks’ runs of Brighton Beach Memoirs and Biloxi Blues. Stageworks Producing Artistic Director Karla Hartley tells SCENE BREAKER that the new season “will be AMAZE BALLS.” So, that’s an exclusive. By the way, Ain't Misbehavin' continues at Stageworks through this Sunday before moving to Ruth Eckerd Hall's Murray Theatre for three shows next week. CL reviewer Keven Renken gives the production three and a half stars.
THE MOON PIE MAY BE THE FODDER, BUT THE TRIFLE IS THE SHINE: Besides the elaborate sandwich, Jobsite Theater’s now-playing Annapurna features Moon Pies, those big, inexplicably beloved pseudo-cookies comprising, if SCENE BREAKER recalls its childhood correctly, circular layers of shredded cardboard and Crisco, coated in chocolate substitute. Special for guests at the big Annapurna opening night gala held at Fodder & Shine a few weeks ago, F&S Chef Eric McHugh whipped up “Moon Pie Trifles,” strata of house-made marshmallow fluff, graham cracker crumble and a Cheerwine-chocolate ganache, served in a Mason jar. The treat was such a hit with the Annapurna crowd that F&S has added it to the regular dessert menu, right beneath the Red Velvet Brownies. It’s a lot like a real Moon Pie, except it’s made of actual, y’know, food, and the Mason jar means it can’t double as a street hockey puck the way real Moon Pies can. CL A&E editor Julie Garisto gives Annapurna four stars.
SHORT CHANCE TO CATCH SHORT PLAYS: This Friday thru Saturday only, Carrollwood Players hosts its One Act Weekend, a festival of eight spanking new, original short plays including one about A Date with Jesus, something about LARPing and in-laws, and a story wherein “a young man troubled by his past encounters a flighty young girl who is a manifestation of his subconscious and who speaks via the symbolism of Alice in Wonderland.” Late-nite entertainment follows, with a “Laugh Off” stand-up competition after Friday’s show and “an old-fashioned, after-hours burlesque, improv and drag queen show,” with audience participation, on Saturday after the one-acts.
HOPE & CHANGE IN THE HEIGHTS: As most US stage companies struggle to address the stubborn fact that the core live theatre audience continues to be disproportionately, relentlessly white, affluent and oldish, it’s worth noting that onsite staff say the audiences for American Stage’s 30th annual park show In the Heights (closing Sunday) have been “younger and more diverse than they've ever been,” according to AmStage Producing Artistic Director Stephanie Gularte, who adds that she’s meeting an encouraging number of park show first-timers. Leib gives In the Heights three and a half stars.
Got a tip for SCENE BREAKER? Email Scene Breaker in care of A&E Editor Julie Garisto, julie.garisto@creativeloafing.com.
This article appears in May 7-13, 2015.