Season 8
2009 - 2010
The Little Dog Laughed
by Douglas Carter Beane
September 17 - October 11, 2009
The Little Dog Laughed follows the adventures of Mitchell Green, a movie star who could hit it big if it weren't for one teensy-weensy problem. His agent, Diane, can't seem to keep him in the closet. Trying to help him navigate Hollywood's choppy waters, the devilish Diane is doing all she can to keep Mitchell away from the cute rent boy who's caught his eye and the rent boy's girlfriend. Wait! The rent boy has a girlfriend???
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Mitch – Paul Drinan
Diane – Denise Poirier*
Alex – Ian Carlsen
Ellen – Casey Turner
Director – Brian P. Allen^
Set Design – Craig Robinson
Lighting Design – Jamie Grant
Production Stage Manager – Joshua Hurd
Tech Director – Stephen Underwood
Assistant Tech Director – Craig Robinson
Costumes – Brian P. Allen^* Member Actors' Equity Association
^ Member SDC, Society of Directors & Choreographers -
'LITTLE DOG' Full of Laughs and Insights
The Portland Press Herald by Steve Feeney, 9/24/2009 (excerpts)The play concerns an actor who may be on the brink of his big break when he falls for a male prostitute, or "rent boy." The actor's flamboyant agent doesn't mind him having a little fun, but warns against any public displays that might undermine a big Hollywood deal in the works.
Though it took her a few minutes to find just the right tone in last Friday's performance (her voice seemed a little tight), Denise Poirier is the local actress made for the role of the agent.
Once she got rolling, she made the absolute most of her fast-talking character and the wonderfully manipulative and sardonic lines the author has given her.
Cutting open, with surgical precision, her client's fantasies of being able to be both openly gay and a mega-star, Poirier's Diane was full of herself, and her hilariously cynical wisdom was usually dead-on.
Good Theater veteran Paul Drinan plays the actor Mitchell with all the appropriate vanities to go along with just a hint of true feeling for his lover Alex, played by Ian Carlsen.
Both actors handle some rather intimate and emotionally revealing scenes with unbridled intensity.
Carlsen, seen often on local stages in recent seasons, is particularly believable as the young man with a tough past that he'd like to forget.
Further complicating, but ultimately helping to resolve, the story is Alex's friend and occasional lover Ellen, played by relative newcomer to the stage Casey Turner. Turner showed a real comedic talent that ought to win her many roles down the road.
And it is a future in the business that ultimately hangs in the balance in "Little Dog." Poirier's agent, of course, manages to rescue it through an ingenious scheme that caps a fun and thought-provoking night at the theater.
As some wiseguy once said, "All the world's a stage."
Hollywood heels: A dream cast in Good Theater's ‘Little Dog’
The Portland Phoenix by Megan Grumbling 9/23/2009 (excerpts)Perhaps the most important thing to be said about this Little Dog, a play that's almost entirely character-driven, is that Allen has cherry-picked a dream cast. Who but Poirier to portray the imperious, caustic, and wickedly glib Diane? Drinan's male-model looks and Everyman affability give Mitch sympathetic charm, and Carlsen's endearing sensuality, as the man who rouses Mitch's finer feelings, is positively radiant. Finally, Turner is not just deliciously acerbic as the stylishly tarted-up Westchester brat Ellen -- she's also adept at suggesting the hurt that spurs her jabs.
Though it's in the snide insider snark of Diane and Ellen that Beane's writing is best (the script sometimes feels a bit too mushy when Alex and Mitch venture into the softer, often more vague language of affection), Carlsen and Drinan do a remarkable job making the romance glow. The candor and pleasure they bring to the men's infatuation, and the contrast they create against so much affectation elsewhere, is beautiful and intoxicating. As Mitch shyly warms to the gamine hustler in his hotel room, Drinan grows becomingly boyish, even rosy; he grins, rocks, nods adorably with his chin. And as for Alex: Frankly, I could spend two and half hours watching Carlsen watch paint dry. His physical charisma never fails to astound me afresh; in this show, he brings to his poise a tenderness and a receptivity that make Mitch's puppy-dogging entirely understandable. And when, in the play's hottest scene, Alex and Mitch urgently reach for each other and let (all!) their clothes fall away, Carlsen and Drinan convey not just a convincing and very watchable lust, but also -- and even more impressively -- genuine affection.
