[NEohioPAL] Review: Western Reserve Playhouse's Night of January 16th

[Marie Dusini via NEohioPAL]

WHO: Western Reserve Playhouse

WHAT: Night of January 16th by Ayn Rand, directed by Brian Westerley

WHEN: Remaining performances Sept. 25 and 26 at 8pm

WHERE: Western Reserve Playhouse, 3326 Everett Road, Bath/Richfield (Everett & Revere Roads, across from Revere High School)

HOW: For tickets, call the reservation line at 330-620-7314, or visit the company website for more information
 
Night of January 16th is a theatrical play, inspired by the death of the "Match King," Ivar Kreuger, written by Ayn Rand. It takes place entirely in a courtroom during a murder trial. An unusual feature of the play is that members of the audience are chosen to play the roles of jury members. The court is hearing the case of Karen Andre (played by Beth Gaiser) a former secretary and lover of businessman Bjorn Faulkner, of whose murder Andre is accused. 
The play does not directly portray the events leading to Faulkner's death; instead the jury must rely on character testimony and decide whether Andre is guilty. The play's ending depends on the verdict. Rand's intention was to dramatize a conflict between individualism and conformity, with the jury's verdict revealing which viewpoint they preferred. So, a different ending may be had every night. It all depends on the audience that is seeing this show for the first time at Western Reserve Playhouse as we are the first community theatre in our area to produce it.

Meg Hopp is playing District Attorney Flint and Dan Colaner is playing Defense Attorney Stevens, Judge Heath in this case will be alternately played by Tom Stephan and Scott Davis all well known actors in our area. Featured actors are Elizabeth Allard playing Nancy Lee, wife of the deceased victim and David Hundertmark as her father. 
Witnesses to the case at hand are Harriet DeVeto (Magda), Sally Suren (Jungquist), Ron Young (Regan), David Hess (Hutchins), Barry Wakser (van Fleet), Patrick Wilson (Sweeney), Irv Korman (Dr. Kirkland), and Walt Kaminski (Dr. Kirkland). Marc Dusini is seen throughout the production as Baliff Matthew T. Haynes as is Kayleigh Joyce as Felicia del Rio.

The play centers on the night of January 16th when Faulkner and Andre were in her penthouse and he apparently fell to his death. But did he? The prosecutor Mr. Flint and Andre’s defense attorney Stevens call witnesses whose testimonies build conflicting stories. Members of the audience who are now the jury members must decide and on any given night what her fate is and who knows what the verdict may be?

Brian Westerley, director for this production recently won the regional Northeast Ohio Award for Excellence in Directing for the play Other Desert Cities from the Ohio Community Theatre Association and will go on to the state finals next month. He also directed One Man Show for the Weathervane Playhouse’s 8x 10 series and the show took third place.
 
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