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style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; COLOR: black; FONT-SIZE: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'">Slowgirl’
is a brilliant example of the fine art of slow theater<?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; BACKGROUND: white"
class=MsoNormal align=center><B style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal"><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; COLOR: black; FONT-SIZE: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'"><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">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, The News Herald, The Morning Journal<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>
<H1 style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt; VERTICAL-ALIGN: baseline"
align=center><SPAN
style="LINE-HEIGHT: 115%; FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; COLOR: black; FONT-SIZE: 12pt"><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></H1>
<P style="LINE-HEIGHT: normal; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; FONT-SIZE: 12pt">Dobama Theatre is at
its best when presenting modest plays that rely on choice words and fine acting
to do the heavy lifting. <SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>Greg
Pierce’s “Slowgirl” – a sensitively drawn and delicately presented one-act
contemplation on the healing of the human spirit – fits the bill in fine
fashion.<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">When the play begins,
Sterling (Christopher Bohan), a former American lawyer turned Costa Rican
recluse, is visited by Becky (Miranda Leeann Scholl), the 17-year-old niece he
barely knows.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN><SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>She is awaiting trial for her
participation in a tragic and traumatizing incident, and has come to the jungle
to find some escape from the guilt and fear that has rocked her privileged and
protected world.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>He is there under
similar circumstances, but their damaged souls and shared DNA are the only
things the two have in common.<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">Sterling has
retreated into himself, taking solace and finding sanity in the seclusion of the
Central American dry forest.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>He is
most comfortable alone and, when forced to converse – with the hired help, the
few locals who live down the road, or his niece – he tends to loiter, awkwardly,
in the placating pauses between sentences.<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">Becky’s hyperactive
verbosity lacks an off-switch.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>And
a filter.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>Like so many contemporary
American teens, she needs to fill any semblance of silence with rambling
observations, random disclosures, and the sound and fury of her own
voice.<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 charm and much of
the humor in this play is this conflict in communication styles, as Sterling
desperately, uncomfortably and incompetently attempts to adjust to her
full-fledged assault on his senses and Becky exasperatingly screams,
</SPAN><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; COLOR: black; FONT-SIZE: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'">“Jesus,
would it kill you to finish a sentence?”</SPAN><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"><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">But the real beauty
of this piece is in the conflict resolution.<SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>Not only do the two learn to talk
together and trust one another, but Sterling enables Becky to look inward for
peace and healing and she inspires him to come out from hiding, where his peace
and healing awaits.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>And that is
where choice words and fine acting take over.</SPAN></P>
<P style="LINE-HEIGHT: normal; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; FONT-SIZE: 12pt"></SPAN> </P>
<P style="LINE-HEIGHT: normal; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; FONT-SIZE: 12pt">For more of this
review, go to: <A
href="http://www.clevelandjewishnews.com/features/article_0e06e0bc-a4dc-11e4-94cb-73854b061657.html">http://www.clevelandjewishnews.com/features/article_0e06e0bc-a4dc-11e4-94cb-73854b061657.html</A><o:p></o:p></SPAN></P></FONT></DIV></BODY></HTML>