The Diva and Me
written and performed by Brian P. Allen
September 28 & 29, 2009
World Premiere
Brian Allen is celebrating his 50th with the world premiere of his one-man show. He has spent the last 28 years working in the theater with a great many divas. Victoria Crandall, the Founder, Executive and Artistic Director of Maine State Music Theatre was his first and favorite. He’s telling stories, dishing the dirt and warbling a song or two. This event is a benefit for Good Theater, Wednesday September 30, at 7:30. Cake and champagne will be served!
Frost/Nixon
by Peter Morgan
October 29 - November 22, 2009
Maine Premiere
British talk-show host David Frost has become a lowbrow laughing-stock. Richard M. Nixon has just resigned the United States presidency in total disgrace. Go behind the scenes and see what really happened. A cast of ten will enthrall audiences as they play out the twists and turns it took to get these interviews made.
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Richard Nixon – Tony Reilly
David Frost – Jon Robert Stafford
Jim Reston – Craig Bowden
John Birt – Paul Haley
Bob Zelnick – Brent Askari
Jack Brennan – Michael Kimball
Swifty Lazar – Bob McCormack
Caroline Cushing – April Singley
Yvonne Goolagong – Janis Greim
Manoel – Seth Berner
Director – Brian P. Allen^
Assistant Director – Adam Gutgsell
Scenic Artist – Janet Montgomery
Costumes/wigs – Devon Ash
Lighting Design – Jamie Grant
Production Stage Manager – Joshua Hurd
Tech Director – Stephen Underwood
Assistant Tech Director – Craig Robinson -
'Frost/Nixon' premiere excels
Maine Sunday Telegram by April Boyle/1/2009 (Excerpts)Halloween eve marked the official Maine premiere of Peter Morgan's "Frost/Nixon," and the Good Theater has done a spectacular job bringing to life one of our country's most controversial former presidents.
Tony Reilly leads the 10-member cast as Nixon, and the resemblance is eerie. Reilly doesn't necessarily look like Nixon physically. But he clearly studied Nixon for this role, mastering his voice, speech pattern, ticks, quirks, gestures, facial expressions and mannerisms. It's hard not to see Nixon when you watch Reilly perform.
He particularly shines when his inebriated character muses about life in a late-night call to Frost and at the end when Nixon breaks down and confesses his wrongdoing in the Watergate scandal. Reilly's impassioned performance is captivating.
Jon Robert Stafford co-stars as Frost, with a full British accent and playboy-like flair. He also brings depth to his character, showing his insecurities, triumphs and underlying compassion and respect.
The exceptional cast includes Paul Haley (John Birt/Ollie), Brent Askari (Bob Zelnick/studio manager), Craig Bowman (Jim Reston), Michael Kimball (Jack Brennan), Seth Berner (Manolo Sanchez/technician), Bob McCormack (Swifty Lazaar/Mike Wallace, studio manager), April Singley (Caroline Cushing/makeup lady) and Janis Greim (Evonne Goolagong/stewardess/waitress).
Good Theater hits the mark with this artfully simple rendition. It's a moving and riveting retelling that stirs memories and humanizes the historic personages.
Spot on: Good Theater’s top-notch Frost/Nixon
The Portland Phoenix by Megan Grumbling 11/4/2009 (Excerpts)The Good Theater’s tour de force production, tautly directed by Brian P. Allen, features a virtuoso cast and a stunning performance by Tony Reilly as the fallen president.
Nixon and Frost are worthy adversaries, but it’s hard to imagine men more diametrically opposed in appearance and personality. Reilly undergoes a jaw-dropping physical transformation in the hands of hair and make-up people, and is guttural, rough, and heavy on his feet. In contrast, the bird-like, dulcet Jon Robert Stafford is pitch-perfect as the man who creates television confections as light and feathery as his hair.
Frost hopes that dealing with Nixon will be another matter entirely. As he heckles over terms with Nixon, he assembles a team to assist him: Frost’s friend and fellow Brit John Birt (Paul Haley), along with lefty Americans Bob Zelnick (Brent Askari) and Jim Reston (Craig Bowden). All are perfectly cast, and the characters of the slender, graceful Stafford and Haley strike a marvelous contrast to the blunter and less refined Americans. As Reston, author of four books excoriating Nixon, Bowden (who in brown corduroy and floppy hair looks perfect) has a monotone and scowl that suit the writer’s resigned cynicism, and Askari gives Zelnick great energy and acuity.
