[NEohioPAL] CJN Review of TREMONT at Actors' Summit

[Neil Thackaberry]

*Featherweight comedy fills stage at Actors’ Summit*



Published: Friday, April 24, 2009 1:10 AM EDT

Reviewed by FRAN HELLER
Contributing Writer

Cleveland playwrights Robert Thomas Noll and Pamela V. Noll have chosen the
Near West Side neighborhood of Tremont as the subject of “Tremont,” now
enjoying its world première at Actors’ Summit through May 3.

Not today’s trendy Tremont teeming with world-class restaurants and chic art
galleries and boutiques, but the early 1960s ethnically Polish Tremont, when
steel mills were closing, young people were migrating to Parma, and the old
were facing wrenching changes in the urban landscape.

In “Tremont,” the Nolls have crafted a mildly entertaining, somewhat
predictable play that has some high spots and a few lows. With its stock
geriatric humor, including too many toilet jokes, the featherweight comedy
is definitely geared to the gray-haired crowd.

The tightly written two-act is never boring under A. Neil Thackaberry’s
breezy direction. But the shifting socio-economic climate and its
catastrophic impact on the local denizens are merely alluded to rather than
more fully developed, robbing the comedy of any underlying pathos.



“Tremont” is set in “The Silver Bush,” a neighborhood tavern facing hard
times, where Eva waits tables for the few remaining regular patrons. These
include Roman and Marijka, a cantankerous elderly couple and the eccentric,
middle-aged Tree.

The deeply religious Eva now lives above the bar, having fled her home when
it was vandalized. The proprietor, Zoltan, has fallen in love with the
40-year-old spinster, who keeps resisting his proposal of marriage.

Meanwhile, Marijka wants to move to Parma, but her husband demurs. In
between drinks and jokes, the locals reminisce about the good old days when
everyone had money and a job. Now almost everyone has moved away.

Besides churches, barrooms make for irresistible confessionals. MaryJo
Alexander’s rendition of the local pub, with its well-worn, chintzy tables
and chairs, and some limp strands of colored Christmas lights, is no
exception.

Sally Groth plays the standoffish, holier-than-thou Eva, who clearly doesn’t
like men. With good reason. Her father was a drunk, as is her irresponsible
brother Andre. Now her brother has unexpectedly returned after an eight-year
absence to claim his half of the inheritance from their deceased parents.



Peter Voinovich is the shiftless Andre, whose duplicitous nature is masked
in a stream of lame jokes. The underlying conflict between brother and
sister is told in a pair of flashbacks that are awkwardly staged and
initially confusing.

Bob Keefe is endearing as the kind-hearted, persistent Zoltan. This
Cinderella story between a beefy Polish Prince Charming and his pious
princess is the most poignant part of the play.

Glenn and Jean Colerider (husband and wife in real life) are the
long-married couple, Roman and Marijka; their coarse and predictable
conversation centers mostly on her constipation and his incontinence.

My favorite character, beautifully drawn by Geoffrey Darling, is Tree
(Edvard), a simple-minded, loveable guy who repeats everything three times.
With shaky hands, darting eyes and jerky body movements, Tree captures the
agitation of a man who has just been fired with a perfect comic blend of
humor and heartbreak.

Robert Noll, a teacher at John Carroll University, is a prolific playwright,
whose works have been performed abroad and throughout the U.S., including
six off-off-Broadway productions. Noll also writes for television and is the
winner of nine Emmy Awards. Pamela Noll is an award-winning playwright,
screenwriter and a psychologist, whose specialty is “happiness.” “Tremont”
is definitely of the “feel good” variety.

WHAT: “Tremont”

WHERE: Actors’ Summit, 86 Owen Brown St., downtown Hudson

WHEN: Through May 3

TICKETS & INFO: 330-342-0800 or www.actorssummit.org
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://lists.neohiopal.org/pipermail/neohiopal-neohiopal.org/attachments/20090424/9509c37d/attachment-0003.htm>