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<p class="MsoNormal"><a name="OLE_LINK1"><b><span style="font-family:Palatino">It’s a choppy RIDE with some interesting people @
none too fragile and avoid using the valet parking</span></b></a></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:Palatino"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:10pt;font-family:Palatino">Roy Berko</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:10pt;font-family:Palatino">(Member, American Theatre Critics Association
& Cleveland Critics Circle)</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:Palatino"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:Palatino">Eric Lane is a prolific and prize winning playwright. His plays include “Times of War,”
“Filming O’Keefe,” “Floating,” and “Dancing on Checkers’ Grave.” Never heard of them? You are not alone. In spite of his recognition for writing
some episodes for TV’s “Ryan’s Hope,” his scripts are not on the list of the
most published plays.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:Palatino"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:Palatino">His “Ride,” which is now in production at Akron’s none too fragile
theatre, is more of a performance device for three strong actresses, than a story
that will grab and hold your attention.
In fact, the vignette writing format, in which there are more than ten
scenes bridged together with music, often makes for a choppy sit. An uneven ride, in this case.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:Palatino"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:Palatino">The story concerns a young girl (Sam), her older sister (Carrie), and
the sister’s fellow worker at a summer fruit stand (Molly). </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:Palatino"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:Palatino">Sam, who is both brilliant and impulsive, and Carrie, are the
children of a loving father, who died early, and a mother who is having trouble
coping with her husband’s loss. She
works long hours. She has daughters
who are angst filled. Sam has a
fear of death and investigates all possible causes of demise…faulty tire
brands, poorly working airbags, and non-healthy foods. Carrie, who wants to go to college, is
working at a summer fruit stand in order to make money to allow her to
supplement her university scholarship.
She is concerned about how impetuous Sam will be able to survive with
little parental supervision when Carrie goes off to college.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:Palatino"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:Palatino">Molly, the daughter of a wealthy and abusive father, who makes up for
his physical abusiveness by buying his daughter “things,” such as a new
expensive car, to amend for his actions, is mad at her mother for putting up
with the abuse, and with her father, not only for his aggressiveness, but also
for his infidelities. Full of
revenge, she wants to “destroy” her father’s mistress, who resides in Florida.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:Palatino"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:Palatino">The fragile friendship bond between Carrie and Molly manifests into a
ride to the Sunshine State, as planned by Molly, for which, for some unrevealed
reason Carrie agrees to participate in, while dragging along Sam. </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:0.1pt 0in"><span style="font-family:Palatino"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:0.1pt 0in"><span style="font-family:Palatino">As their ride to Florida progresses,
the emotional sense of each girl somewhat emerges. </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:0.1pt 0in"><span style="font-family:Palatino"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:0.1pt 0in"><span style="font-family:Palatino">More than a plot driven play in which
depth of problems and story intricacies emerge, Lane has written character
studies, which are acting exercises. Fortunately, none so fragile has cast three
superlative actresses.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:0.1pt 0in"><span style="font-family:Palatino"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:0.1pt 0in"><span style="font-family:Palatino">Young Ireland Derry creates Sam into
such a realistic person that not a bit of role playing is present. She doesn’t act Sam, she is Sam. Every line, every gesture, every intonation
are Sam! Wow!</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:0.1pt 0in"><span style="font-family:Palatino"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:Palatino">Alanna Romansky has a complex acting
issue with portraying Carrie. She
both must be “in the moment,” being a sister to Sam and being conflicted with
issues regarding her widowed mother, and the death of her father, but also must
be a narrator to the audience, developing what may be the major issue of the
play. </span><span style="font-family:Palatino"> She shares
with the audience her observations about Anne Frank, who was the topic of a
high-school composition. She
wonders “if everyone isn’t living in hiding in their own secret annex.” She pulls off both levels of
performance with believability.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:Palatino"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:Palatino">Rachel Roberts creates in Molly a definite presence of a lack of
mooring. Blessed with an abusive
father, and a enabling mother, Molly needs to be both angst-driven and
impulsive. Roberts creates a Molly
who is both.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:Palatino"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:Palatino">The play’s structure, many short vignettes, makes for a choppy
ride. This is not helped by
director Sean Derry’s adding long musical bridges between each of the scenes,
and then adding a long intermission between acts, thus chopping up the
conceptual flow. In spite of the
fact that the music was well selected to introduce each scene, the production
would have been much more compact and enfolding if there was less or shorter
musical interludes and the play had been done as a long one-act, with no
intermission. Since realistic
scenery is not a necessity, the many set pieces could have been eliminated, thus
eliminating the intermission which served mainly as a time to change the set. </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:0.1pt 0in"><span style="font-family:Palatino"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><i><span style="font-family:Palatino;color:black">Capsule judgement: </span></i><i><span style="font-family:Palatino">Eric Lane’s RIDE is more a character study than a
well-structured play. It is both
the strength and weakness of the script.
Regardless of the message, or lack of message, or quality, or lack of
quality of the script, it is worth going to see the production, to be exposed
to the talented cast, especially to seventh grader Ireland Derry. You will be one of the first to
experience “a star being born,” in this, her theatrical debut! </span></i></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><i><span style="font-family:Palatino;color:black"> </span></i></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:Palatino">“Ride” </span><span style="font-family:Palatino">runs through
August 30, 2014 at none too fragile theater which is located in Bricco’s
Restaurant, 1841 Merriman Road, Akron.
</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:Palatino"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family:Palatino">Warning</span></b><span style="font-family:Palatino">: There is free valet parking
offered. I’d advise against using
it. When I went out to get my car
after the production, the valet had gone home. When I found my car, the motor was running, the doors
unlocked! The car could have
easily been stolen. Bricco’s
manager attempted to “get off the hook,” by saying that the parking is not done
by the restaurant employees, but by an outside company. Sorry, it’s on Bricco’s property.
Bricco’s supplies the service!
They are responsible!
After numerous complaints, I avoid the restaurant because continued poor
service. Now I also have to avoid
the valet parking. Not good!</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:Palatino"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:Palatino">For tickets call </span><span style="font-family:Palatino;color:rgb(38,38,38)">330-671-4563 </span><span style="font-family:Palatino">or go to </span><a href="http://www.nonetoofragile.com"><span style="font-family:Palatino">http://www.nonetoofragile.com</span></a><span style="font-family:Palatino"></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:Palatino"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:Palatino">The theatre’s next
production is Cormac McCarthy’s “Sunset Limited,” a play in which Black and
White, debate the meaning of human suffering, the existence of God, and the
propriety of suicide</span><span style="font-size:14pt;font-family:Helvetica;color:rgb(28,28,28)">.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:14pt;font-family:Helvetica;color:rgb(28,28,28)"><br></span></p><p class="MsoNormal">
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