THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Thursday, June 22, 1995 TAG: 9506200113
SECTION: NORFOLK COMPASS PAGE: 20 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: Montague Gammon III
LENGTH: Long : 125 lines
Watching plays in Norfolk has been uncommonly rewarding this year. Never before have so many shows looked so good, nor have many seasons offered such a wealth of fine acting.
The recollected images from no less than a dozen productions are not just of good-looking sets, appealing costumes or colorful lighting. At their best, as with ODU's ``Romeo and Juliet,'' a stage picture melds the designers' work with the director's eye for the compositions in which he or she places the performers. Whatever one thought of Will Bond's unconventional approach to Shakespeare's text, he and designer Konrad Winters produced lovely vistas that were remarkable for their richly visual, lush, painterly appeal.
Sometimes, as with Bob Burchette's potent performance in ``Cat on a Hot Tin Roof,'' all it takes to make a memorable image is an actor whose performance gives him riveting command of the stage. No one who watched Burchette's monologue at the end of Act I will soon forget that moment.
Betty Brigman joined Burchette in that Tennessee Williams classic at the Little Theater of Norfolk, but her truly outstanding work came in a formulaic and sentimental little piece later in the Little Theater's season. ``A Trip to Bountiful,'' under the direction of Victoria Blake, let Brigman exercise taste and restraint while still getting an unshakable grip on the heartstrings of her audience.
Blake elicited a cast full of detailed, highly competent performances in that show, then turned in an exemplary acting job herself in the Generic Theater's closing piece ``Pterodactyls.'' Thanks to her efforts, those of Carin Cowell, and an unfailingly talented ensemble on and behind the stage, that morbidly funny, gut-wrenching tragi-comedy closed the theater season as one of its strongest all-around productions.
Anyone who wants to learn acting could do worse than to study Blake and Cowell, who used discreetly understated techniques to play the most outlandish characters and therefore were all the more effective in their portrayals.
Bob Nelson directed ``Pterodactyls,'' which made good use of a superbly designed and painted set by Elwood Robinson. Robinson's name crops up in the credits of an extraordinary proportion of the best-looking shows of the year.
For ``The Liar'' he designed a clever set that unfolded, like the touring wagons of the middle ages, into a stage with deftly painted decorations, and that really looked like it could be wheeled from town to town. Frankie Little Hardin's costumes for that same show, ranging from the colorful garb of a zany medieval clown to the fatigues of Central American revolutionaries, deserve the same praise as the set.
Another set designer-costumer duo, Konrad Winters and Keriann Yuhler, imparted to the new play ``Burning Azaleas'' an especially appropriate vision of classical simplicity restated in a contemporary idiom. ``Azaleas,'' directed by Christopher Hanna at ODU, was one more of those shows that benefited from strong ensemble acting. Even so, the sharp portrayal of an admiral's wife that Pam Manning turned in was a small, bright gem of precision.
Also in ``Azaleas,'' young Natasha Bunnell gave a convincing performance as a headstrong teenage radical. The range of Bunnell's talents wasn't really obvious until she showed up again in ``The Marriage,'' again at ODU, again under Hanna's guidance, in a broad, comic turn as unlike the earlier role as night and day. When an observer can't recognize an actress from one role to the next, she has certainly earned respect and special attention in the future.
``The Marriage'' showcased more fine work by Robinson. For this show he devised a set, complete with furniture, household fixtures and even a horse-drawn carriage literally drawn in three dimensions with brightly covered wire.
The academic theaters, such as ODU and the Governor's Magnet School, were the venues for some of the most appealing work. Scott Skiles did a set for ``The Living'' at the Magnet School that turned old London on its side, much as the plague that was the play's subject must have turned the lives of the city's citizens topsy-turvy.
At Norfolk State and in the Norfolk Public Schools Repertory Troupe, memories of martyrs were turned into cathartic moments of awesome power. ``Selma,'' at Norfolk State, blended a rendition of Martin Luther King's ``I Have a Dream,'' by Brad Breckenridge with Jeanelle Henderson's soaring solo of ``We Shall Overcome.''
The energetic, whirling production of ``Godspell'' done by the Rep, a group that practically defines ensemble playing, was capped by a Crucifixion scene full of crashing chords and fiery lighting that left even the most skeptical observer open-mouthed.
For that whole show, the team of director Connie Hindmarsh, musical director Gary Speil, choreographer Anamaria Martinez, set director Mark Curtis, painter Marcy Outten and lighting designer James Cooper should be recognized. Few shows have the coherent blend of talents, and even fewer the enthusiasm that ``Godspell'' offered.
Along with the fine group performances, the season delivered some stellar individual efforts. On the non-musical stage, Leigh Hronek showed controlled range and discipline in three disparate roles. At the Generic, she was in ``A Fruitwood Casket in an Asphalt Vault'' and ``Amazons in August,'' and at the Virginia Repertory she was in ``Light Sensitive.''
In the first two mentioned she was teamed with Candy Aston, who remains as fine an actress as will be found in these parts. Aston revealed there and in the lengthy monologue that was her third of Generic's ``Faith Healer'' how far technique, presence, clarity, intelligence and raw talent will carry one.
If one show had to be called the highlight of this year, there would have to be a way to choose between Generic's ``Last Ride of the Bold Calhouns'' and the Magnet School's ``Anything Goes.''
The first was a small, brilliantly staged new show that featured a wondrously versatile performance by its author/director Edward Morgan. Not incidentally, Elwood Robinson designed yet another exceptional set for that production. Morgan wrote, directed, sang, danced, acted, played various musical instruments, did it all astonishingly well and chose a cast that held their own with him at every turn.
The second was the Cole Porter classic, filled with three dozen talented students whose professional quality performances were spearheaded by a bravura comic turn by Wil Dickerson and a solid, wryly amused and amusing performance by Matt Caplan. As with so many actors this year, Caplan and Dickerson distinguished themselves in more than one show. Caplan was strong in ``The Living,'' Dickerson in ``Praying Mantis'' at the Magnet School.
If one must pick one star of the year, Dickerson, Morgan and Aston would go head to head. Theater is not a competitive sport. The styles and demands of their best efforts really admit to little comparison, but Morgan and Aston were pros, giving everything one could possible wish for. Dickerson surpassed every expectation. ILLUSTRATION: Photos
Leigh Hronek and Candy Aston teamed up in the Generic Theater's
production of ``Amazons in August.''
Wil Dickerson played Aparicio in the Governor's Magnet School
production of ``The Praying Mantis.''
by CNB