Director Jared Hoffert has directed a challenging and interesting production of Jonathan Marc Sherman’s one-act play “Women and Wallace” at Ann Arbor Civic Theater.
Told in roughly chronological order, the play follows Wallace, whose mother commits suicide, on his journey to adulthood (it starts with him at 6 years old in 1975, and ends with him at 18 as a college freshman in 1987). Along the way we meet his mother, grandmother, childhood girlfriends, adult girlfriends, and a psychiatrist.
Every cast member of this production is strong, starting with Elijah Cox as Wallace who delivers nuance well, but is also good at the broader comedy of the piece. The women in his life are played by Amanda Burch, Lisa Gavan, Stephanie Laurinec. Megan Shiplett, Candace Ostrander, Madison Fyke, Sophia Saks, and Lauren Goyer — each getting their moment to shine, and turning in very good performances.
Hoffert directs at a leisurely pace that is appropriate to the dramedy — this isn’t a trip that is going anywhere fast, and issues raised will clearly last into Wallace’s future long beyond the show’s end. It is simply staged with movable cubes and props as necessary. He also incorporates a fantastic blend of music — and listen for a particularly hilarious musical interlude after Wallace’s dalliance with an “older woman”.
The language use in the script is remarkable, with Sherman’s keen ear for conversation, and even unspoken moments are important here. You might like Wallace. You might despise him. But you won’t soon forget him, nor the women in his life.
You have two more opportunities to see Women and Wallace — tonight at 8:00 and tomorrow at 2:00 at Ann Arbor Civic Theatre’s Studio Theatre — 322 West Ann Street. Tickets are available at the door.
So — by now, you’ve probably heard about the musical Shrek…or you saw it on Broadway, or on tour…or on endless loop on your tv of the filmed Broadway production…and you know its a huge undertaking.
Leave it to director Wendy Sielaff to pull off the biggest set and costume show that AACT has seen in, well, probably two decades. Quite frankly, as a director at Civic myself, I know the budgets there for musicals are woefully lower than necessary to do a decent job with sets. Its why I choose shows that have minimal set requirements — make them look great, but be careful of that minuscule budget — Not so with Shrek.
First, the show has some great actors in Jeff Steinhauer as the ogre himself; Katrina Linden as love interest Fiona; Arjun Nagpal as Donkey; Nick Rapson as Lord Farquaad; and Linzi Joy Bokor as the voice and embodiment of Dragon…There are also some terrific supporting players (though the cast as a whole skews a bit too far to the very young). There is also a terrific 9-piece orchestra under the direction of Brian Rose who also served as Musical Director for the show — its great.
Second, the set; in this case, it would have been impossible to build and create this massive set by Civic alone — trust me, I’ve been there…here, the set was originally used in a high school production that Wendy directed last winter — and it works here at AACT. Mike and Wendy Sielaff designed a easily movable set, and it fills (sometimes over-fills) the Lydia Mendelssohn stage well.
Third, the costumes; borrowed, built, blended; sewn; re-sewn — creative and fun, coordinated by Nan Wirth who even got her husband in on the action. Nikki Skrobot designed the clever makeup, Hanna Mauch the hair, Bob Brite and Abbie Gentry the often hilarious properties.
Fourth — to make it all run you need dozens of people behind the scenes — in this case, make that family and friends of cast members, as well as students from Lincoln High School — quite frankly, the show wouldn’t have been possible without this invisible army. Sound Designer Bob Skon does an admirable job keeping mic cues going — Stage Manager Keshia Daisy Oliver has her work cut out for her. Choreographer Kelsey Rose keeps everyone moving nicely on stage. Brad Pritts designed the lighting. Alen Fyfe assistant directed.
Does it all work perfectly — well, in a word no. But I’m not sure it matters — its a fun community theater show, with an emphasis on the village of creative folks necessary to make this type of thing work — and in the end, its a happy affair — the audience clearly loved it, warts and all, and you will have fun time yourself. I was thoroughly entertained, and what’s more, took tremendous pleasure in seeing all these energetic folks work together to create a fun show to entertain you and I…and are clearly having fun themselves. I’m proud of everyone involved, and its clear the show has sparked a love of theater for many of the wee-ones involved in the show (as well as their brothers and sisters in the audience) and what could be better than that?
Shrek runs at Ann Arbor Civic Theatre through Sept 14th — tickets at a2ct.org or 734-971-0605, or at the door.