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<P style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal
align=center><B style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal"><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'"><FONT size=3>At Dobama’s “The Big
Meal,” we give thanks for family angst <?xml:namespace prefix = o ns =
"urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office" /><o:p></o:p></FONT></SPAN></B></P>
<P style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal
align=center><B style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal"><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; mso-ansi-language: CS"
lang=CS><o:p><FONT size=3> </FONT></o:p></SPAN></B></P>
<P style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal
align=center><SPAN style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'"><FONT size=3>Bob
Abelman<o:p></o:p></FONT></SPAN></P>
<P style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal
align=center><I style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal"><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'"><FONT size=3>News-Herald, Morning
Journal, Chagrin Valley Times, Solon Times,<o:p></o:p></FONT></SPAN></I></P>
<P style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal
align=center><I style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal"><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'"><FONT size=3>Geauga Times
Courier<o:p></o:p></FONT></SPAN></I></P>
<P style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal
align=center><SPAN style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'"><FONT
size=3>Member, International Association of Theatre Critics
<o:p></o:p></FONT></SPAN></P>
<P style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal
align=center><SPAN style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'"><o:p><FONT
size=3> </FONT></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal
align=center><SPAN style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'"><FONT size=3>This
review will appear in the <I style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal">News-Herald</I>
on 12/13/13<B
style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal"><o:p></o:p></B></FONT></SPAN></P>
<P style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal
align=center><B style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal"><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; mso-ansi-language: CS"
lang=CS><o:p><FONT size=3> </FONT></o:p></SPAN></B></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt; BACKGROUND: white" class=MsoNormal><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; COLOR: black; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'"><o:p><FONT
size=3> </FONT></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt; BACKGROUND: white" class=MsoNormal><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; COLOR: black; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'"><FONT
size=3>‘Tis the season when local theaters are offering visions of sugar plums
and time-honored tales of righteousness, redemption and resurrection.<SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>Leave it to Dobama Theatre to offer its
own unique, slightly twisted take on the holidays.<o:p></o:p></FONT></SPAN></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt; BACKGROUND: white" class=MsoNormal><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; COLOR: black; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'"><o:p><FONT
size=3> </FONT></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt; BACKGROUND: white" class=MsoNormal><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; COLOR: black; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'"><FONT
size=3>Like most seasonal storytelling, Dan LeFranc’s “The Big Meal” is all
about family.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>The entire 90-minute
play takes place in a restaurant where a young couple, Sam and Nicole, meet for
the first time and share a few moments of awkward conversation.<SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>The story then kicks into overdrive as
we witness their courtship, marriage, separation, children, grandchildren and
great-grandchildren.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>Life and
death, over the course of 70 years and always over a main course at the
restaurant, flash forward before our eyes. <SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN><o:p></o:p></FONT></SPAN></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt; BACKGROUND: white" class=MsoNormal><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; COLOR: black; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'"><o:p><FONT
size=3> </FONT></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt; BACKGROUND: white" class=MsoNormal><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; COLOR: black; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'"><FONT
size=3>Rapid-fire transitions in time are signaled by simple shifts in the
lighting.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>Multiple generations of
family are all played by the same eight-member ensemble, which represent new
characters with a new coat or hat and a slightly altered posture.<SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>As Sam and Nicole age, older actors take
over the roles while the younger actors return as the next generation of
kin.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN><o:p></o:p></FONT></SPAN></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt; BACKGROUND: white" class=MsoNormal><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; COLOR: black; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'"><o:p><FONT
size=3> </FONT></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0.1pt 0in; BACKGROUND: white"><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; COLOR: black; FONT-SIZE: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'">While
clever, such stage craftiness is not original.<SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN></SPAN><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; COLOR: black; FONT-SIZE: 12pt">Thornton
Wilder’s 1931 one-act play “Long Christmas Dinner” offers </SPAN><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; FONT-SIZE: 12pt; mso-ansi-language: EN"
lang=EN>in accelerated motion 90 Christmas dinners in the Bayard
home.</SPAN><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; COLOR: black; FONT-SIZE: 12pt"
lang=EN> <SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN></SPAN><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; COLOR: black; FONT-SIZE: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-ansi-language: EN"
lang=EN>“The Dining Room,” a play by A.R. Gurney, is s</SPAN><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; FONT-SIZE: 12pt; mso-ansi-language: EN"
lang=EN>et in a single room where 18 scenes from different households overlap
and intertwine.</SPAN><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; COLOR: black; FONT-SIZE: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-ansi-language: EN"
lang=EN> <SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>Frank Rich, in his 1982
The New York Times review, described the play as “a series of snapshots.”<SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN><o:p></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0.1pt 0in; BACKGROUND: white"><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; COLOR: black; FONT-SIZE: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-ansi-language: EN"
lang=EN><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0.1pt 0in; BACKGROUND: white"><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; COLOR: black; FONT-SIZE: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-ansi-language: EN"
lang=EN>So, too, is </SPAN><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; COLOR: black; FONT-SIZE: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'">LeFranc’s