Leading the opposing team’s back-up is Jack Rennan, Nixon’s chief of staff and true-believer, whom a buzz-cut Mike Kimball gives a broad military gait and the force of unwavering conviction. Helping heckle over terms and dollar amounts is the canny agent Swifty Lazaar (Bob McCormack, in a great character performance), and Seth Berner plays his manservant Manolo. Two other actors, Janis Greim and April Singley, do fine and convincing work in a number of supporting roles.
And Reilly is simply a marvel — the Nixon of his rich and complex portrait is funny and poignant, infuriating and sad. He has scene after scene of priceless material and delivery: Nixon’s wistful rambling about his dead father’s fruit orchard: "It was the poorest lemon ranch in California." Nixon in a white tux, sweating and fumbling his cue cards as he tells a dentists’ banquet about awkward dinner moments with Chairman and Mrs. Mao. Nixon’s joking but painful allusions to his humiliations in the Kennedy-Nixon debate, as he requests breaks to swab his brow and upper lip. Most affecting is his own half-shamed self-awareness: Even as he teases Frost about the Brit’s fair hair and eyebrows that never need trimming, his jocular derision is really for himself.
Reilly commands all attention during his interview sessions, even as his Nixon evades Frost’s questions and outrages Team Frost, who watch from the sidelines as if in the spill of the sound-stage lights. And as Nixon builds to his and the play’s climax — the infamous avowal that "when the President of the United States does something, it’s not illegal" — nobody even breathes. In the magnificent aftermath, we see Nixon seeing himself: A heavy who knows both his own weight, and the inexorable momentum of its fall.
Broadway at Good Theater
Annual Fundraiser Concert
December 3 - 6, 2009
The annual concert for Good Theater is a 'not-to-be-missed' event. The concert features Broadway hits and holiday favorites accompanied by a three-piece band. This show has quickly become a holiday tradition and last year all five performances sold out. This year's show will be the biggest and most entertaining edition yet.
Our Broadway star will be Norm Lewis who has appeared in 8 shows on Broadway, including Chicago, Les Miserables, Side Show, and Miss Saigon. He most recently played King Triton in The Little Mermaid. Also performing will be singing sensation Marva Pittman, making her fourth appearance with the holiday show.
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Directed by Brian P. Allen
Musical Direction by Victoria StubbsFeaturing:
Norm Lewis
Marva Pittman
Dennis St. Pierre
Kelly Caufield
John Adams
Grace Bradford
Marc Brann
Todd Daley
Marie Dittmar
Devon Dukes
Jennifer Manzi MacLeod
Jen Means
Benjamin Row
Stephen Underwood
Brian Allen
Lighting by Jamie Grant
Choreography by Tyler Sperry
Stage Manager: Joshua Hurd
Spitfire Grill
music & lyrics by James Valcq
book & lyrics by Fred Alley
January 21 - February 14, 2010
Maine Premiere
A feisty parolee follows her dreams to a small town in Wisconsin and finds a place for herself working at Hannah's Spitfire Grill. It is for sale but there are no takers for the only eatery in the depressed town, so newcomer Percy suggests to Hannah that she raffle it off. Entry fees are one hundred dollars and the best essay on why you want the grill wins. Soon, mail is arriving by the wheelbarrow full and things are definitely cookin' at the Spitfire Grill.
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Percy – Kelly Caufield
Hannah – Claudia Schneider*
Shelby – Kate Davis
Effy – Amy Roche
Joe – Todd Daley
Caleb – Tim Bate
Mysterious Man – Guy Durichek
Director – Brian P. Allen^
Choreographer/Assistant Director – Tyler Sperry
Musical Director – Victoria Stubbs
Set Design – Stephen Underwood
Lighting Design – Jamie Grant
Costumes – Justin Cote
Production Stage Manager – Joshua Hurd
Tech Director – Stephen Underwood
Assistant Tech Director – Craig Robinson
Musicians – Victoria Stubbs, Bill Manning
Scenic Painting – Janet Montgomery, Ashleigh Walsh* Member Actors' Equity Association
^ Member SDC, Society of Directors & Choreographers -
‘Spitfire Grill’ musical delivers soul satisfaction
Maine Sunday Telegram, by April Boyle, 1/24/10New years are about new beginnings, and the Good Theater has just the play to infuse a little hope into 2010. The theater returns from its holiday break with the Maine premiere of James Valcq and Fred Alley's musical, "The Spitfire Grill." And it's sort of a homecoming for both the story and one of its stars.
