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<DIV><FONT size=2 face=Arial><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; FONT-SIZE: 12pt"><?xml:namespace
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<P style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; LINE-HEIGHT: normal; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"
class=MsoNormal align=center><B style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal"><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'">‘</SPAN></B><B
style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal"><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; FONT-SIZE: 12pt">Skin Deep’ at the
CVLT lives up to its title <o:p></o:p></SPAN></B></P>
<P style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; LINE-HEIGHT: normal; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"
class=MsoNormal align=center><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; 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><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; COLOR: #1f497d; FONT-SIZE: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'">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; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'">News-Herald,
Chagrin Valley Times, Solon Times, Geauga Times Courier<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; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'">Member,
International Association of Theatre Critics <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'; FONT-SIZE: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'"><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; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'">This
review will appear in the News-Herald</SPAN><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; FONT-SIZE: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'">
on </SPAN><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; FONT-SIZE: 12pt">6/7/13<o:p></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; LINE-HEIGHT: normal; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"
class=MsoNormal align=center><B style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal"><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; COLOR: #333333; FONT-SIZE: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'"><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></B></P>
<P
style="LINE-HEIGHT: normal; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt; TEXT-AUTOSPACE: ; mso-layout-grid-align: none"
class=MsoNormal><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; FONT-SIZE: 12pt"><o:p> </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 is a simple,
golden rule about writing a half-hour TV sitcom:<SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>Generate a joke every 15-30
seconds.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>Damn the character
development, plot progression and dramatic arc, man, full speed ahead.<SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN><SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN><o:p></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"><o:p> </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">Relying on rapid-fire
one-liners when writing a full-length comedy for the stage, however, is a
formula for failure.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>Aristophanes
knew this.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>So did Shakespeare,
Moliere, Oscar Wilde, and Noel Coward.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes">
</SPAN>Even Neil Simon, who wrote for TV before Broadway, understood that funny
for the theater should not exclude the depiction of real people doing relevant
things of genuine consequence.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes">
</SPAN>Funny should come from these things.<o:p></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"><o:p> </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"><SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>Playwright Jon Lonoff, who’s “Skin Deep”
is currently on stage at the Chagrin Valley Little Theatre, must not have gotten
the memo. <SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>Although the title of his
play references the superficiality with which its main characters perceive
themselves and those around them, it also foreshadows the quality of the play
itself.<o:p></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=permalinkable><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'"><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=permalinkable><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'">The story revolves around <SPAN
style="COLOR: black">the woefully insecure Maureen (Jenny Barrett), whose
</SPAN>entire self-perception is based on her excessive weight.<SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>Every one-liner she utters, which is
every line she utters, is self-deprecating.<SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN><o:p></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=permalinkable><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'"><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=permalinkable><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'">Maureen also operates under the
assumption that others cannot see beyond her size.<SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>With regard to her self-absorbed sister
Sheila <SPAN style="COLOR: black">(Jaqueline Hummel)</SPAN>, an affluent
cosmetic surgery addict, and her sexually rambunctious, narcissistic
brother-in-law, Squire <SPAN style="COLOR: black">(Bobby Thomas)</SPAN>, she is
absolutely correct.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>In true sitcom
fashion, Sheila and Squire are mere foils that set up every punch line, and
typically do so with an insult and a smile.<SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN><o:p></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=permalinkable><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'"><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=permalinkable><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'">The scenes between Maureen, Sheila and
Squire are rather painful affairs.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes">
</SPAN><SPAN style="COLOR: black">Although Barrett has superb comic timing and
an endearing presence, the slow pace with which an otherwise fine Thomas
delivers his set-up lines and the excessive pauses that exist before Hummel
discovers hers keep many of the jokes from landing.<SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>This is an odd occurrence in a Barbara
Rhoades production, considering that her directorial bread and butter consists
largely of lighthearted, small cast comedies like this. <SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN><o:p></o:p></SPAN></SPAN></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=permalinkable><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; COLOR: black"><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=permalinkable><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'">These scenes are also painful because
the fat jokes that fill them have no redeeming value – no lesson is learned, no
moral is instilled, and no greater good is served by their expression.<SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>There’s just the cheap laugh at someone
else’s expense as the payoff.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN><SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>Although many of the one-liners are
actually quite funny, most are <SPAN style="COLOR: black">cruel by
21<SUP>st</SUP> century standards… and the play was written in the
21<SUP>st</SUP> century.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes">
</SPAN><o:p></o:p></SPAN></SPAN></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=permalinkable><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; COLOR: black"><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=permalinkable><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; COLOR: black">The show shifts gears
when Joe Spinelli (Tim Walsh) – the fellow Sheila has set up as a blind date for
Maureen – shows up at Maureen’s messy one bedroom apartment.<SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>On paper, Joe is just another
one-dimensional foil whose primary function is to progress this play to its
predictable happy ending.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>We learn
that Joe likes his women full-bodied, although it is clear from his astounding
awkwardness and his own admission that he has had few women from which to
choose. Flattered and desperate, Maureen falls for Joe.<SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>Lonely and desperate, Joe falls for
Maureen.<o:p></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=permalinkable><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; COLOR: black"><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=permalinkable><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; COLOR: black">Surprisingly, the scenes
between Maureen and Joe are magnificent.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes">
</SPAN>This is due to what Walsh brings to the role, for he stretches the
stereotype he has been handed beyond the playwright’s conception, finds
tenderness where none exists in the script, and embellishes those rare times
when they do.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>By fleshing out his
character and turning him into someone interesting and likable, Walsh creates an
opportunity for Barrett to do the same.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes">
</SPAN>Her </SPAN><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'">self-deprecation<SPAN
style="COLOR: black"> now becomes a defensive mechanism instead of a rote
response, and comes across as bitter-sweet rather than self-destructive and
implicitly cruel.<o:p></o:p></SPAN></SPAN></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=permalinkable><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; COLOR: black"><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=permalinkable><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; COLOR: black">“Skin Deep” becomes a
true romantic comedy during these moments rather than the made-for-TV version of
one that precedes and follows them.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes">
</SPAN>This will be a play worth seeing if whatever Welsh showed us on stage on
opening Saturday night proves to be contagious. <o:p></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=permalinkable><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; COLOR: black"><o:p> </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"><EM>“Skin Deep”
continues through June 22 at the Chagrin Valley Little Theatre, 40 River Street,
Chagrin Falls.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>For tickets, $12 to
$16, call 440-247-8955 or visit </EM><A href=""><EM><FONT
color=#0000ff>www.cvlt.org</FONT></EM></A><EM>.<o:p></o:p></EM></SPAN></P>
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