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<P style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal
align=center><B style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal"><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'"><FONT
size=3>Heads, you win with Dobama’s ‘A Steady Rain’<?xml:namespace prefix = o ns
= "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office" /><o:p></o:p></FONT></SPAN></B></P>
<P style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal
align=center><B style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal"><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'"><o:p><FONT
size=3> </FONT></o:p></SPAN></B></P>
<P style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal
align=center><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; COLOR: #1f497d"><FONT size=3>Bob
Abelman<o:p></o:p></FONT></SPAN></P>
<P style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; 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=3>News-Herald, Chagrin Valley Times, Solon Times, Geauga Times
Courier<o:p></o:p></FONT></SPAN></I></P>
<P style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal
align=center><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; COLOR: #1f497d"><FONT size=3>Member,
International Association of Theatre Critics <o:p></o:p></FONT></SPAN></P>
<P style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal
align=center><I style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal"><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'"><o:p><FONT
size=3> </FONT></o:p></SPAN></I></P>
<P style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal
align=center><FONT size=3><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; COLOR: #1f497d">This review appeared
in the <I style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal">News-Herald </I></SPAN><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'">3/4/11</SPAN></FONT></P>
<P style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal
align=center><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'"><o:p><FONT
size=3> </FONT></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal
align=center><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'"><o:p><FONT
size=3> </FONT></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'"><FONT
size=3>Heads or tails. <o:p></o:p></FONT></SPAN></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'"><o:p><FONT
size=3> </FONT></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'"><FONT
size=3>Life is full of chance outcomes. Like the flip of a coin, much of what
happens in the course of a lifetime is the result of a random act, a
happenstance.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>Each coin toss is an
independent event, and chances are even that each outcome can be a “heads, you
win” or a “tails, you lose.”<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>Life
can be like that.<o:p></o:p></FONT></SPAN></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'"><o:p><FONT
size=3> </FONT></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'"><FONT
size=3>Still, human behavior is more complicated than a coin toss.<SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>Over time we develop routines in what we
do.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>We establish patterns in how we
act.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>We tip the odds on whether
life will turn up heads or tails.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes">
</SPAN><o:p></o:p></FONT></SPAN></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'"><o:p><FONT
size=3> </FONT></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><FONT size=3><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'">In
Keith Huff’s two-character drama </SPAN><I
style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal"><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'">A
Steady Rain</SPAN></I><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'">,
currently playing at Dobama Theatre, </SPAN><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'">Denny
and Joey are two sides of the same coin.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes">
</SPAN>They come from the same lower-middle class Chicago neighborhood.<SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>They have been best friends since
kindergarten. They are long-time partners on the police force, where they both
have been repeatedly passed over for promotion.<o:p></o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'"><o:p><FONT
size=3> </FONT></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'"><FONT
size=3>Yet, they couldn’t be more different.<o:p></o:p></FONT></SPAN></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'"><o:p><FONT
size=3> </FONT></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'"><FONT
size=3>Denny (an explosive, dynamic Jeremy Kendall) is a “tails, you lose” kinda
guy.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>He is a dedicated friend and
family man who will do anything for those he loves, including skimming cash from
hookers and breaking the law without hesitation.<SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>He is as volatile, bullying and racist
as he is devoted, which accounts for his professional failures. <SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>Denny recognizes his deficiencies and
embraces them, for they have grown comfortable and now define him.<SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN><o:p></o:p></FONT></SPAN></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'"><o:p><FONT
size=3> </FONT></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'"><FONT
size=3>Joey (a sensitive, sympathetic Scott Plate) is a brooding, vulnerable and
lonely recovering alcoholic. <SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>He has
grown accustomed to being dominated, protected and held back by his partner and
turns a blind eye to Denny’s shortcomings as a friend, husband and father.<SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>He is, however, working diligently at
making each flip of the coin in his own life come up “heads” and changing his
fate.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN><o:p></o:p></FONT></SPAN></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'"><o:p><FONT
size=3> </FONT></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><FONT size=3><I
style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal"><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'">A
Steady Rain</SPAN></I><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'">
actually unfolds like a tossed coin.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes">
</SPAN>It offers a series of back and forth monologues that give Denny and Joey
turns at putting their respective spin on all that has transpired in their
lives.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>Their relationship is also
in a constant state of flux, flipping from </SPAN><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'">loyalty
to betrayal and from brotherhood to abuse as the play progresses.
<o:p></o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'"><o:p><FONT
size=3> </FONT></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'"><FONT
size=3>Director Joel Hammer keeps the whirling currency that is this play
airborne and churning at a steady and purposeful pace, allowing it to eventually
land, teeter and reveal its outcome in dramatic fashion.<SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN><o:p></o:p></FONT></SPAN></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'"><o:p><FONT
size=3> </FONT></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><FONT size=3><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'">The
action takes place on a lone set that resembles a steep concrete easement
intended to convey the overflow of water from the steady rain alluded to in the
play’s title and overheard before and after each act.<SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>The set, designed by Laura Carlson
Tarantowski, is painted to create the illusion of water streaming down toward
the audience.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>The actors are
provided </SPAN><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'">two
chairs and an interrogation-room table on which to debrief the audience,
allowing raw emotions to surge from the stage and into our laps along with the
flood waters.<o:p></o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'"><o:p><FONT
size=3> </FONT></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'"><FONT
size=3>There is limited on-stage action in this play—frantic pacing, mostly—but
the playwright’s use of language more than makes up for this.<SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>Denny and Joey speak as if they stepped
out of a film noire detective film, spewing verbiage so vivid and descriptive
that an entire ensemble of unseen secondary characters is conjured and given
form through words alone.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes">
</SPAN>Monologues venture into the melodramatic upon occasion, but the
interjection of profanity restores the ph balance.<o:p></o:p></FONT></SPAN></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'"><o:p><FONT
size=3> </FONT></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'"><FONT
size=3>The film noire flavor of the script is nicely embellished by Marcus Dan’s
single-source lighting, which creates just the right mood at just the right
times.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes">
</SPAN><o:p></o:p></FONT></SPAN></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'"><o:p><FONT
size=3> </FONT></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><FONT size=3><I
style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal"><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'">A
Steady Rain</SPAN></I><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'">
is a well written, emotionally charged play that is well staged and wonderfully
performed by the folks at Dobama.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes">
</SPAN>This is a fantastic piece of theater.<SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>Obviously, choosing the right play and
the right creative team is more than just a flip of a coin.<SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN><o:p></o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'"><FONT
size=3><SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes">
</SPAN><o:p></o:p></FONT></SPAN></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><FONT size=3><I
style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal"><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'">A Steady Rain<SPAN
style="mso-bidi-font-style: italic"> </SPAN></SPAN></I><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; mso-bidi-font-style: italic">c</SPAN><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'">ontinues through March 20 at the
Dobama Theatre, 2340 Lee Road, Cleveland Heights.<SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>For tickets, which range from $10 to
$25, call 216-932-3396 or visit <A href=""><FONT
color=#0000ff>www.dobama.org</FONT></A>.<o:p></o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
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style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Georgia','serif'; FONT-SIZE: 11pt; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'"><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></P></FONT></DIV></BODY></HTML>