<!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.0 Transitional//EN">
<HTML><HEAD>
<META content="text/html; charset=iso-8859-1" http-equiv=Content-Type>
<META name=GENERATOR content="MSHTML 9.00.8112.16561">
<STYLE></STYLE>
</HEAD>
<BODY bgColor=#ffffff>
<DIV><FONT size=2 face=Arial>
<P style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt; BACKGROUND: white"
align=center><FONT size=3><B style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal"><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; COLOR: black; mso-bidi-font-style: italic">Blank
Canvas’ ‘Cuckoo’s Nest’ is perched on a low-laying branch</SPAN></B><B
style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal"><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; COLOR: black"><?xml:namespace prefix =
o ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office"
/><o:p></o:p></SPAN></B></FONT></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'; 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><I style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal"><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; FONT-SIZE: 12pt">Cleveland Jewish
News<o:p></o:p></SPAN></I></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">Member, International
Association of Theatre Critics <o:p></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt; BACKGROUND: white"><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; COLOR: black"><o:p><FONT
size=3> </FONT></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt; BACKGROUND: white"><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; COLOR: black"><FONT size=3>Blank
Canvas Theatre – Cleveland’s primary provider of cultist comedies and
spectacularly bizarre musicals – also grounds its professional reputation in
productions of <SPAN style="mso-bidi-font-style: italic">modern classics. <SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>Its current rendition of Dale Wasserman’s
“One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest,” directed and designed by Patrick Ciamacco,
does little to bolster that reputation. <o:p></o:p></SPAN></FONT></SPAN></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt; BACKGROUND: white"><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; COLOR: black; mso-bidi-font-style: italic"><o:p><FONT
size=3> </FONT></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">In
“Cuckoo’s Nest,” pathological trouble-maker Randle P. McMurphy (Daniel
McElhaney) lands himself in a mental ward and sets his sights on engaging in
all-out warfare with the coldly manipulative Nurse Ratched (Anne McEvoy).<SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>The battleground is the day room of the
<SPAN style="BACKGROUND: white">asylum – a linoleum-lined meeting place rendered
in soul-sucking tones of institutional green.<SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>The cause is the liberation of
</SPAN>his fellow mental patients from the psychological ties that bind them and
establishing supremacy over authority.<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">Both
McElhaney and McEvoy develop interesting characters but, as the central agents
of the dynamic tension that drives this play, they are not nearly interesting or
dynamic enough.<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'; 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">Undermining
their efforts is the sluggish pace with which this production progresses.
<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">Contributing
causes include frequently delayed lighting cues, scenes starting with flatly
delivered </SPAN><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; COLOR: #333333; FONT-SIZE: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'">pre-recorded
interior monologues by inert inmate Chief Bromden (Aaron Patterson), and too
many missed opportunities to instill much needed energy into this
production.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>Depicting the
prostitutes (Monica Zach and Kim Woodworth) that McMurphy sneaks into the asylum
as little more than drunken choir girls, for example, creates activity but
little action. <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'; COLOR: #333333; FONT-SIZE: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'"><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: #333333; FONT-SIZE: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'">Consequently,
many of the </SPAN><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; COLOR: black; FONT-SIZE: 12pt">play’s
dramatic moments simply lack drama. <SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>But not all, thanks to a very talented
supporting cast.<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'; 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">John
Polk, as patient Dale Harding, and Perren Hedderson, as patient Billy Babbit,
are given marvelously written moments of mental melt-down that are delivered
brilliantly.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>The play’s many
comedic and poignant moments that spring from them and other actors playing
mental patients – which include Matthew Lenczewski, as Ruckly; Chris Ross, as
Cheswick; and Len Lieber, as Scanlon – help keep this flawed production afloat.
<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>
<H4 style="LINE-HEIGHT: normal; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; FONT-SIZE: 12pt; FONT-WEIGHT: normal; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold">WHAT:<SPAN
style="mso-tab-count: 1">
</SPAN><SPAN style="COLOR: black; mso-bidi-font-style: italic">“One Flew Over
the Cuckoo’s Nest”</SPAN></SPAN><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; COLOR: black; FONT-SIZE: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-style: italic">
</SPAN><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; FONT-SIZE: 12pt; FONT-WEIGHT: normal; mso-bidi-font-style: italic"><o:p></o:p></SPAN></H4>
<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; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-bidi-font-style: italic">WHERE:<SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN><SPAN
style="mso-tab-count: 1"> </SPAN></SPAN><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; FONT-SIZE: 12pt">Blank Canvas
</SPAN><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; FONT-SIZE: 12pt; mso-ansi-language: EN"
lang=EN>Theatre at 78th Street Studios in Cleveland<o:p></o:p></SPAN></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; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-bidi-font-style: italic">WHEN:<SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN><SPAN
style="mso-tab-count: 1">
</SPAN>Through August 2<o:p></o:p></SPAN></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; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-bidi-font-style: italic">TICKETS:<SPAN
style="mso-tab-count: 1"> </SPAN></SPAN><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; FONT-SIZE: 12pt">$15, call
440-941-0458 or visit <A href=""><FONT
color=#0000ff>www.blankcanvastheatre.com</FONT></A><SPAN
style="BACKGROUND: white; COLOR: black"><o:p></o:p></SPAN></SPAN></P></FONT></DIV></BODY></HTML>