Most plays inspire movies, but Valcq and Alley based their 2001 off-Broadway play on Lee David Zlotoff's 1996 movie. The movie was set in an economically starved small Maine town. Valcq and Alley moved the story to their home state of Wisconsin, where mine closures left many towns devoid of hope. Although the Good Theater's production is still set in Wisconsin, it only seems fitting that "The Spitfire Grill" would make its way back to Maine.
Valcq and Alley have changed the ending of the story and added a phenomenal score that allows much of the dialogue to unfold in song, with stirring harmonies, soaring melodies and bluegrass-inspired instrumentation. The result is a heartwarming show.
Musical director Victoria Stubbs heads Good Theater's band on keyboard, backed by John Lawson on guitar and mandolin, production manager Stephen Underwood on keyboard and percussion and Valerie Green delivering a stand-out performance on fiddle/viola.
When Maine native Claudia Schneider, now an Equity actor in New York, heard that the Good Theater was planning to stage "The Spitfire Grill," she drove up to audition and was hired on the spot for the part of Hannah, the grill's cantankerous owner, who is still pained by the loss of her son. She delivers a gutsy performance that captures the character's iron will and underlying heart of gold.
Good Theater favorites Kelly Caufield (Percy Talbott), Todd Daley (Sheriff Joe Sutter), Timothy Bate (Caleb Thorpe), Amy Roche (Effy Krayneck) and Good Theater newcomers Kate Davis (Shelby Thorpe) and Guy Durichek (The Visitor) round out the superb cast.
The demanding role of Percy Talbott seems tailor-made for Caufield, showcasing both her vocal and acting prowess. Percy is a young woman recently paroled after serving a five-year sentence for murdering her lecherous stepfather. Despite her tragic past, she is unwilling to give up hope for a new start.
Caufield stirs the emotions with stunning vocal performances that include the comical "Out of the Frying Pan" and the heartfelt "Shine."
Musical highlights also include the harmony-packed "Ice and Snow," which features three-part vocals and percussive accompaniment by Bate, Daley and Roche. Each plays a variety of clever makeshift percussive instruments that fit the lyrics that they are singing.
The normally ethereal-voiced Bate shows off his deeper range with an all-out soulful rendition of "Digging Stone."
Ashleigh Walsh and Janet Montgomery also deserve a nod for their rustically beautiful set. Real trees line the back of the stage, with lighting by Jamie Grant glistening off the branches, as if kissed by the sunlight.
“The Spitfire Grill” lifts the soul and provides hope for a better tomorrow. Check out Good Theater’s captivating rendition.April Boyle is a freelance writer from Casco. She can be contacted at: aprilhboyle@yahoo.com
“Finding Her Voice… An ex-con, a village, an opera
Portland Phoenix, by Megan Grumbling, 1/27/10"There is a balm in Gilead," an old African-American spiritual has it, and sure enough, Percy Talbott (Kelly Caufield) finds that balm. Her Gilead isn't a Biblical land east of the Jordan River, though; in fact, it's in '80s Wisconsin. A tough but sensitive young woman about to be released from prison, Percy has seen magazine photos of rural Gilead in its full autumn colors, and made it her destination for starting her life anew. But it turns out that Gilead and its residents could use a little renaissance themselves in The Spitfire Grill, a heartwarming and strongly sung musical directed by Brian P. Allen for Good Theater.
The first Gilead resident Percy meets is her new parole officer, Sheriff Joe Sutter (Todd Daley, charmingly), who can't imagine why she's chosen his dull town. He brings her in to the Spitfire Grill to meet her new boss, the tough old widow who owns it, Hannah (visiting Equity actress Claudia Schneider, with great spunk and tang). After the requisite trial-by-fire of gossip, particularly by the town gabber Effy (Amy Roche, saucily), Percy makes friends with a shy neighbor who helps out at the Grill, Shelby (Kate Davis, a sweetly charismatic presence), who has a troubled husband (Timothy Bate, with mighty voice and very convincing vulnerability). Percy also becomes close to Hannah, who as it turns out has some hurts of her own.
