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<P style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" align=center><B
style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal"><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'"><FONT size=3>The Bard meets burlesque
in Con-Con’s ‘Miracle at Naples’<?xml:namespace prefix = o ns =
"urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office" /><o:p></o:p></FONT></SPAN></B></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><o:p><FONT size=3
face="Times New Roman"> </FONT></o:p></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><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; COLOR: #1f497d; FONT-SIZE: 12pt"><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,<o:p></o:p></SPAN></I></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">The
Morning Journal, 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,
American Theatre Critics Association <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 will appear in the <I style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal">News-Herald
</I>on<I style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal"> </I></SPAN><SPAN
style="LINE-HEIGHT: 115%; FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; FONT-SIZE: 12pt">7/8/11</SPAN><SPAN
style="LINE-HEIGHT: 115%; FONT-SIZE: 12pt"><o:p></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'"><o:p><FONT
size=3> </FONT></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'"><FONT size=3>It’s not as if playwright
David Grimm doesn’t give fair warning.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes">
</SPAN><o:p></o:p></FONT></SPAN></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'"><o:p><FONT
size=3> </FONT></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'"><FONT size=3>Nonetheless, <SPAN
style="COLOR: black; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold">everything about his
</SPAN><STRONG><I style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal"><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; COLOR: #333333; FONT-WEIGHT: normal; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold">The
Miracle at Naples</SPAN></I></STRONG> <SPAN
style="COLOR: black; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold">and Convergence-Continuum’s
staging of it suggests that an authentic piece of </SPAN>16<SUP>th</SUP> century
commedia dell'arte has been slotted for the evening’s entertainment.
<o:p></o:p></FONT></SPAN></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'"><o:p><FONT
size=3> </FONT></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'"><FONT size=3>True to the standard
operating procedure of this time-honored art form, the play features a company
of theater vagabonds traveling through Italy to offer its repertoire of farcical
comedies. In Naples for a festival, the troupe awaits <SPAN
style="COLOR: black">the annual miracle—the liquefaction of the blood of the
city’s patron saint—so the festivities can begin and they can perform their
craft for the revelers.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes">
</SPAN><o:p></o:p></SPAN></FONT></SPAN></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'"><o:p><FONT
size=3> </FONT></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'"><FONT size=3>The troupe consists of
stock commedia characters, including an adventurous leader, <SPAN
style="COLOR: black">Don Bertolino (Robert Hawkes); a physical misfit, his
daughter La Piccola (Lauren Smith); a randy servant, his nephew Tristano (Ray
Caspio); a clown, Tristano's dim-witted pal Matteo (Zac Hudak); and Giancarlo
(Stuart Hoffman), a handsome hero-type full of false
bravado.</SPAN><o:p></o:p></FONT></SPAN></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'"><o:p><FONT
size=3> </FONT></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">There’s the
traditional plot twist of </SPAN><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; FONT-SIZE: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'">young
lovers battling the disapproval of their elders.<SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>Giancarlo and Flaminia (Emily Pucell), a
local beauty, fall in love despite nursemaid Francescina’s (Lucy Bredeson-Smith)
warnings.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>There’s comedy based on
gullible masters being deceived by tricky servants.<SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>There’s commentary about class
differences and the folly of faith.<o:p></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'"><o:p><FONT
size=3> </FONT></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'"><FONT size=3>Everyone is appropriately
dressed in magnificent period masks and costuming, courtesy of Laurel Johnson.
