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<P style="BACKGROUND: white; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" align=center><B><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: ; COLOR: ; mso-bidi-font-family: arial; mso-bidi-font-style: italic"><FONT
face=Georgia><FONT color=#222222>OSF’s hilarious ‘Scapin’ finds the play amidst
the playfulness</FONT></FONT></SPAN></B></P>
<P style="BACKGROUND: white; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" align=center><B><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: ; COLOR: ; mso-bidi-font-family: arial; mso-bidi-font-style: italic"><FONT
color=#222222 face=Georgia></FONT></SPAN></B> </P>
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align=center><SPAN
style='BORDER-TOP: windowtext 1pt; FONT-FAMILY: ; BORDER-RIGHT: windowtext 1pt; BORDER-BOTTOM: windowtext 1pt; COLOR: ; PADDING-BOTTOM: 0in; PADDING-TOP: 0in; PADDING-LEFT: 0in; BORDER-LEFT: windowtext 1pt; PADDING-RIGHT: 0in; mso-bidi-font-family: arial; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-border-alt: none windowtext 0in'><FONT
face=Georgia>Bob Abelman</FONT></SPAN><SPAN
style='FONT-FAMILY: ; COLOR: ; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"'></SPAN></P>
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align=center><I style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal"><SPAN
style='BORDER-TOP: windowtext 1pt; FONT-FAMILY: ; BORDER-RIGHT: windowtext 1pt; BORDER-BOTTOM: windowtext 1pt; COLOR: ; PADDING-BOTTOM: 0in; PADDING-TOP: 0in; PADDING-LEFT: 0in; BORDER-LEFT: windowtext 1pt; PADDING-RIGHT: 0in; mso-bidi-font-family: arial; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-border-alt: none windowtext 0in'><FONT
face=Georgia>Cleveland Jewish News, The News Herald, The Morning
Journal</FONT></SPAN></I><SPAN
style='FONT-FAMILY: ; COLOR: ; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"'></SPAN></P>
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align=center><SPAN
style='BORDER-TOP: windowtext 1pt; FONT-FAMILY: ; BORDER-RIGHT: windowtext 1pt; BORDER-BOTTOM: windowtext 1pt; COLOR: ; PADDING-BOTTOM: 0in; PADDING-TOP: 0in; PADDING-LEFT: 0in; BORDER-LEFT: windowtext 1pt; PADDING-RIGHT: 0in; mso-bidi-font-family: arial; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-border-alt: none windowtext 0in'><FONT
face=Georgia>Member, International Association of Theatre
Critics</FONT></SPAN><SPAN
style='FONT-FAMILY: ; COLOR: ; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"'></SPAN></P>
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align=center><SPAN
style='FONT-FAMILY: ; COLOR: ; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"'><FONT
face="Times New Roman"></FONT></SPAN> </P>
<P style="BACKGROUND: white; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><FONT face=Georgia><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: ; BACKGROUND-IMAGE: none; BACKGROUND-REPEAT: repeat; BACKGROUND-ATTACHMENT: scroll; BACKGROUND-POSITION: 0% 0%; mso-bidi-font-family: helvetica">Molière's
347-year-old </SPAN><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: ; BACKGROUND-IMAGE: none; BACKGROUND-REPEAT: repeat; BACKGROUND-ATTACHMENT: scroll; BACKGROUND-POSITION: 0% 0%; COLOR: ; mso-bidi-font-family: arial">commedia
dell’arte-inspired farce, </SPAN><SPAN style="FONT-FAMILY: ; COLOR: "><FONT
color=#111111>“</FONT></SPAN><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: ; COLOR: ; mso-bidi-font-family: arial; mso-bidi-font-style: italic; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold"><FONT
color=#222222>Scapin the Schemer,” has been often translated and tailored to
modern times and tastes.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes">
</SPAN></FONT></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P style="BACKGROUND: white; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: ; COLOR: ; mso-bidi-font-family: arial; mso-bidi-font-style: italic; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold"><FONT
color=#222222 face=Georgia></FONT></SPAN> </P>
