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<p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;
text-autospace:none"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight:normal"><span style="font-family:Palatino;mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman"">TIGERS
BE STILL</span></b><span style="font-family:Palatino;mso-fareast-font-family:
"Times New Roman"">…a slight comedy about depression</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;
text-autospace:none"><span style="font-family:Palatino;mso-fareast-font-family:
"Times New Roman""> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;
text-autospace:none"><span style="font-family:Palatino;mso-fareast-font-family:
"Times New Roman"">Roy Berko</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;
text-autospace:none"><span style="font-family:Palatino;mso-fareast-font-family:
"Times New Roman""> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;
text-autospace:none"><span style="font-family:Palatino;mso-fareast-font-family:
"Times New Roman"">Member, American Theatre Critics Association</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;
text-autospace:none"><span style="font-family:Palatino;mso-fareast-font-family:
"Times New Roman""> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;
text-autospace:none"><span style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:Palatino;
mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman"">--THE TIMES NEWSPAPERS--</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;
text-autospace:none"><span style="font-size:8.0pt;mso-bidi-font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:Palatino;mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman"">LORAIN COUNTY
TIMES--WESTLAKER TIMES--LAKEWOOD NEWS TIMES--OLMSTED-FAIRVIEW TIMES</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;
text-autospace:none"><span style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:Palatino;
mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman""> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;
text-autospace:none"><span style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:Palatino;
mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman"">--<a href="http://COOLCLEVELAND.COM">COOLCLEVELAND.COM</a>—</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;
text-autospace:none"><span style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:Palatino;
mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman""> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;
text-autospace:none"><span style="font-family:Palatino;mso-fareast-font-family:
"Times New Roman"">Have you ever had an American cheese, mayonnaise and white
bread sandwich?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>You finished it
and for a while are satisfied, but never thought much about it afterwards?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>That’s my reaction to TIGERS BE
STILL.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>I saw it, left the theatre,
walked to my car with a friend and talked about our dinner that evening, got
into the car, listened to the seventh game of the World Series on the way home,
and didn’t think about the play again until the next morning, when I saw the
platbill on my desk.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;
text-autospace:none"><span style="font-family:Palatino;mso-fareast-font-family:
"Times New Roman""> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;
text-autospace:none"><span style="font-family:Palatino;mso-fareast-font-family:
"Times New Roman"">This is not to say TIGERS BE STILL is bad.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>It’s perfectly okay…like an American
cheese, mayonnaise and white bread sandwich.<span style="mso-spacerun:
yes"> </span>It’s just not exciting or memorable.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>The message of “you are responsible for
your own actions” is clear, the plot flows right along with some quirky
inserts, but nothing screams out, “pay attention to this.” </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;
text-autospace:none"><span style="font-family:Palatino;mso-fareast-font-family:
"Times New Roman""> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;
text-autospace:none"><span style="font-family:Palatino;mso-fareast-font-family:
"Times New Roman"">Playwright Kim Rosenstock said, of TIGERS BE STILL, that she
“wanted to write a comedy about depression.”<span style="mso-spacerun:
yes"> </span>She did.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>Not a
great comedy about depression, but a less than depressing comedy about
depression.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;
text-autospace:none"><span style="font-family:Palatino;mso-fareast-font-family:
"Times New Roman""> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;
text-autospace:none"><span style="font-family:Palatino;mso-fareast-font-family:
"Times New Roman"">TIGERS BE STILL examines the lives of a mother, two sisters,
a former beau of the mother who is now a junior high principal, and his
son.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>All are dysfunctional.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>The mother has a disease, which forces
her to take a drug that causes severe weight gain.<span style="mso-spacerun:
yes"> </span>A former beauty, she crawls into bed, has not come out of
her room for months, and communicates with her daughters, who live in the same
house as the mother, by telephone.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">
</span>Her husband walked out when she became bedroom bound. </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;
text-autospace:none"><span style="font-family:Palatino;mso-fareast-font-family:
"Times New Roman""> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;
text-autospace:none"><span style="font-family:Palatino;mso-fareast-font-family:
"Times New Roman"">Her oldest daughter has called off her impending wedding
because her fiancé cheated.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>She is
in deep depression, drinking and eating with abandon, and lying on the living
room couch watching over and over again a Depends commercial, and a video of
TOP GUN, while having a sexual fling with the octogenarian mailman.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;