play, which opened in Chicago in 2011 and had a limited run off-Broadway in
2012.</SPAN><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; COLOR: black; FONT-SIZE: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-ansi-language: EN"
lang=EN><o:p></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0.1pt 0in; BACKGROUND: white"><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; COLOR: black; FONT-SIZE: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-ansi-language: EN"
lang=EN><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt; BACKGROUND: white" class=MsoNormal><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; COLOR: black; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'"><FONT
size=3>“Gather ye rosebuds while ye may” is the obvious message in each of these
modern-day morality plays.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>In “The
Big Meal,” however, the focus is on the thorns rather than the soft and flagrant
petals.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes">
</SPAN><o:p></o:p></FONT></SPAN></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt; BACKGROUND: white" class=MsoNormal><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; COLOR: black; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'"><o:p><FONT
size=3> </FONT></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt; BACKGROUND: white" class=MsoNormal><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; COLOR: black; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'"><FONT
size=3>Edited out of LeFranc’s condensed genealogical journey are the happy
times and Hallmark moments – the stuff of traditional holiday plays and the
works of Wilder and Gurney.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes">
</SPAN>Instead, we get scene after scene of the very family-inspired angst we go
to the theater to escape from.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes">
</SPAN><o:p></o:p></FONT></SPAN></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt; BACKGROUND: white" class=MsoNormal><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; COLOR: black; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'"><FONT
size=3></FONT></SPAN> </P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt; BACKGROUND: white" class=MsoNormal><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; COLOR: black; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'"><FONT
size=3>“The Big Meal” is an ancestor.com search from hell that traces congenital
character flaws and bad habits as they metastasize from one generation to the
next. <o:p></o:p></FONT></SPAN></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt; BACKGROUND: white" class=MsoNormal><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; COLOR: black; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'"><o:p><FONT
size=3> </FONT></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt; BACKGROUND: white" class=MsoNormal><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; COLOR: black; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'"><FONT
size=3>Although the anguish that trims this family tree is buffered by creative
construction and plenty of humor, the play is still a brutal assault on the ties
that bind us.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>It is, at times, too
close to the bone to be entertaining. <o:p></o:p></FONT></SPAN></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt; BACKGROUND: white" class=MsoNormal><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; COLOR: black; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'"><o:p><FONT
size=3> </FONT></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt; BACKGROUND: white" class=MsoNormal><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; COLOR: black; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'"><FONT
size=3>The takeaway from seeing this production, then, is to witness the
wonderful artistry with which it is presented. <o:p></o:p></FONT></SPAN></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt; BACKGROUND: white" class=MsoNormal><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; COLOR: black; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'"><o:p><FONT
size=3> </FONT></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt; BACKGROUND: white" class=MsoNormal><FONT
size=3><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; COLOR: black; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'">This
production boasts a uniformly stellar ensemble that consists of </SPAN><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold">Tom
Woodward, Derdriu Ring, Geoff Knox, Llewie<SPAN
style="BORDER-BOTTOM: windowtext 1pt; BORDER-LEFT: windowtext 1pt; PADDING-BOTTOM: 0in; PADDING-LEFT: 0in; PADDING-RIGHT: 0in; BACKGROUND: white; COLOR: #333333; BORDER-TOP: windowtext 1pt; BORDER-RIGHT: windowtext 1pt; PADDING-TOP: 0in; mso-border-alt: none windowtext 0in">
</SPAN>Nuñez, Bob Goddard, Anne McEvoy and the youngsters Emily Kenville and
Ryan Vincent.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>Their intricate and
intriguing portraits take all that is appalling and make it
compelling.</SPAN><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; COLOR: black; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'"><o:p></o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt; BACKGROUND: white" class=MsoNormal><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; COLOR: black; FONT-SIZE: 12pt"></SPAN> </P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt; BACKGROUND: white" class=MsoNormal><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; COLOR: black; FONT-SIZE: 12pt">Director
Joel Hammer does not linger on anything for too long in this play, which keeps
the audience engaged throughout.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>He
does, however, allow fleeting moments of sentimentality to work their way into
each passing of a key character.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes">
</SPAN>With the rest of the ensemble looking on from seats on the periphery of
Laura Carson’s authentic-looking restaurant, these moments have added poignancy
in light of the intense family dynamics that dominate this play. </SPAN></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt; BACKGROUND: white" class=MsoNormal><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; COLOR: black; FONT-SIZE: 12pt"></SPAN> </P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt; BACKGROUND: white" class=MsoNormal><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; COLOR: black; FONT-SIZE: 12pt">Sleigh
bells ring, are you listening?<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes">
</SPAN>Well, the folks at Dobama have something less festive but more enticing
in mind for the holidays.</SPAN><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; COLOR: black; FONT-SIZE: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'">
<o:p></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt; BACKGROUND: white" class=MsoNormal><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; COLOR: black; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'"><o:p><FONT
size=3> </FONT></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><FONT size=3><I><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; COLOR: black; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-ansi-language: EN"
lang=EN>“The Big Meal” runs through January 5 at Dobama Theatre, 2340 Lee Road,
Cleveland Heights. For tickets, </SPAN></I><I
style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal"><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'">which range from $10 to $26, call
216-932-3396 or visit <A href=""><FONT
color=#0000ff>www.dobama.org</FONT></A>.</SPAN></I></FONT><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; COLOR: black; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'"><o:p></o:p></SPAN></P></FONT></DIV></BODY></HTML>