[NEohioPAL] Rave Review of LAST TRAIN TO NIBROC at Actors' Summit -- Fran Heller in the Cleveland Jewish News

[Neil Thackaberry]

"Last Train to Nibroc” is a small play with a big heart.


 Cleveland Jewish News

Published: Friday, February 19, 2010 1:10 AM EST
Reviewed by FRAN HELLER


Two people meet on a train. She wants to be a missionary; he, a writer. They
fall for each other, but it will take three more years (or two more scenes)
before they tie the knot.

Sound syrupy?

That’s what I expected until I saw Actors’ Summit’s engaging production of
“Nibroc.”

The intimate two-person show runs through Feb. 28.



Yes, it’s an old-fashioned love story as well as predictable. But Keith E.
Stevens and Shani Ferry make their characters so believable and likeable
that they nestle under your skin where they remain throughout the 90-minute
play, presented without intermission. Constance Thackaberry continues to
prove her mettle as a director by keeping the romantic comedy skipping and
restraining her actors from veering toward sentiment.

The play takes place in three scenes from 1940-1943. It’s wartime.

In the first scene, May and Raleigh meet on a crowded train headed east from
Los Angeles. May is returning from a disappointing visit with her fiancé
before he is sent overseas to England. Raleigh, wearing a soldier’s uniform,
has just been discharged from the Air Force training program for medical
reasons. When May and Raleigh discover that they are from neighboring towns
in Kentucky, it sparks a relationship that will sputter in the second scene
and rekindle in the third.

Riding on the train with them are two coffins containing the bodies of two
of America’s greatest writers, Nathaniel West and F. Scott Fitzgerald, being
shipped east for burial. The parochial and deeply religious May has never
even heard of either writer. While Raleigh tries to engage May in
conversation, she continues to read Magnificent Obsession, a religious novel
that was a bestseller of its time.

In the second scene, which takes place 1-1/2 years later, May has traded her
missionary ambitions for teaching school. Raleigh, we learn, suffers from
epilepsy, a misunderstood illness at the time (he is sent to a mental
hospital for treatment), and has difficulty holding down a job. The
courtship sours when the judgmental May, coming from a family of landowners,
looks down upon Raleigh’s sharecropping and socially inferior kinfolk.

Another year goes by, bringing us to the last scene where May, who has now
become the school principal, and Raleigh, who has just sold his first story,
meet once again.

In a play that’s more character study than drama, Stevens and Ferry are
perfectly matched as the gregarious and good-natured Raleigh and the prickly
and straight-laced May. Watching them navigate the terrain of Raleigh and
May’s rocky, on-again-off-again relationship is a treat, start to finish.
What could easily grow stale and boring remains refreshing and charming in
the hands of these two actors who never miss a beat, from just right
Kentucky drawls and naturalistic dialogue to how they interact with their
eyes and body language.

The play is loosely based on playwright Arlene Hutton’s parents, to whom the
comedy/drama is dedicated. “Last Train to Nibroc” was chosen as one of the
best plays of 1999 by female playwrights.

The title derives from the Nibroc Festival, taking place in May’s hometown
of Corbin (spelled backwards). May has never even attended the annual county
fair, which she condemns as “heathen.”

The language of the play is simple, at times moving and poetical. For
example, in a touching soliloquy, Raleigh vents the frustration and shame of
being unable to serve his country when all about him, others are, including
May’s younger brother.

It’s amazing how in this production a single prop expresses so much. The
stage contains only a solitary bench, which alternately serves as a train
(with the appropriate chugging); a park bench (coupled with A. Neil
Thackaberry’s dappled lighting); and May’s front porch. MaryJo Alexander’s
period costumes (May’s prim dresses; Raleigh’s uniform and overalls)
perfectly illuminate the 1940s timeframe.

Audiences of a certain age, a.k.a. seniors, will find this play – a
throwback to yesteryear – especially enjoyable, as the performance I
attended amply proved.

WHAT: “Last Train to Nibroc”

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

WHEN: Through Feb. 28

TICKETS & INFO: 330-342-0800 or www.actorssummit.org
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