text-autospace:none"><span style="font-family:Palatino;mso-fareast-font-family:
"Times New Roman""> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;
text-autospace:none"><span style="font-family:Palatino;mso-fareast-font-family:
"Times New Roman"">The youngest daughter, who just completed her MA in art
therapy, has been hired to teach at a junior high by her mother’s ex-boy friend
and also to counsel his angst-filled and angry son.<span style="mso-spacerun:
yes"> </span>She is as needy as the rest of her psychotic brood.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;
text-autospace:none"><span style="font-family:Palatino;mso-fareast-font-family:
"Times New Roman""> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;
text-autospace:none"><span style="font-family:Palatino;mso-fareast-font-family:
"Times New Roman"">The principal is grief stricken and acting off-kilter due to
the sudden death of his wife.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>The
son, who was responsible for his mother’s death, when he lost control of the
car he was driving, has a rage problem.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">
</span>Guess what?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>They are both
depressed.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;
text-autospace:none"><span style="font-family:Palatino;mso-fareast-font-family:
"Times New Roman""> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;
text-autospace:none"><span style="font-family:Palatino;mso-fareast-font-family:
"Times New Roman"">The play ends with the line, “And, that’s how my mother got
out of bed.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>That gives a broad
hint of how the whole saga works itself out.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;
text-autospace:none"><span style="font-family:Palatino;mso-fareast-font-family:
"Times New Roman""> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;
text-autospace:none"><span style="font-family:Palatino;mso-fareast-font-family:
"Times New Roman"">Dobama’s production, under the direction of Mark Moritz, is
fine.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>The pace, movements, idea
development, and characterizations are all on track.<span style="mso-spacerun:
yes"> </span>Nothing great, nothing bad.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;
text-autospace:none"><span style="font-family:Palatino;mso-fareast-font-family:
"Times New Roman""> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;
text-autospace:none"><span style="font-family:Palatino;mso-fareast-font-family:
"Times New Roman"">Rachel Gehlert is like the Energizer bunny on speed.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>She is delightful, quirky and makes
Sherry, the art therapist, fun.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">
</span>Well, as fun as a depressed person can be.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;
text-autospace:none"><span style="font-family:Palatino;mso-fareast-font-family:
"Times New Roman""> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;
text-autospace:none"><span style="font-family:Palatino;mso-fareast-font-family:
"Times New Roman"">Kristy Cruz, is fine as the depressed older sister.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>She appropriately makes depressed look
depressing.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;
text-autospace:none"><span style="font-family:Palatino;mso-fareast-font-family:
"Times New Roman""> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;
text-autospace:none"><span style="font-family:Palatino;mso-fareast-font-family:
"Times New Roman"">Mark Mayo adds a quirky twist to the role of the Principal,
but one can only wonder why a school board would continue to employ someone “so
out of it.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>But, this interpretation
of a principal seems to be the trend…think Principal Figgens in GLEE.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;
text-autospace:none"><span style="font-family:Palatino;mso-fareast-font-family:
"Times New Roman""> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;
text-autospace:none"><span style="font-family:Palatino;mso-fareast-font-family:
"Times New Roman"">Joe Dunn gives a nice interpretation to the role of the
guilt-ridden teenager.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>His “why I
didn’t shoot the tiger speech” is excellent.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;
text-autospace:none"><span style="font-family:Palatino;mso-fareast-font-family:
"Times New Roman""> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;
text-autospace:none"><span style="font-family:Palatino;mso-fareast-font-family:
"Times New Roman"">Oh, the title.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">
</span>A tiger has broken out of the local zoo and the citizenry is very
depressed over what might take place if someone is confronted by the animal.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;
text-autospace:none"><span style="font-family:Palatino;mso-fareast-font-family:
"Times New Roman""> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;
text-autospace:none"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style:normal"><span style="mso-bidi-font-size:12.0pt;font-family:Palatino;mso-bidi-font-family:
Arial">Capsule judgement</span></i><span style="mso-bidi-font-size:12.0pt;
font-family:Palatino;mso-bidi-font-family:Arial">:<span style="mso-spacerun:
yes"> </span>TIGERS BE STILL, which gets a nice production at Dobama,
isn’t the kind of play that will long be remembered.<span style="mso-spacerun:
yes"> </span>It’s not a don’t see nor a must see kind of offering.</span><span style="font-family:Palatino;mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman""></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;
text-autospace:none"><span style="font-family:Palatino;mso-fareast-font-family:
"Times New Roman""> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:Palatino">TIGERS BE STILL plays at
Dobama through November 13.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>For
tickets call 216- 932-3396 or go to <a href="http://dobama.org">http://dobama.org</a><span style="mso-spacerun:
yes"> </span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:Palatino"> </span></p>