DATE: Saturday, November 1, 1997            TAG: 9710310082

SECTION: DAILY BREAK             PAGE: E7   EDITION: FINAL 

SOURCE: BY IDA KAY JORDAN, STAFF WRITER 

                                            LENGTH:   53 lines

``OFFBEAT ROMANCE'' TAKES THE STAGE AT WILSON HIGH

A CAST OF six area residents who say they act because they enjoy the audience is listening for laughs in the Portsmouth Little Theater's production of ``Romantic Comedy.''

The play opens today in the Woodrow Wilson High School theater.

The play is described by director Tom Falls as ``an offbeat romance, not formula, that is pretty realistic and without foregone conclusions.''

However, Falls added, it is very funny. The characters are a Broadway writer, his kooky female writing partner, a dutiful wife, a brassy female agent, a promiscuous actress and a jealous husband.

Falls, who grew up in Norfolk and is a 23-year employee of the Norfolk Department of Social Services, is an experienced director who has worked with several theater organizations.

Bill Abrams of Chesapeake, who plays the author, has been doing church and community theater for 15 years. He enjoys it, he said, because theater is ``real,'' unlike television and film.

``You have to live with what comes out of your mouth, and so does the rest of the cast,'' he explained. ``There are no retakes.''

Portsmouth resident Marti Craver, who teaches school in Chesapeake, plays the kooky writing partner. Amy Morgan, a Portsmouth elementary teacher with a degree in drama from the College of William and Mary, plays the author's dutiful wife.

Alice Everhart, a lifelong Portsmouth resident who has taught in Chesapeake for 23 years, is cast as the agent. A well-known actress to theater-goers, she said the ``audience keeps you coming back to do more.''

``Every audience is different,'' she said.

Diana Corbus, who plays the actress in this production, has performed on many regional stages.

Lacking the courage to go to New York or California, she said local theater satisfies her lifelong desire to be an actress.

``I also wanted a stable life, so I married a fireman,'' she said. Originally from Norfolk, Corbus has lived in Portsmouth for 10 years.

Jason Yarrow, cast as a reporter, is making his first appearance in Portsmouth in this show. He has appeared on several local stages, including the Virginia Opera, over the past 12 years since moving to Hampton Roads from Baltimore. ILLUSTRATION: Graphic

WANT YOU GO?

What: Portsmouth Little Theater's production of ``Romantic

Comedy''

Where: Wilson High School theater, 1401 Elmhurst Lane, Portsmouth

When: 8 p.m. Nov. 1, 7, 8 and 14; 2 p.m. Nov. 2, 9 and 15

Information: 664-7527

Reservations: 488-7866

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