[NEohioPAL] Actors' Summit's 'Main-Travelled Roads' 'EXCELLENT' West Side Leader Review

[Neil Thackaberry]

Actors' Summit's 'Main-Travelled Roads' 'excellent'

9/25/2008 - West Side Leader
By David Ritchey


Production features fine acting, directing


HUDSON - The bad economy in this country has begun to show its ugly face
on the stages of American's theaters. Few theaters can afford big,
elaborate productions.

Many theaters need small cast shows that require only one set or a
fragment set. Think of "The Fantasticks," a favorite of schools and
community theaters for years.

Playwrights have caught on by thinking small.

And Actors' Summit Theater is staging the small production - four
performers and one piano player with a fragment set - "The
Main-Travelled Roads." It is on stage through Oct. 5.

The production at Actors' Summit only is the second staging of "The
Main-Travelled Roads." We can expect this script to become a favorite of
community theaters.

"The Main-Travelled Roads" is a musical by Paul Libman (music) and David
Hudson (book and lyrics). The play is based on short stories by Hamlin
Garland. In his book, "The Main-Travelled Roads," Garland told stories
of life in rural Wisconsin. As the stories move forward in time, the
audience can see how developing technology changes the characters'
lives. For example, Dave Johnson (Stephen Brockway) owns a threshing
business and the horses need to pull the threshing machine. However,
Johnson finds his economic situation deteriorating as other farmers buy
gasoline-powered threshing machines.

Garland wrote tender love stories set against a rural world and created
a landscape scarcely populated. A farmer might own 1,000 acres. A girl
has few options for a husband simply because she has little contact with
men of a marriageable age. Life is emotionally and physically difficult.
Everyone in the family has to work to keep the farm profitable.

Director and choreographer Sasha Thackaberry made a wise decision - she
made the stories the star of the production. That decision lifts the
production to a higher level - intellectually and emotionally.

The stories are wound together in a tight braid that holds the
audience's attention. First, Aggie Dingman (Kathleen Culler) and Will
Hannan (Keith Stevens) have a romantic moonlight ride in his horse-drawn
wagon. This is one date, but they're in love. (I suspect these things
moved faster in rural Wisconsin in the late 19th century.) But when Will
doesn't show up to take Aggie to the county fair, she goes with Dave
Johnson.

Will has a legitimate excuse (and this is long before cell phones). And
six years later, he shows up at Dave and Aggie's home. Will is a
success. Aggie has a child, is exhausted and is married to an abusive
husband.

In another part of the county, Ed Kinney (also played by Brockway) is
known as the "Creamery Man." Ed is single and is considered the best
looking man in the county. He takes a shine to Lucinda Kennedy (also
played by Culler), the cutest gal in Molasses Gap. But she goes away to
school and returns a changed woman.

In that year, Ed started flirting with Nina (C.J. Bonde), a Dutch
(German) girl. Nina falls for Ed, but he still loves Lucinda.

In town, Delia Hall (also played by Bonde) and Otis Hall (also played by
Stevens) have found the good life in their beautiful home filled with
expensive items. They married at a mature age. He is a successful
attorney. She dresses in silks and satins.

Circumstances beyond their control tie the lives of these three couples
together forever. Their stories, laced with good music and lyrics, make
for a pleasant evening in the theater.

The authors never promise that love will make everything right in a
rugged, rural world. But the audience can hope that everyone lives
happily ever after.

The talented cast is balanced in abilities to act, sing and dance.
Stevens, Bonde and Culler have performed in several productions at
Actors' Summit. They bring plenty of youthful energy to their
performances. This is Brockway's first performance with Actors' Summit,
and he's a welcomed addition to the company.

The four performers take the stage with energy, enthusiasm and honesty
about the characters they play. This is a winning quartet.

Musical director Evie Morris sits at a piano and does an excellent job
accompanying the musical numbers. In one intriguing number, Lucinda
practices the piano on a table (pretend it's a piano), while Morris
plays the notes on a real piano.

Libman and Hudson are working on another script that may help solidify
their reputations as outstanding contributions to American musical
theater. The road to Actors' Summit should be well traveled by
theater-goers who want to see this excellent production before it
closes.

For ticket information, call (330) 342-0800. 

David Ritchey has a Ph.D. in communications and is a professor of
communications at The University of Akron. He is a member of the
American Theatre Critics Association.

 

 

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