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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'; FONT-SIZE: 12pt">Chagrin Valley Little
Theatre’s one-act smorgasbord lacks variety, vivacity<?xml:namespace prefix = o
ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office" /><o:p></o:p></SPAN></B></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'; FONT-SIZE: 12pt"><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'; 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">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">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"><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">This
review will appear in the News-Herald</SPAN><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; FONT-SIZE: 12pt"> on 7/5/13</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"><B
style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal"><o:p></o:p></B></SPAN> </P>
<P style="LINE-HEIGHT: normal; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt"><o:p><FONT face=Calibri> </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">It has often been
said that watching an evening of one-act plays is like dining exclusively on
hors d'oeuvres.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>These bite-sized
bits of theater can easily satisfy an appetite for the arts if they are
sufficiently rich and in abundance.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes">
</SPAN>If one is not to your liking, you can simply spit into a napkin --
figuratively speaking – and move on to the next offering.<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">Currently on stage at
the Chagrin Valley Little Theatre’s intimate </SPAN><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; FONT-SIZE: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'">River
Street Playhouse is</SPAN><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; FONT-SIZE: 12pt"> a potential panoply
of theatrical canapés.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>Co-directed
by Yvonne Pilarczyk and Catherine Remick, “The 10-10 Festival” is the CVLT’s
third <SPAN style="COLOR: black">biennial foray into </SPAN>original, ten-minute
one-act plays.<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">This time around,
expect to expectorate.<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">There’s a limit to
what a writer can do in ten minutes of stage time.<SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>Nonetheless, characters in one-acts
still need to be vivid and interesting, their situations need to be compelling
and pertinent, and plots must progress with some semblance of eloquence. <SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>Actors in these abbreviated endeavors
have to hit the ground running and win over an audience from the opening
moment.<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">In short, short does
not mean simplistic.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>An evening of
one-act plays can and must be various and ambitious in order to succeed.<SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>Sadly, this year’s “The 10-10 Festival”
is neither.<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">The evening gets off
to a sluggish start with “Life Lines” by Donna Hoke.<SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>This play about a woman dealing with the
death of her adult son goes nowhere and does so as if dipped in molasses.<SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>With its solemn tone and maudlin “Next
to Normal” contrivance of the dead co-existing with the living, it has no highs
or lows.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>Priscilla Kaczuk’s
concerted effort to create some seems forced and only adds to the piece’s
ineffectiveness.<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">Many of the plays
that follow are similarly sober affairs that also try and fail to sustain drama
by stretching a single emotion or a singularly emotional moment beyond capacity.
<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>Still, some fine acting takes place
in the course of these unremarkable works.<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">Claudia Lillibridge
is wonderful as a daughter making good on a promise to her deceased Dad in
Maureen Brady Johnson’s tender but tepid “Planting the Music.” <SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>Barbara Lindsey’s “Canyon’s Edge,” which
also does that dead-among-the-living thing, nicely showcases the talents of Art
Kuskin, as an older man who has lost his wife, and Natalie Seifried, as a
younger woman who is leaving her fiancée.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes">
</SPAN><SPAN style="COLOR: black">Mark DePompei </SPAN>and Priscilla Kaczuk, as
a divorcing couple, do good work in David MacGregor’s “For Old Time’s Sake.”
<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">Other selections –
including Rich Orloff’s “The Latest News From The Primordial Ooze,” about two
water-dwelling creatures at different stages of evolution; Stanley Toledo’s
“That Loving Feeling,” which is an exposition-laden tale about an intergalactic
lost and found desk; Sarah Osinsky’s “The Lunacy of Metric Matching,” about
internet-aided dating; and <SPAN style="COLOR: black">Cynthia Wilcox and Sarah
Kellogg’s “Seismic Shift,” which takes place moments after an earthquake</SPAN>
-- read like flat comedy sketches.<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">Several cast members,
including Doug Lillibridge and Jerry Schaber, perform with way too little
creative abandon in these pieces, which may well be symptomatic of some
lackluster stage direction.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>Shannon
Sidorick and Don Edelman offer more interesting choices.<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">Also in the evening’s
mix is John Evans Remick II’s “Azazel,” which is a wordy, tedious affair that
benefits from Art Kuskin’s brilliant slow burn reactions but cannot be salvaged
by Bob Fortlage, as a long-winded dinner guest.<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'; COLOR: black; FONT-SIZE: 12pt">Too
little too late, t</SPAN><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; FONT-SIZE: 12pt">he most entertaining
play comes toward the end of the evening.<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'; COLOR: black; FONT-SIZE: 12pt">Greg
Mandryk’s “Special Extra Treatment” is an effervescent play within a play within
a play about a stressed maître d' who must get a couple of minor characters to
vacate the best table in the restaurant, which has been reserved for the
featured players.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>In ten minutes, a
fun, absurd and unpredictable world is created, witty and fast-moving repartee
explodes off the stage, and Roger Atwell, Kathy Lamping, and Mark DePompei
create immediately interesting and endearing characters.<o:p></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"><o:p> </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">If this
play appeared earlier, similarly well-constructed works appeared more often, and
creative risks were in greater supply, the dining would be finer at the
</SPAN><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; FONT-SIZE: 12pt">smorgasbord that is
this year’s </SPAN><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; FONT-SIZE: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'">“The
10-10 Festival.<SPAN
style="mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-bidi-font-style: italic">”</SPAN></SPAN><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; COLOR: black; 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'; COLOR: black; FONT-SIZE: 12pt"><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></P>
<P style="LINE-HEIGHT: normal; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><I
style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal"><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; FONT-SIZE: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'">“The
10-10 Festival<SPAN
style="mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-bidi-font-style: italic">” continues
through July 13 </SPAN></SPAN></I><I style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal"><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; FONT-SIZE: 12pt">at the Chagrin Valley
Little Theatre’s </SPAN></I><I style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal"><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; FONT-SIZE: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'">River
Street Playhouse, 56 River Street</SPAN></I><I
style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal"><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; FONT-SIZE: 12pt">, Chagrin Falls.<SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>For tickets, which are $10, call
440-247-8955 or visit <A href=""><FONT
color=#000066>www.cvlt.org</FONT></A>.<o:p></o:p></SPAN></I></P></FONT></DIV></BODY></HTML>