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<P style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; LINE-HEIGHT: normal; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"
class=MsoNormal align=center><B style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal"><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; COLOR: #4e4e4e; FONT-SIZE: 12pt">Chew
on ‘<EM><SPAN
style="FONT-STYLE: normal; FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-bidi-font-style: italic">Scenery,’
a delightful, insightful backstage comedy<?xml:namespace prefix = o ns =
"urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office"
/><o:p></o:p></SPAN></EM></SPAN></B></P>
<P style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; LINE-HEIGHT: normal; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"
class=MsoNormal align=center><EM><SPAN
style="FONT-STYLE: normal; FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; COLOR: #4e4e4e; FONT-SIZE: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-bidi-font-style: italic"><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></EM></P>
<P style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; LINE-HEIGHT: normal; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"
class=MsoNormal align=center><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; COLOR: #1f497d; FONT-SIZE: 12pt">Bob
Abelman<o:p></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; LINE-HEIGHT: normal; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"
class=MsoNormal align=center><I style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal"><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; COLOR: #1f497d; FONT-SIZE: 12pt">News-Herald,
Chagrin Valley Times, Solon Times, Geauga Times
Courier<o:p></o:p></SPAN></I></P>
<P style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; LINE-HEIGHT: normal; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"
class=MsoNormal align=center><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; COLOR: #1f497d; FONT-SIZE: 12pt">Member,
International Association of Theatre Critics <o:p></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; LINE-HEIGHT: normal; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"
class=MsoNormal align=center><I style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal"><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; FONT-SIZE: 12pt"><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></I></P>
<P style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0in 0in 10pt" class=MsoNormal
align=center><SPAN
style="LINE-HEIGHT: 115%; FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; COLOR: #1f497d; FONT-SIZE: 12pt">This
review appeared in the <I style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal">News-Herald
</I></SPAN><SPAN
style="LINE-HEIGHT: 115%; FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; FONT-SIZE: 12pt">on
1/28/11<B style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal"><o:p></o:p></B></SPAN></P>
<P style="LINE-HEIGHT: normal; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; FONT-SIZE: 12pt"><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></P>
<P style="LINE-HEIGHT: normal; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; FONT-SIZE: 12pt">“Life's but a walking
shadow, a poor player that struts and frets his hour upon the stage, and then is
heard no more.”<o:p></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P style="LINE-HEIGHT: normal; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; FONT-SIZE: 12pt"><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></P>
<P style="LINE-HEIGHT: normal; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; FONT-SIZE: 12pt">Shakespeare wasn’t
the first playwright to find parallels between life and the theater, but he was
certainly the most eloquent.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>Ed
Dixon, a contemporary dramatist whose <I
style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal">Scenery</I> is currently on the Brooks
Theatre stage at the Cleveland Play House, is quite likely the
funniest.<o:p></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P style="LINE-HEIGHT: normal; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; FONT-SIZE: 12pt"><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></P>
<P style="LINE-HEIGHT: normal; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; FONT-SIZE: 12pt">His play offers us a
glimpse behind the curtain, past the scenery, around the corner and into the
cluttered dressing room of Richard and Marion Crain, prominent thespians at the
dramatic decline of their careers, good looks and
marriage.<o:p></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P style="LINE-HEIGHT: normal; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; FONT-SIZE: 12pt"><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></P>
<P style="LINE-HEIGHT: normal; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><I
style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal"><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; FONT-SIZE: 12pt">Scenery</SPAN></I><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; FONT-SIZE: 12pt"> gives voice to those
who make a living speaking for others by allowing Richard and Marion to rant
about thoughtless audience members, rail against drunk, deranged
or—worse—disinterested critics, and bemoan the state of an art that has reduced
theater icons to doing really bad productions of really bad plays.<SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>Our play takes place before, during
intermission and immediately after the opening night production of the ghastly
</SPAN><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; COLOR: #333333; FONT-SIZE: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'">“The
Anniversary Wake” at an old theater in New York City.</SPAN><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; FONT-SIZE: 12pt"><o:p></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P style="LINE-HEIGHT: normal; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; FONT-SIZE: 12pt"><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></P>
