Maybe because I've done shows at Gulfport Community Players, I didn't want to play favorites in my Buried Treasures list, and instead urged folks looking for quality community theater to seek out a show at the long-standing St. Petersburg City Theatre, which has undergone its share of financial difficulties of late. But boy, I hope it's not too late to insist you go to Gulfport's extraordinary Breaking the Code, which has one more performance — a matinee today at 2.
A professional-grade production of a fascinating 1986 play by Hugh Whitemore, it's based on the life and death of Alan Turing, whose genius as a code-breaker helped Britain and the U.S. win WWII, and whose foresight about artificial intelligence led to the information revolution we live in today. Openly gay at a time when that was a crime in the UK, he was courageous and outspoken but ultimately took his own life following an arrest for "gross indecency."
Every single cast member in director Mike Nower's production is excellent, but special kudos have to go to Michael Horn as Turing. He's an IT professional in his day job, which may be one reason he was able to deliver mathematical musings with such ease. But he also maintained a consistent character throughout multiple shifts in scene and time period — socially awkward, with an occasional stutter and a tendency to blurt out whatever he's thinking, but also cocksure of his own brilliance. This is the same story told in the 2014 film The Imitation Game starring Benedict Cumberbatch, but even if you've seen the movie I guarantee the stage version, though long, is well worth your time, a thought-provoking experience that I can't imagine being done much better. So go! [And one more thing: I hadn't seen him act before, but regular CL contributor Bill DeYoung turns out to be a natural, giving a wonderfully understated performance as the stern, skeptical police officer who becomes, without malice, Turing's nemesis.]
As for the Radio Theatre Project, I neglected to include them in the spring preview because I'm a member of the acting company. I thought about it, but I figured it didn't qualify as a Buried Treasure anymore because its monthly shows at the Studio@620 regularly sell out, and to call it a Pearl seemed a bit self-serving. But hell, let me go ahead and self-serve, because tomorrow night is the next installment, this month's scripts are excellent (including a hilarious short piece by St. Pete's Matt Cowley), I'm in a couple of 'em (along with such luminaries as Jim Sorensen, Lisa Tricomi, Chris Rutherford and Colleen Cherry), and it's just a damn good time.
And while I'm on the subject of radio theater, don't miss Ruth Eckerd Hall/Murray Theatre's current run of Mike Hammer: Encore for Murder, starring Gary Sandy, sly and sexy as a hard-boiled private eye, and a slew of great local actors (including several RTP regulars, like the amazing Bob Heitman, who plays four distinct roles). It's staged by Rich Rice with an ingenious mix of fully staged action and live sound effects, plus stunning projections by Thom Jay and just-right mood music by Devin Rice. It's a poil — I mean, a pearl!
This article appears in Jan 18-25, 2018.