AURORA COMMUNITY THEATRE
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
February 7, 2017
Contact:
Christine Patronik-Holder
ONE ACTS by David Ives opens Mar. 3
An evening of comedies combining wit, intellect, satire and just plain fun
AURORA, OHIO ---- Eight comic plays in a collection called, One Acts by David Ives, opens Mar. 3 for a limited, four show-run to benefit Aurora Community Theatre and continues at 8 p.m. Fridays and Saturdays through Mar. 11. The theatre is located at 115 E. Pioneer Trail.
Theresa Benyo-Marzullo, Robert McCoy, Michael Oatman and D. Keith Stiver will each direct two plays from the award-winning playwright, screenwriter and novelist, David Ives, whom the New York Times calls: "maestro of the short form,” and a “master of fun” who “spins hilarity out of words.”
Twelve talented actors including Jenny Barrett, Samantha Cocco, Leigh Garrett, Andrew Gordon, Barbara Howitt, Stephen Kay, Travis Reilly, Michael J. Rogan, Jerry Schaber, Macey Staninger, Robert A. Walter, Brenda Willis, will take on one or more roles in the eight short plays.
Helping to bring the fast-paced show to the stage are: Marc C. Howard, producer, Ann Nyenhuis, stage manager, Craig Kollai, lighting designer, Maggie Hamilton, sound designer and Leigh Garrett, David Nyenhuis and April Sike, running crew. Vicki Rizzo-Prato is serving as liaison to the ACT Board of Trustees.
"Theatre that aerobicizes the brain and tickles the heart. Ives is a mordant comic who has put the play back in playwright…A wondrous wordmaster." —Time Magazine.
The selection will include the following one-act plays:
Words, Words, Words
Directed by Theresa Benyo-Marzullo
Kafka, Milton, and Swift, three intelligent chimpanzees are put in a cage together to test the hypothesis that three apes hitting keys at random on typewriters for an infinite amount of time will almost surely produce Shakespeare's play Hamlet.
Time Flies
Directed by Theresa Benyo-Marzullo
Two mayflies on a date realize they have only twenty-four hours to live.
Soap Opera
Directed by Robert McCoy
A washing-machine repairman falls in love with a picture-perfect washer. Should he tell his girlfriend Mabel? Is the washer two-timing him with a dryer? Stay tuned.
Sure Thing
Directed by Robert McCoy
Two people meet in a cafe and find their way through a conversational minefield as an offstage bell interrupts their false starts, gaffes, and faux pas on the way to falling in love.
Mere Mortals
Directed by Michael Oatman
Eavesdrop during lunch hour on a girder 50 stories over the street, as three construction workers share increasingly amazing secrets of their past.
Lives of the Saints
Directed by Michael Oatman
Two women preparing a funeral breakfast in a church basement muse on life, death, and the meaning of Polish jokes. Along the way they achieve a kind of sanctity.
The Philadelphia
Directed by D. Keith Stiver
A young man in a restaurant has fallen into a “Philadelphia" – a Twilight Zone-like state in which he can’t get anything he asks for. His only way out of the dilemma is to ask for the opposite of what he wants.
Foreplay, Or, The Art of the Fugue
Directed by D. Keith Stiver
Chuck, a self-styled Don Juan, uses the youthful game of miniature golf as the backdrop for his seductive outreach. As Chuck ages, his lines remain slick and staid while his dates grow smarter and younger.
Audiences are advised that many of the plays contain adult language and situations.
Performers, listed alphabetically, will be seen in the following plays:
Jenny Barrett: Foreplay, Lives of the Saints, Soap Opera
Samantha Cocco: Foreplay
Leigh Garrett: Lives of the Saints
Andrew Gordon: Foreplay, Mere Mortals
Barbara Howitt: Lives of the Saints
Stephen Kay: Lives of the Saints, Soap Opera
Travis Reilly: Foreplay, The Philadelphia, Time Flies, Words, Words, Words
Michael J. Rogan: Mere Mortals, The Philadelphia
Jerry Schaber: Soap Opera, Time Flies
Macey Staninger: Foreplay, Lives of the Saints , Time Flies, Words
Robert A. Walter: Foreplay, Mere Mortals, Words, Sure Thing
Brenda Willis: The Philadelphia, Soap Opera, Sure Thing
ONE ACTS by David Ives is presented by special arrangement with Dramatists Play Service Inc.
Tickets at $16 for adults, $11 for youth 18 and under, are available online, including seat selection, at www.auroracommmunitytheatre
Opening night tickets include a complimentary after-show gala and the opportunity to meet cast and crew.
Aurora Community Theatre’s Regular Season continues in 2017 with BRIGADOON Apr 28-May 20 and the summer musical, GREASEJune 30-July 15.
Aurora Community Theatre is located at 115 E. Pioneer Trail, near the intersection of SR 43 and 306, at the gazebo, in the center of Aurora. ACT extends appreciation to The Denise G. & Norman E. Wells, Jr. Family Foundation for their generous underwriting of the Wells Main Stage.
ACT, celebrating 57 successful seasons in 2016-17, annually presents three Regular Season shows, a summer stock production, benefit show, plus two children’s summer workshops, reaching an annual audience of nearly 7,000. ACT showcases the region’s top actors, musicians, costume and set designers, construction, lighting, sound and backstage crews -- all of whom generously donate their time and talent.