<P style="BACKGROUND: white; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><FONT face=Georgia><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: ; COLOR: ; mso-bidi-font-family: arial; mso-bidi-font-style: italic; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold"><FONT
color=#222222>One of its most notable adaptations is by professional clown and
Oberlin College alum Bill Irwin and playwright Mark O’Donnell, whose acclaimed
pratfall-filled production premiered at New</FONT></SPAN><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: "> York’s Roundabout Theatre Company in 1997.<SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P style="BACKGROUND: white; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: "><FONT face=Georgia></FONT></SPAN> </P>
<P style="BACKGROUND: white; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><FONT face=Georgia><SPAN>One
of its most recent adaptations is by Ohio Shakespeare Festival artistic director
Terry Burgler, whose production is currently being performed by the Akron-based
OSF under his ambidextrous</SPAN><SPAN style="FONT-FAMILY: ">
direction.</SPAN><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: ; BACKGROUND-IMAGE: none; BACKGROUND-REPEAT: repeat; BACKGROUND-ATTACHMENT: scroll; BACKGROUND-POSITION: 0% 0%; mso-bidi-font-family: helvetica">
<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P style="BACKGROUND: white; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: ; BACKGROUND-IMAGE: none; BACKGROUND-REPEAT: repeat; BACKGROUND-ATTACHMENT: scroll; BACKGROUND-POSITION: 0% 0%; mso-bidi-font-family: helvetica"><FONT
face=Georgia></FONT></SPAN> </P>
<P style="BACKGROUND: white; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: ; BACKGROUND-IMAGE: none; BACKGROUND-REPEAT: repeat; BACKGROUND-ATTACHMENT: scroll; BACKGROUND-POSITION: 0% 0%; mso-bidi-font-family: helvetica"><FONT
face=Georgia>Burgler keeps the piece period, playful and pruned to a manageable
two-hour two acts.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>And it embraces
all that is lightning fast and broadly physical in a 17<SUP>th</SUP> century art
form that offers highly predictable and recognizable stock characters – the
hopeless lovers<SPAN style="COLOR: ">, the sad misanthrope, the elderly miser
</SPAN>– engaged </FONT></SPAN><FONT face="Times New Roman">in highly comedic
domestic conflicts in desperate need of outrageous resolution.<SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN></FONT></SPAN></P>
<P style="BACKGROUND: white; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: ; BACKGROUND-IMAGE: none; BACKGROUND-REPEAT: repeat; BACKGROUND-ATTACHMENT: scroll; BACKGROUND-POSITION: 0% 0%; mso-bidi-font-family: helvetica"><FONT
face=Georgia></FONT></SPAN> </P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt; LINE-HEIGHT: normal"><FONT
face=Georgia><SPAN style="FONT-FAMILY: ">But this production never loses sight
of or its grip on these characters’ passions and what they want most out of
life. And so it generates </SPAN><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: ; BACKGROUND-IMAGE: none; BACKGROUND-REPEAT: repeat; BACKGROUND-ATTACHMENT: scroll; BACKGROUND-POSITION: 0% 0%; mso-bidi-font-family: helvetica">laughter
that is a satisfying response rather than an automatic reflex. <SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN><SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt; LINE-HEIGHT: normal"><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: "><FONT face=Georgia></FONT></SPAN> </P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt; LINE-HEIGHT: normal"><FONT
face=Georgia><I style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal"><SPAN
style='BORDER-TOP: windowtext 1pt; FONT-FAMILY: ; BORDER-RIGHT: windowtext 1pt; BORDER-BOTTOM: windowtext 1pt; COLOR: ; PADDING-BOTTOM: 0in; PADDING-TOP: 0in; PADDING-LEFT: 0in; BORDER-LEFT: windowtext 1pt; PADDING-RIGHT: 0in; mso-bidi-font-family: arial; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-border-alt: none windowtext 0in'>For
more of this article, go to </SPAN></I><SPAN
style='FONT-FAMILY: ; COLOR: ; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"'><FONT
color=#0000ff>www.clevelandjewishnews.com/columnists/bob_abelman/</FONT></SPAN></FONT></P></DIV></DIV></BODY></HTML>