<html xmlns:v="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:vml" xmlns:o="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office" xmlns:w="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:word" xmlns:st1="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:smarttags" xmlns="http://www.w3.org/TR/REC-html40">
<head>
<META HTTP-EQUIV="Content-Type" CONTENT="text/html; charset=us-ascii">
<meta name=Generator content="Microsoft Word 11 (filtered medium)">
<o:SmartTagType namespaceuri="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:smarttags"
name="Street"/>
<o:SmartTagType namespaceuri="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:smarttags"
name="address"/>
<o:SmartTagType namespaceuri="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:smarttags"
name="City"/>
<o:SmartTagType namespaceuri="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:smarttags"
name="place"/>
<!--[if !mso]>
<style>
st1\:*{behavior:url(#default#ieooui) }
</style>
<![endif]-->
<style>
<!--
/* Font Definitions */
@font-face
{font-family:Verdana;
panose-1:2 11 6 4 3 5 4 4 2 4;}
/* Style Definitions */
p.MsoNormal, li.MsoNormal, div.MsoNormal
{margin:0in;
margin-bottom:.0001pt;
font-size:12.0pt;
font-family:"Times New Roman";}
a:link, span.MsoHyperlink
{color:blue;
text-decoration:underline;}
a:visited, span.MsoHyperlinkFollowed
{color:purple;
text-decoration:underline;}
span.EmailStyle17
{mso-style-type:personal-compose;
font-family:Arial;
color:windowtext;}
span.timestamp5
{font-family:Arial;
color:#666666;}
@page Section1
{size:8.5in 11.0in;
margin:1.0in 1.25in 1.0in 1.25in;}
div.Section1
{page:Section1;}
-->
</style>
<!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
<o:shapedefaults v:ext="edit" spidmax="1026" />
</xml><![endif]--><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
<o:shapelayout v:ext="edit">
<o:idmap v:ext="edit" data="1" />
</o:shapelayout></xml><![endif]-->
</head>
<body lang=EN-US link=blue vlink=purple>
<div class=Section1>
<p class=MsoNormal style='margin-bottom:3.0pt'><b><font size=5 color=black
face=Arial><span style='font-size:18.0pt;font-family:Arial;color:black;
font-weight:bold'>Office comedy turns dark in ‘The Receptionist’ at
Dobama<o:p></o:p></span></font></b></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 color=black face=Verdana><span
style='font-size:9.5pt;font-family:Verdana;color:black'><!--<center>[include_if_component:audio-link:1:incs/story/audio.inc]</center><br clear="all" />
[include_if_component:image-file:1:incs/story/slideshow.inc::incs/story/photos.inc]-->Reviewed
by Fran Heller <br>
Contributing Writer<br>
<br>
What begins as a typical day at the office proves anything but in Adam
Bock’s slyly dark comedy “The Receptionist.”<br>
<br>
In just 75 minutes, the play moves from the humorous humdrum of the workplace
to an unsettling and sinister vision of a post 9/11 world, gripped by suspicion
and fear. The Dobama production is at Pilgrim Congregational Church in Tremont
through April 5.<br>
<br>
Joel Hammer’s seamless direction and a flawless cast make this
outstanding production well worth seeing.<br>
<br>
In the opening monologue, the boss, Mr. Raymond (Michael Regnier), is seated in
a chair in some indistinct room, waxing about the joys of fly fishing.
“Everything out there is eating something,” he says, words that
will take on more ominous overtones half way through the play.<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='margin-bottom:12.0pt'><font size=2 color=black
face=Verdana><span style='font-size:9.5pt;font-family:Verdana;color:black'>The
action shifts to the Northeast Office branch, where Beverly, the receptionist
of the play’s title (Lissy Gulick), deftly fields incoming calls between
dispensing personal advice to friends, family members and co-worker Lorraine
(Jennifer Klika), a love-starved bimbo still obsessing over her narcissistic
ex. Michael Roesch’s delightful rendition of a fully furnished office
doesn’t skip a detail.<br>
<br>
Their workaday world is interrupted by an unexpected and appropriately named
visitor, Mr. Dart (Tom Woodward). Sporting dark glasses and a black suit,
Dart’s pleasant disposition will soon yield to a far more baleful purpose
that involves Mr. Raymond and the unnamed nature of the company’s
business.<br>
<br>
Bock’s comedy is crafted with a subtlety that catches us unawares.
Initially, the play feels like an office sitcom with its banal chatter and
gossipy overtones. It is only in the last 15 minutes that cheeriness gives way
to creepy terror.<br>
<br>
The 2007 Obie Award-winning play is a sharply veiled critique against the Bush
administration and its counter-terrorism techniques here and abroad.<br>
<br>
Gulick sparkles as the receptionist, a matronly busybody with a ready answer to
everyone’s problems. She presides over her desk with self-confidence, never
losing her telephone charm, even as her secure world begins to unravel.<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 color=black face=Verdana><span
style='font-size:9.5pt;font-family:Verdana;color:black'>Sporting a sexy black
mini skirt and stiletto heels (costumes by Jennifer Biehl), Klika is perfect as
the lonely, flirtatious Lorraine, wielding her charms on the equally friendly
Mr. Dart. Regnier shrouds a troubled Mr. Raymond in a cloak of mystery.<br>
<br>
Hammer’s keen direction strikes the right balance between the humorous
and the evil.<br>
<br>
“The Receptionist” is preceded by <st1:City w:st="on"><st1:place
w:st="on">Cleveland</st1:place></st1:City> playwright Eric Coble’s
farcical skit “H.R.,” a 15-minute curtain raiser that imagines a
completely different kind of day at the office. Directed with alacrity by Joe
Verciglio and featuring the same first-rate actors, “H.R.” is a
funny, clever trifle about office employee backstabbing in a climate of corporate
meltdown and worker angst. It’s a perfect companion piece to what
follows.<br>
<br>
<strong><b><font face=Verdana><span style='font-family:Verdana'>WHAT:</span></font></b></strong>
“The Receptionist” and “H.R.”<br>
<br>
<strong><b><font face=Verdana><span style='font-family:Verdana'>WHERE: </span></font></b></strong>Pilgrim
Congregational Church in Tremont, <st1:Street w:st="on"><st1:address w:st="on">2592
W. 14th St</st1:address></st1:Street>.<br>
<br>
<strong><b><font face=Verdana><span style='font-family:Verdana'>WHEN:</span></font></b></strong>
Through April 5<br>
<br>
<strong><b><font face=Verdana><span style='font-family:Verdana'>TICKETS &
INFO:</span></font></b></strong> 216-932-3396 or <a href="http://www.dobama.org">www.dobama.org</a><o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 face=Arial><span style='font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:Arial'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
</div>
</body>
</html>