<p style="color: rgb(204, 0, 0); text-align: center;" class="topstoryTitle"><font size="6">Actors’ Summit stages ‘exciting new show’</font></p>
<p><font size="4"><strong>2/17/2011 - <em>West Side Leader</em></strong></font>
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<font size="4"><em>By David Ritchey</em><br><br></font>
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DOWNTOWN AKRON — Actors’ Summit Theater is celebrating its 100th
production with the regional premiere of an exciting new show, “Becky’s
New Car.”
</font><p><font size="4">The title may damage the audience attendance. “Becky’s New Car” seems
to indicate this is a light, situation comedy. That’s not true.
Playwright Steven Dietz seduces the audience into a serious story by
coating it with comedy and charm.</font></p>
<p><font size="4">The plot is, indeed, wild and wonderful. Becky (Paula Kline-Messner)
works in an auto dealership office. She is married to Joe (Bob Keefe),
who is a roofer. Their son, Chris (Mark Leach), is a graduate student in
psychology. As Becky works late one evening, she is interrupted by
Walter Flood (Ric Goodwin), who is incredibly wealthy. He wants to buy
nine new cars, one for each of his employees. As Becky makes the sale,
Walter reveals his wife died about a year ago. In a strange
misunderstanding, Walter thinks Becky is a widow and calls to invite her
to his home for a party. </font></p>
<p><font size="4">Kline-Messner creates Becky as chatty, charming and cute. As the play
progresses, Kline-Messner does an excellent job of letting Becky become
a strong woman, capable of doing the wrong thing well and the right
things with appealing clumsiness.</font></p>
<p><font size="4">The playwright gives Chris some of the most interesting lines in the
show. Leach gets to play with the jargon he’s learned in his psychology
classes and work that language into his conversations with his parents.
Leach plays the comedic elements of his lines with agility and
understands the pleasure of earning a laugh.</font></p>
<p><font size="4">The playwright does a superior job of interweaving the lives of the
characters. To reveal any more of the plot would damage some of the fun
the reader might have when seeing “Becky’s New Car.”</font></p>
<p><font size="4">Director Constance Thackaberry has done an excellent job helping the
actors develop interesting, sympathetic characters and keeping the
timing of the production moving at a fast pace. </font></p>
<p><font size="4">This is an excellent new script, well directed and well performed.</font></p>
<p><font size="4">The history of the play makes for good theater. Charles Staadecker
wanted to give his wife, Benita, a special gift for her 60th birthday.
He contacted an ACT theater in Seattle, where they live, and arranged to
commission a play to be dedicated to his wife. He explained to the
playwright he didn’t want a dark, unhappy play. Dietz wrote “Becky’s New
Car,” and the play opened in October 2008. Benita Staadecker insists
this is the best gift she’s ever received. She and her husband have seen
the 13 productions of “Becky’s New Car” and give each cast and crew
member a scarf with the name of the play on one side and the name of the
theater on the other.</font></p>
<p><font size="4">After the performance, the Staadeckers made their presentations to
the cast and crew and talked to the audience about commissioning a play.
One of the main points was that you don’t have to be wealthy to
commission a play. In fact, several families could go in together and
commission one. Charles Staadecker has been so pleased with the success
of this commission that he told me he and a group of friends have
commissioned a symphony that will premiere in Seattle next year.</font></p>
<p><font size="4">The challenge is obvious. The board of Actors’ Summit should launch a
campaign and commission a play that would have its premiere here in
Akron.</font></p>
<p><font size="4">To see what this is all about, don’t miss “Becky’s New Car,” which is
on stage through Feb. 27. What a treat it is to see a new show. For
ticket information, call 330-374-7568. On opening night, Feb. 11, the
theater was filled almost to capacity.</font></p>
<p><font size="4"><em>David Ritchey has a Ph.D. in communications and is a professor of
communications at The University of Akron. He is a member of the
American Theatre Critics Association.</em></font></p><br clear="all"><br>-- <br>Neil Thackaberry<br>Co-artistic Director<br>Actors' Summit, a professional theater<br>103 South High Street<br>6th Floor<br>Akron OH 44308<br>
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