_CONVERGENCE-CONTINUUM_ ____ _TOM AT THE FARM_ ____ NO HAY ON THE SET (BUT THERE IS ONE REALLY GREAT PLAY!) In Roy Berko’s recent review of con-con’s production of _Tom at the Farm, _he warned that there were bales of hay on the set that allergy sufferers might be wary of. WRONG! There are bales of straw on set. Big difference! Hay is dried grass and includes the grass “heads” wherein lie the seeds, pollen, etc. Straw, however, consists of only the dried stalks (i.e. stems) of wheat after the seed heads have been removed. Hay is used as animal feed. Straw is used in stalls for animal bedding. For a long time it was also used for filling mattresses and, in fact, still is. (You can go online and find plenty of instructions for making your own straw mattress.) So come on, who would really think we didn’t know any better than to put hay on the set? Some things that Mr. Berko did get right, however, are: “Tom at the Farm ... unfolds with blurred boundaries between lust and brutality, truth and fiction. It blends psychological-thriller elements as it moves toward an unsettling plunge into a nightmare of fear, intolerance and fantasy.” “The con con production is strong.” “The acting is of high quality.” “Kudos to Mike Frye (Tom), Daniel McElhaney (Francis) and Madelyn Voltz (Sara) for nicely texturing their performances. Laura Starnik is exceptional as Agatha” “fulfills the theatre’s mission of “expanding human imagination and extends the conventional boundaries of language, structure, space and performance.” This is the kind of play with sexual overtones and the bizarre that turns on the typical con-con loyalist.” So don’t miss out. Just two more weekends. _Tom at the Farm _runs Thu-Sat at 8 p.m. through August 3 at the Liminis Theater, 2438 Scranton Rd., Cleveland 44113 in the historic Tremont neighborhood. Fri and Sat tickets are $20 general admission, $15 for seniors and $10 for students. Thurs tickets are $15 gen. admission, $12 seniors and $8 students. Tickets and information are available at convergence-continuum.org [1] and 216-687-0074. ------------------------------- Convergence-continuum’s production of _Tom at the Farm _is supported in part by the residents of Cuyahoga County through a public grant from Cuyahoga Arts & Culture. Links: ------ [1] http://convergence-continuum.org