I've called Spitfire a musical, but it might be more accurately described as an opera in the American idiom: Much more of the story and dialogue is sung, in styles ranging from bluegrass and country to gospel, than in your typical Broadway musical. If you're not partial to song, this play is probably not for you. But those who appreciate a good harmony, as well as the uplift and lyric simplicity of the American songbook, will take pleasure in Good Theater's exuberant production. Victoria Stubbs directs a fine live band that includes mandolin and violin, and in the lead role Caufield is marvelous. Her voice is powerful and expressive, and her characterization of Percy is sharp and endearing. She leads an excellent cast, one whose voices are stirring and whose portrayals of their small-town Wisconsin characters are bright and appealing.
These characters struggle along under the dual pleasures and difficulties of small-town rural life, and Stephen Underwood's elegant set design evokes their setting well: We see on stage not just Gilead's homey warmth, in the reassuringly sturdy wood furnishings of the Grill, but also its stark, sometimes cold beauty, in a stand of birches at the back of the stage.
The trees beautifully catch and throw the ever-changing light (gorgeous light design is by Jamie Grant) of Gilead's seasons. In the same manner, the Good Theater's production tenderly reveals the progress of a town's redemption, as its folks find that the real balm is in each other.
The Importance of Being Earnest
by Oscar Wilde
March 4 - 28, 2010
Oscar Wilde's The Importance of Being Earnest is a most delicious, if not the most delicious, comedy of manners, morals and misrepresentation of the manor-born. Wilde's piercingly sharp dialogue still delights, some 110 years after it was written. Algernon and Jack both fall in love under assumed names. When the women announce they could only love a man named Ernest, Algy and Jack must work quickly to maintain their lady loves. Fun, frothy and frivolous, The Importance of Being Earnest will keep audiences laughing until spring arrives.
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Ernest - Bob McCormack
Deliah - Cathy Counts
Jan - Janice Gardner
Nick - Mark Rubin
Trevor - William McDonough, III
Susannah - Deirdre Fulton
Malcolm - Erik Moody
Kate - Meredith Lamothe
Director - Brian P. Allen^
Set Design - Janet Montgomery
Costumes/Stage Manager - Justin Cote
Tech Director - Stephen Underwood
Asst Tech Director - Craig Robinson
Poster Graphic image - FantasyStock
Lighting Design - Iain Odlin
Assistant Tech Director/Photography - Craig Robinson
Assistant Stage Manager - Heidi Therrien* Member Actors' Equity Association
^ Member SDC, Society of Directors & Choreographers -
Good Theater offers saucy ‘Earnest’
Maine Sunday Telegram by April Boyel 4/7/2010Of course, as all of us Irish and Irish at heart know, that also means St. Patrick's Day is just around the corner, poised to pay homage to all things green. What better way to welcome both occasions than with a rollicking social satire by an unforgettable Irish writer?
The Good Theater is closing out its eighth season with a vibrant production of Oscar Wilde's "The Importance of Being Earnest."
The play was Wilde's last, and undoubtedly his most known and restaged. That invariably poses the problem of how to keep the production fresh. Also, in an intimate theater, how do you re-create the three distinct settings within the play?
The ever-creative Good Theater, under the direction of Brian P. Allen, finesses its way past both challenges.
Scenic Artist Janet Montgomery has crafted a magical set, with parts that can be turned and rearranged like a puzzle to create the play's three locations. And her impressionist rendering of the Manor House garden, seen in acts 2 and 3, would make even the most diehard of snow lovers yearn for spring.
The play is set in England during the late Victorian era, and it derives much of its deliciously entertaining humor from the ruling class' obsession with a person's name and station and the appearance of propriety and manners.
Allen has cast eight performers who devilishly highlight Wilde's brazen satirical wit.
Brian Chamberlain and Matthew Delamater play Algernon Moncrieff and Jack Worthing. Both characters have concocted ways to circumvent their societal obligations and expectations. Algernon has an ailing fictitious friend named Bunbury, and Jack lives a dual life in the city and country by pretending to have a younger brother named Earnest.