<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>Baroque <SPAN class=st1>music is in
the air.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN></SPAN>The set design by
Jim Smith offers a taste of late-1500s Italy, with flower baskets everywhere and
statues of saints lining the narrow, tiled piazza that is the performance
space.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN><SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN><o:p></o:p></FONT></SPAN></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'"><o:p><FONT
size=3> </FONT></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><FONT size=3><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'">But then comes the realization that
<SPAN style="COLOR: black; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold">Convergence-Continuum
doesn’t do Elizabethan drama or </SPAN></SPAN><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-ansi-language: EN"
lang=EN>Renaissance</SPAN><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; COLOR: black; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold">
comedy</SPAN><SPAN style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'">.<SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN><o:p></o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'"><o:p><FONT
size=3> </FONT></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'"><FONT size=3>Then, too, comes that
fair warning from the playwright—that opening line uttered by the sweet,
innocent ingénue Flaminia—that sets this piece of commedia dell'arte pastiche
off in a very different direction: <SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>“<SPAN
style="COLOR: black; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold">To hell with my
virginity.”<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes">
</SPAN><o:p></o:p></SPAN></FONT></SPAN></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; COLOR: black; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold"><o:p><FONT
size=3> </FONT></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P style="LINE-HEIGHT: normal; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; COLOR: black; FONT-SIZE: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold">A</SPAN><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; FONT-SIZE: 12pt">ctual commedia
dell'arte doesn’t shy away from bawdy humor, but it becomes very clear very
quickly that this play is in it up to the eyeballs. <SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>In fact, there is little in </SPAN><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt"><o:p></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><FONT size=3><I
style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal"><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'">The Miracle at Naples</SPAN></I><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'"> that does not go for the groin (and
other delicate areas) and hit its target squarely.<SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN><SPAN
style="COLOR: black; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold"><SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>As the play progresses, its veil of couth
dissipates and in its place is a preponderance of lewd scenarios, crude
wordplay, and F-bombs galore.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes">
</SPAN><o:p></o:p></SPAN></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; COLOR: black; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold"><o:p><FONT
size=3> </FONT></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'"><FONT size=3>The thing is that this is
all very funny stuff indeed.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes">
</SPAN>Crudity turns clever when placed within the context of a 16<SUP>th</SUP>
century comedy, and F-bombs are immediately defused when spoken with good
intention by exceptionally talented performers.<SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN><STRONG><I
style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal"><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; COLOR: #333333; FONT-WEIGHT: normal; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold">The
Miracle at Naples</SPAN></I></STRONG> <SPAN
style="COLOR: black; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold">is very well written, very well
designed, and very well performed.</SPAN><o:p></o:p></FONT></SPAN></P>
<P style="LINE-HEIGHT: 12.75pt; MARGIN: 15pt 0in 12pt" class=MsoNormal><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; FONT-SIZE: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'">It
is also very well directed.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes">
</SPAN>Geoffrey Hoffman does his best to push this production in terms of pacing
and playfulness, and it pays off beautifully.<SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>It is clear that he trusts his players
without hesitation, for each one has found interesting business to add to the
antics. <SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN><o:p></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P style="LINE-HEIGHT: 12.75pt; MARGIN: 15pt 0in 12pt" class=MsoNormal><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; FONT-SIZE: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'">Hoffman
even involves the audience in a bit of burlesque by having two actors who are
engaged in a conversation separated to the far extremes of the performance
space.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>Audience members stuck in
between are required to turn their heads back and forth and back and forth, like
</SPAN><SPAN style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; FONT-SIZE: 12pt">commedia
dell'arte clowns,</SPAN><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; FONT-SIZE: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'">
to follow each verbal volley.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes">
</SPAN><SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN><o:p></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><FONT size=3><STRONG><I
style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal"><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; FONT-WEIGHT: normal; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold">The
Miracle at Naples</SPAN></I></STRONG><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'"> is a romp, pure and simple.<SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>It was written in 2009 and commissioned
by the New York Shakespeare Festival.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes">
</SPAN>The play was never produced there, perhaps because it was too bawdy even
for Bard enthusiasts, but it has certainly found a home at
Con-Con.<o:p></o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'"><o:p><FONT
size=3> </FONT></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P style="LINE-HEIGHT: normal; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><STRONG><I
style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal"><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; COLOR: #333333; FONT-SIZE: 12pt; FONT-WEIGHT: normal; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold">The
Miracle at Naples</SPAN></I></STRONG><STRONG><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; COLOR: #333333; FONT-SIZE: 12pt; FONT-WEIGHT: normal; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold">
</SPAN></STRONG><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; FONT-SIZE: 12pt">continues through
July 23 at Convergence-Continuum’s Liminis Theatre.<SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>For tickets, which range from $10 to
$15, call 216-687-0074</SPAN><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt"><FONT face=Calibri>
</FONT></SPAN><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; FONT-SIZE: 12pt">or visit <B><A
href=""><FONT color=#000066>www.convergence-continuum.org</FONT></A><I
style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal">.<o:p></o:p></I></B></SPAN></P></FONT></DIV></BODY></HTML>