A Gurneyesque holiday season
By Darwin McPherson
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Not that that’s a bad thing. As a home boy who’s produced highly regarded material, he should be lauded for his accomplishments. And the fact that he often refers to Buffalo is perhaps symbolic of the strong attraction that Western New York has with its theater community.
Both would justify Gurney’s frequent presence on our local stages. Recently, the Kavinoky has led the way in presenting outstanding Gurney productions, but over the years, Studio Arena also made an impact with some interesting Gurneys, including a fun Sylvia and a very stylish Far East.
When Kathleen Gaffney, current Studio Arena artistic director, saw Gurney’s Indian Blood last year in New York City, she knew she had to have it for the theater’s Christmas show. “I just about jumped through my skin,” she says. “I wasn’t shopping; it was blissful serendipity.”
Lauded by the Wall Street Journal and the New York Times, the fairly fresh Gurney play was likely game for the Kavinoky, but Gaffney wasn’t deterred. “I know they like him; I like him, too,” she says of the friendly competition. “A playwright of his talent has plenty of material to go around.”
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TOY’s 2004 production
of Best Christmas Pageant. |
She adds that Indian Blood is “about the way we lived, places we went, what we valued, and what we didn’t see coming.” Back in the 1940s, Buffalo was the thirteenth largest city in the United States. Gurney depicts the changing post-war culture of America, particularly through Jane, Eddie’s mother, who is “an avatar of the role women will play in society in the next few years.” Gaffney says the play’s “microscopic view of Buffalo” illustrates what was happening throughout the country at the time.
Gurney’s memory play, however, is more of a “beautiful confection with a turning point” than a historical commentary, Gaffney notes. Enchantingly told with minimal props and setting, the play requires imagination and skilled actors to tell its story.
This production includes local actors Justin Fiordaliso (Studio Arena Theatre School alumnus and 2007 recipient of the Donald Savage Actors of Promise Scholarship award) as Lambert and Darleen Pickering Hummert (Juno and the Paycock) as various characters. With this being her first full season as the company head, Gaffney is choosing carefully the plays that Studio Arena is producing this year. “This is my signature season. If people hate it, I’m toast.”
But there’s a bright side, too. “As artistic director, I have to decide what I get to direct. There was no doubt I had to direct Indian Blood myself. I’m very excited to be doing this.”
Indian Blood runs December 4–30.
Six Stages of Christmas
If it’s December, obviously, it’s time for many holiday shows. Here’s a quick rundown of what you can find on the holiday boards.
On the first stage of Christmas, my true love gave to me ... Sister’s Christmas Catechism at Shea’s Smith Theatre. It’s not Christmas until you get told off by a sarcastic nun.
On the second stage of Christmas, my true love gave to me ... Trailer Park Christmas at O’Connell and Company. The gang from The Trailer Park Diaries returns with a new “wacky” offering written by Mary Kate O’Connell. Tim Newell (A Broadway Christmas Carol) joins the cast as Mary Moebius’s crabby new husband.
On the third stage of Christmas, my true love gave to me ... The Best Christmas Pageant Ever at Theatre of Youth. It’s almost a new Christmas tradition. (If your kids saw it and liked it, take ’em again!)
On the fourth stage of Christmas, my true love gave to me ... A Christmas Carol at the Alleyway. It’s the twenty-fifth anniversary presentation! It’s the gift that keeps on giving!
On the fifth stage of Christmas, my true love gave to me ... Charles Dickens Presents: A Christmas Carol at MusicalFare. Mike Randall stars as Charles Dickens and all of the characters in his holiday classic in this one-man show.
On the sixth stage of Christmas, my true love gave to me ... Irving Berlin’s White Christmas at Shea’s. This brand-new touring production (based on the 1954 film) features Berlin’s classics.
If that’s not enough for you, Lancaster Opera House has another production of A Christmas Carol that closes on December 16. They’re also presenting The Best Christmas Pageant Ever from December 1–16. The Christmas music specials at Lancaster will take you through to January, if you need stages seven through twelve.
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O’Connell & Company’s Trailer Park Christmas.
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Kindertransport opened the Jewish Repertory Theatre’s fifth season on November 29. This drama by Diane Samuels takes a suspenseful and emotional look at the effort to save Jewish children from the Nazis during World War II. It was recommended to JRT artistic director Saul Elkin when he attended an international conference of Jewish theaters in Vienna. That endorsement, and the film on the subject, Into the Arms of Strangers: Stories of the Kindertransport, moved him enough to know that the play was right for his company.
About 10,000 children were relocated to England; however, that noble achievement was not without hardship and trauma. Kindertransport follows one girl’s story through that complicated time. Elkin says, “The play is about identity, who you are and who you can become.” Directed by Saul Elkin, Kindertransport stars Anne Gayley and Eileen Dugan (who just appeared together in On Golden Pond with O’Connell and Company), Rebecca Elkin (Othello), Anne Roaldi, Lisa Ludwig, and Todd Benzin, who once again plays all of the male characters (as he did last season in MusicalFare’s Sisters of Swing).
Kindertransport also features an impressive set designed by Ron Schwartz, who designed the sets and props for Othello at Shakespeare in Delaware Park this summer. Staged at the Road Less Traveled Theatre in the Market Arcade Film and Arts Center, the play closes on December 23.
Over at the Paul Robeson Theatre, Nakai and the Red Shoes by William Cooper makes its world premiere on November 30. The play, based on an African tale, closes December 16.
Darwin McPherson encourages everyone to support the arts by giving the gift of theater this holiday season.
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