Both Chamberlain and Delamater deliver lively wordplay and plenty of laughs as their character's "Bunburying" begins to backfire. And Chamberlain adds impishness to his character, marked by a Cheshire Cat-like grin that's a delightful cross between bemused and mischievous.
Algernon's aunt, Lady Bracknell, played by Denise Poirier, is the epitome of the period's high-society lady. Poirier brings just the right amount of over-the-top comedy to the role and accentuates her character's societal idiosyncrasies and hypocrisy with a deft delivery of Wilde's needling witticisms.
Abbie Killeen brings a similar flair to her role as Lady Bracknell's daughter, Gwendolyn Fairfax. Killeen spices up the role by mimicking some of Poirier's mannerisms, affirming Algernon's assertion that "all women become like their mothers."
Her catfight with Jack's ward Cecily Cardew (Meredith Lamothe) is a dialogue highlight as the two characters verbally slay each other, all the while maintaining manners and propriety.
Kathleen Kimball lends a memorable performance as the somewhat forgetful Miss Prism, as does Glenn Anderson as Miss Prism's romantic interest, Reverend Chasuble.
Bob McCormack is a scene-stealer in his dual role as servants Lane and Merriman, needing little more than a well-placed look of disgust to send laughter through the audience.
The Good Theater delivers a wonderfully saucy production of Wilde's "The Importance of Being Earnest" that rejuvenates this fun classic and serves as a fitting end to the season.
Lovely Luxury: Good Theater’s rich, colorful ‘Earnest’
The Portland Phoenix by Megan Grumbling 4/17/2010The main pleasure of Wilde's script is its elegant, glistening aristocratic frivolity, and Good Theater's visual manifestations of it are rich stuff. In Janet Montgomery's impressive design, each of three acts brings us new delights of luxury as we move from Algernon's posh bachelor flat in London to the garden and then the drawing room of Jack's country manor. The interiors are flush with the lavish fabrics of the leisure class, and the garden, particularly, is sublime with painted flora and marvelous depth of field. Laid out with plenty of bone china and crust-less finger foods, these are flawless settings for the leisure class's decadent trivialities.
Chamberlain and Delamater are nicely matched as the two bachelor buddies; both are suavely secure in their privilege, and have a great tetchy banter to their rapport. Chamberlain looks all the rascal playboy (particularly in some rather startlingly hued duds), served by the perfectly phlegmatic manservant Lane (Bob McCormack). Delamater balances him well with his darker features, his touch of older gravitas, and his rather more senile manservant Merriman (also McCormack). Lovelorn or not, both manage to wallow in delightfully puerile bickering — watch how stylishly they spar even with mouths full of muffins.
Ah, the lucky objects of their affections! Allen casts another good pair in the women: Killeen's Gwendolyn is just as blithely transported by herself, her voice flirting between sonorousness and shrill. As the younger Cecily, Lamothe looks like a dream with her creamy blonde ringlets, in her powder blue and pearls, gracefully evading the watchful eye of her governess Miss Prism (the marvelously sharp-eyed and mellifluous Kathleen Kimball). She does a particularly smart job of balancing the girl's vapidity and Wilde's wit, creating an impossible creature perfectly suited to farce.
Along with the suitors' true identities, the big obstacle to everyone's happiness is the formidable aunt of Algernon and Gwendolyn, Lady Bracknell. Denise Poirier gives her perhaps the witheringest of withering looks, and her voice is delectably suited to the matron's wry pronouncements. Less is more with this Bracknell, and her subtlety yields some moments to savor: Watch the barest frisson of horror run through her, from her blink to her fingertips, when she learns that her future son-in-law was found in a handbag in Victoria Station.
If only all such troublesome origins and unwanted identities could be resolved with a little deus ex machina and a christening. It's pure pleasure to watch the coincidences unfold on Good Theater's stage, as the lights cue our relief by growing even more golden. A particular joy is how well Allen lets his characters channel Wilde's voice throughout the frothy nothings and fantastic improbabilities that consume his characters: Algernon may reproach that Cecily doesn't talk anything but nonsense. But Wilde has his checkmate in Lamothe's coyly raised eyebrow as Cecily responds, "Nobody does."