By C. Harris Lockwood
It’s been a long time since I attended a hometown play. What with Covid and before that the steady decline in funding for the Arts following recovery from the Great Recession. It’s been a long time.
There was a time when plays, musicals and community theater were regular offerings in this little city. Names like, Doris Yager, Anne Marie Garramone, Peter Loftus and Vinnie Colluza were constantly on the lips of hopeful artists looking to perform under the bright lights of the stage. Why even I have dipped my toe into that stream of community theatre as performer as well as writer and producer.
And long gone are the days when choreographers and directors would wrangle talented kids on playgrounds throughout the summer performing their skits and dances where they would.
But year in and year out we here in Utica enjoy the commitment and enduring artistry of the Players of Utica. Players opened in 1913 and is the oldest community theater in New York State. It is also one of the five oldest community theaters in the United States.
Once headquartered in New Hartford, the theater relocated at 1108 State Street at the corner of Mandeville after a massive fire. It’s the building that has the lovely mural paying homage to all of the once vibrant vaudeville and movie theaters that once laced throughout our city.
The most recent offering of the Players of Utica, Absent Friends, written by Alan Ayckbourn and directed by Eric Almleaf featured one of our On Air Personalities, here at Phoenix Media, our own Jonathan Brooks, AKA J Easy.
Brooks played John and joined cast members, Thom Capozzella as Paul, Fiona Helmuth as Marge, Tori Peters as Evelyn, Eileen Tiller as Diana and Chuck Bastien as Colin.
The ensemble was very comfortable in relating to each other, they were well prepared and the full house audience appreciated their fine performance.
The characters were all quirky. I was to later discover that the writer is British, which accounts for a few obscure references and lines and the emphasis on having the “Tea” laid out with some distinction.
The lighting and sound were unremarkable. Sufficient, the way you want them to be. Perfectly adequate save a dropped line or two when a back was turned to the audience or the British influence was forward in the conversation.
The set was an eclectic mixture of styles and eras. Seemingly more to the need to accommodate the elements of the script than an intentional arrangement.
The play emphasized the male control of the affairs of the various families as well as the female underlying manipulation of the same. The show opened displaying a strained relationship between the hostess, Diana and her snippy guest, Evelyn.
Evelyn a mother, busied herself with the baby carriage and a saucy women’s magazine rather than giving her attention to her chatty and very busy hostess, Diana.
When guest Marge arrives for the Tea, with her array of shopping bags and a quizzical gift, the nature of the rift becomes more clear between Diana and Evelyn. It was the suspected hook up between Diana’s husband and Evelyn in the back of the car. Evelyn goes on to explain to Marge that the tryst was sub par and will never be repeated.
The entrance of the philandering husband, Paul, immediately commanding the pace and nature of the gathering, initially refusing to join the Tea in wait of the Absent Friend, Chuck.
This prior to the entrance of our Jonathan, playing John.
The fun thing about community theater is seeing your friend or colleague actually paying a role. And J Easy did his thing playing a fitzy, unsettled character known for not being able to sit still. So unlike our own J Easy who is known for his calm and quiet demeanor when he’s not on stage! His locally popular Black Lives Matter plays daily on Phoenix Radio at 10AM preceding Democracy Now. J’s live performance at the Bank Of Utica New Year’s Eve introduced his talents to an even broader audience. He’s become a sort of local celeb and there he was on stage!
His friends and family certainly turned out to see him perform on that Saturday afternoon matinee helping to make that packed house a reality.
The absent guest, Colin, played by Chuck Bastien, finally did arrive and unnerved everyone with some sort or another of his out pourings of care or reference to his departed lover whom all of the assembled knew. The Tea was set to comfort and surround Colin with friends in his loss, when in fact all of those present had more troubling them than Colin seemed disturbed.
Colin’s intimate understanding of his collected friends combined with his not knowing about the affair set the stage for the bumpy tea party that unfolded.
John also seemed to be vacant to the reality of his wife’s cheating, and her dissatisfaction with their love life. On the contrary, Diana, who had the notion, later dissolved under the knowledge that her husband had cheated, had to repair to the bedroom.
The show was fun and funny and the ensemble was cute and relatable. So, Utica, lets continue to support our own community theater and turn out for the next shows that the Player’s of Utica presents. Maybe you’ll see one of your friends acting out of character!