<P style="LINE-HEIGHT: normal; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; FONT-SIZE: 12pt">The playwright has
been there and done that, having made a living as a character actor, including
an unfortunate and unsatisfying stint in the n<SPAN style="COLOR: black">ational
tour of the musical <I style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal">The Best Little
Whorehouse in Texas</I>.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>Dixon’s
depiction of actors’ bizarre superstitions, petty jealousies and crippling
insecurities, and their contemptuous relations with costumers, directors and
stage managers, are as revealing as they are
hilarious.</SPAN><o:p></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P style="LINE-HEIGHT: normal; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; FONT-SIZE: 12pt"><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></P>
<P style="LINE-HEIGHT: normal; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; FONT-SIZE: 12pt">So too is the light
he sheds on life and the interesting paths we take.<SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>In the case of Richard and Marion, their
marriage is as much a façade as theatrical scenery and the roles they play as
husband and wife are woefully miscast.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes">
</SPAN><SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>Dixon’s employment of
theater as allegory is handled with grace (such as Richard’s reflective
recitation of the very <I style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal">Macbeth</I> quote
that opens this review), tenderness (such as when Marion’s concern that her
seams are not straight pertains to her plastic surgery rather than her
wardrobe), and a non-stop barrage of pithy yet poignant
one-liners.<o:p></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P style="LINE-HEIGHT: normal; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; FONT-SIZE: 12pt"><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></P>
<P style="LINE-HEIGHT: normal; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; FONT-SIZE: 12pt">Yes, the play gets a
bit heavy handed toward the end, but the fine and subdued performances by Robert
Hawkes and Anne McEvoy in this two-person play nicely offset these overly
dramatic moments. <SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>In fact, Hawkes
and McEvoy—very talented, experienced and prominent local thespians in their own
right—are an absolute delight to watch.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes">
</SPAN>Their comic timing is impeccable, their pathos as adoring but sadly
unsuitable spouses is palatable, and the two of them are consistently charming
and endearing.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN><SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN><SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN><o:p></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P style="LINE-HEIGHT: normal; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; FONT-SIZE: 12pt"><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></P>
<P style="LINE-HEIGHT: normal; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; FONT-SIZE: 12pt">Director Tyson
Douglas Rand has a good feel for the material and facilitates a thoroughly
enjoyable evening of theater. He keeps the pace lively and allows Hawkes and
McEvoy to find the correct tone and temperament for this
piece.<o:p></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P style="LINE-HEIGHT: normal; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; FONT-SIZE: 12pt"><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></P>
<P style="LINE-HEIGHT: normal; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><I
style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal"><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; FONT-SIZE: 12pt">Scenery</SPAN></I><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; FONT-SIZE: 12pt"> also offers a very
important evening of theater, for all the proceeds from the <SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>production go toward supporting the
upcoming summer season of the Cleveland Shakespeare Festival.<SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>This season will offer the bard’s <I
style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal">Othello</I> and <I
style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal">Love’s Labours Lost</I> and, as usual, it
will be offered free, outdoors and, like this production of <I
style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal">Scenery</I>, very well
done.<o:p></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P style="LINE-HEIGHT: normal; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; FONT-SIZE: 12pt"><SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN><o:p></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P style="LINE-HEIGHT: normal; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><I
style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal"><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; FONT-SIZE: 12pt">Scenery<SPAN
style="mso-bidi-font-style: italic"> </SPAN></SPAN></I><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; FONT-SIZE: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-style: italic">c</SPAN><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; FONT-SIZE: 12pt">ontinues through
January 30 at the </SPAN><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; FONT-SIZE: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'">Cleveland
Play House’s Brooks Theatre, 8500 Euclid Avenue in Cleveland.<SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>For tickets, which range from $12 to
$15, email <A href=""><FONT
color=#5588aa>tickets@cleveshakes.org</FONT></A>.<o:p></o:p></SPAN></P></FONT></DIV></BODY></HTML>