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<p class=""><a name="OLE_LINK1"></a><a name="OLE_LINK2"><span style><span style="font-family:Palatino"><span style="color:rgb(255,0,0)">••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••</span><br></span></span></a></p><p class="">
<a name="OLE_LINK2"><span style><span style="font-family:Palatino">Well written
FICTION gets excellent production at Actors’ Summit</span></span></a></p>
<p class="" style="text-autospace:none"><span style><span style><span style="font-family:Palatino">Roy Berko</span></span></span><span style><span style><span style="font-family:Palatino"></span></span></span></p>
<p class="" style="text-autospace:none"><span style><span style><i><span style="font-size:10pt;font-family:Palatino">(Member, American
Theatre Critics Association & Cleveland Critics Circle)</span></i></span></span><span style><span style><span style="font-size:10pt;font-family:Palatino"></span></span></span></p>
<p class="" style="text-autospace:none"><span style><span style><span style="font-family:Palatino">Tennessee Williams, Edward
Albee, William Inge, Arthur Miller, Stephen Dietz.<span style> </span>What do these playwrights have in common?<span style> </span>They are on the list of the top ten
American writers who have the most produced plays.<span style> </span>Never heard of Dietz?<span style>
</span>You are not alone. He is a regional playwright who makes a living as a
college professor and writing scripts that are done in mid-America.<span style> </span></span></span></span></p>
<p class="" style="text-autospace:none"><span style><span style><span style="font-family:Palatino"> </span></span></span></p>
<p class="" style="text-autospace:none"><span style><span style><span style="font-family:Palatino">Dietz is a prolific writer,
having penned more than 30 original plays. He’s scribed political, comedic, and
personal scripts.<span style> </span>Most center on
the effects of personal betrayal and deception.<span style> </span></span></span></span></p>
<p class="" style="text-autospace:none"><span style><span style><span style="font-family:Palatino"> </span></span></span></p>
<p class="" style="text-autospace:none"><span style><span style><span style="font-family:Palatino">In contrast to playwrights
who write a script, showcase it, and then have some production company stage
it, many of Dietz’s works go from computer right into acting editions that are
published by Dramatists Play Service or Samuel French.<span style> </span>Many of his short plays appear in
anthologies.<span style> </span>Broadway is not on the
list of sites for his works.</span></span></span></p>
<p class="" style="text-autospace:none"><span style><span style><span style="font-family:Palatino"> </span></span></span></p>
<p class="" style="text-autospace:none"><span style><span style><span style="font-family:Palatino">Actors’ Summit, which is
producing FICTION, a 2002 Dietz work, did a delightful production of his
commissioned piece, BECKY’S NEW CAR, in 2011, which was written as a birthday
present from a man to his wife.</span></span></span></p>
<p class="" style="text-autospace:none"><span style><span style><span style="font-family:Palatino"> </span></span></span></p>
<p class="" style="text-autospace:none"><span style><span style><span style="font-family:Palatino">Dietz is a wordsmith.<span style> </span>He writes poetic language and produces
quotable feasts. <span style> </span>His lines include
such bon mots as describing a character in FICTION as “having a mouth like a machine
that goes by itself.”<span style> </span>Another
character states, “you don’t leap a shadow, you just run through it.”<span style> </span>Describing a discussion between a man
and his wife, he states, “</span></span></span><span style><span style><span style="font-family:Palatino">The point? Why does there need
to be a point. . .the Great Reductiveness in which everything we say must be
shrunk down to You Make a Point and I Refute it; I Make a Statement and You
Rebut It. Is that really the best we can do?.” A secret that his ill wife is
keeping inspires the statement, “A secret, like a disease, is a very human
thing. It hides inside you. Discovers where you are most vulnerable. And then
it hurts you</span></span></span><span style><span style><span style="font-family:Palatino">.”</span></span></span></p>
<p class="" style="text-autospace:none"><span style><span style><span style="font-family:Palatino"> </span></span></span></p>
<p class="" style="text-autospace:none"><span style><span style><span style="font-family:Palatino">FICTION centers on an author (Michael), his wife (Linda)
, his lover (Abby), and a series of secrets.<span style> </span>The married duo originally met at a Paris café, develop an
argumentative repartee, and avoid “real talk” by playing verbal ping pong. <span style> </span>Michael and Abby met at a writer’s
seminar, and have a strained relationship.</span></span></span><span style><span style><span style="font-family:Palatino"></span></span></span></p>
<p class="" style="text-autospace:none"><span style><span style><span style="font-family:Palatino"> </span></span></span></p>
<p class="" style="text-autospace:none"><span style><span style><span style="font-family:Palatino">Linda, who has been diagnosed
with a fatal brain tumor, teaches literary fiction and book writing, and is the
author of a critically acclaimed novel based on her supposed rape while in
South Africa. Michael is a commercially successful novelist who is
uncomfortable with his having “sold out” to the movie industry and forced to
write best selling pithy novels. Both are prolific journal keepers and it is
their journals which serve as the touchstone of their problems. </span></span></span></p>
<p class="" style="text-autospace:none"><span style><span style><span style="font-family:Palatino"> </span></span></span></p>
<p class="" style="text-autospace:none"><span style><span style><span style="font-family:Palatino">Linda figures she has about
" twenty meals" left in her life, and asks Michael to read her
heretofore strictly private journals after her death, and she asks to read his.
<span style> </span>She explains " “It's
ludicrous…not to mention vain -- I mean vain in a truly Tom Wolfe-ian sort of
way -- to think that they are not real, that I am not real unless someone reads
them."<span style> </span>From this
request, through a series of audience affronts and interactions, we are led
down an intriguing path which reveals much and makes for the questioning of the
truth of it all.</span></span></span><span style><span style><span style="font-family:Palatino"></span></span></span></p>
<p class="" style="text-autospace:none"><span style><span style><span style="font-family:Palatino"> </span></span></span></p>
<p class="" style="text-autospace:none"><span style><span style><span style="font-family:Palatino">The well paced Actors’
Summit production, which is adeptly directed by MaryJo Alexander, is
compelling.<span style> </span>Though it is all
words, with no comedy, and no explosive action, there are enough highlighted
twists and turns and questions of what is true and what is fiction, to grab and
hold the audience.</span></span></span></p>
<p class="" style="text-autospace:none"><span style><span style><span style="font-family:Palatino"> </span></span></span></p>
<p class="" style="text-autospace:none"><span style><span style><span style="font-family:Palatino">Sally Groth (Linda),
Bob Keefe (Michael) and Cassandra Capocci (Abby)<span style> </span>each develop a real, living character.<span style> </span>The parts aren’t acted, they are lived.<span style> </span></span></span></span></p>
<p class="" style="text-autospace:none"><span style><span style><i><span style="font-family:Palatino"> </span></i></span></span></p>
<p class="" style="text-autospace:none"><span style><span style><i><span style="font-family:Palatino">CAPSULE
JUDGEMENT: FICTION </span></i></span></span><span style><span style><span style="font-family:Palatino">is a well crafted
script which should be appreciated by people who enjoy good acting and literate
dialogue.<span style> </span>I’d class it as a “go
see” for those who can forsake lots of pseudo-drama or escapist comedy.</span></span></span><span style><span style><span style="font-family:Palatino"></span></span></span></p>
<p class="" style="text-autospace:none"><span style><span style><span style="font-family:Palatino"> </span></span></span></p>
<p class=""><span style><span style><span style="font-family:Palatino">For tickets to
FICTION, which runs through February 3, call 330-342-0800 or go to
<a href="http://actorssummit.org">actorssummit.org</a>.</span></span></span><span style><span style><span style="font-family:Palatino"> </span></span></span><span style="font-family:Palatino"></span></p>
<p class=""><span style="font-family:Palatino"> </span></p>
<p class=""><span style="font-family:Palatino">Coming up:<span style> </span>ACTORS’ Summit’s next offering is the
recent off-Broadway smash, FREUD’S LAST SESSION, from February 28-March
17.<span style> </span>It will star 2012 Cleveland
Critics Circle’s Best Actor award winner Brian Zoldessy.<span style> </span>For a review of the off-Broadway show
go to <a href="http://www.royberko.info">http://www.royberko.info</a> and
search under the Broadway link.</span></p><p class=""><span style="font-family:Palatino"><span style="color:rgb(255,0,0)">•••••••••••••••••••••••••••</span></span></p><p class=""><span style="font-family:Palatino"><br></span></p>
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