Arthur Miller’s classic American tragedy “Death of a Salesman” was first performed in 1949, but it has remained astoundingly relevant to audiences all the way to the present day. The story of a man in the waning days of his career — and ultimately his life — the show deals with issues that theatergoers can still identify with.

“The key crisis in the play deals with the loyal worker who finds himself redundant in a changing economic world. No one needs a salesman anymore,” director F. Scott Regan said in an interview with Toledo Free Press Star. “And he’s hung so much of his ego onto his job that he questions his values as a human being. And I think in an area like Toledo, there’s certainly a lot of that going around, in terms of the job world changing.”

Now, as part of the Toledo Repertoire Theatre’s 80th anniversary year, Regan will be directing a production of “Salesman” running from April 19 through 28, with prominent local actor Michael Searle in the role of Willy Loman.

“It’s a play that actors love to do. There’s so many meaty parts,” Regan said. “Certainly there was an indication with the auditions. We had such a tremendous turnout — much more than they normally have for a non-musical. People who just know the play and have always wanted to participate in it.”

"Death of a Salesman"

Despite decades of experience directing plays at all levels of theater, Regan had never actually tackled Miller’s masterpiece before this production. “I had requested a directing slot and was interviewed by the artistic director, Steve Burnette,” he said.

“I had put ['Death of a Salesman'] down as my number one choice. And apparently none of the other potential directors had wanted this as their first choice.”

Small wonder, as putting up a show as beloved and well-known as “Salesman” can seem daunting to even the most seasoned director. But Regan is not one to back down from such challenges, and has worked to put his own spin on Miller’s masterpiece.

“I’ve sort of tried to be faithful to the script and the story. There’s two adjustments that I’ve made — one is the musical score that accompanies it is going to be a little more modern, and we’re using a lot of what might be called ‘new age’ music as opposed to what might be the traditional music.”

The other major adjustment is a matter of casting. “In the play, because of flashbacks, we see Biff and Happy as middle-aged men, and then they come running out with a football and pretend that they’re Biff and Happy when they’re teenagers. And I have double-cast those roles,” Regan added. “So we have young people who are basically high-school age who are playing Biff and Happy when they’re young.”

The rehearsal process has been ongoing for the past few months, with auditions occurring before Christmas. Regan noted that coordinating the schedules of a large group of community theater performers — who, after all, have real jobs and lives to balance — is one of the major challenges of putting on such a production.

“One of the characters came in just the other night and said, ‘My boss has changed my job schedule.’ And the actors aren’t paid, so you can’t say, ‘Sorry, you signed up for this first.’ And those kinda things — it’s not that they’re not dedicated, but they have other life requirements that sometimes are challenging to find a schedule to work out. We’ve got everything from secretaries to students to salesmen and retired people in the cast.”

But Regan, who has years of work in educational theater under his belt as well, notes that there are certain advantages to using community actors, as well.

“Unlike a college theater, you have the opportunity to use people who are the correct age, you know. Unless you bring in a guest actor … it’s easier to find actors who are the right age when you’re doing community theater. And you have more diverse, in terms of experience. You have people who are fully trained in terms of acting techniques, and others who are, perhaps, in their first or second play,” he stated. “It’s trying to find what works best for each actor, which I guess is true for many plays.”

And after a lifetime of experience in the theater, Regan noted it’s nice to work with an organization like the Rep — especially when you’re used to doing many aspects of a production yourself.

“I just like the variety and professionalism that they offer there. It’s nice that someone else is writing the program and making the posters, and you really can just concentrate on your job. And in other situations you really don’t have the luxury of collaborating with other artists to get their ideas.”

The Toledo Repertoire Theatre’s production of “Death of a Salesman” opens Friday, April 19 at 8 pm and runs for the next two weekends. For more information, contact the Rep at (419) 243-9277.

Tags: Arthur Miller, Death of a Salesman, F. Scott Regan, Jeff McGinnis, Michael Searle, Pop Goes the Culture, Toledo Rep, Toledo Repertoire Theatre, Willy Loman

This entry was posted on Tuesday, April 16th, 2013 at 8:23 am and is filed under Theater.
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Matthew Gretzinger believes a key component to great acting is for the performer to check his or her ego at the door.

“Love the art in yourself, not yourself in the art,” as famed Russian director Constantin Stanislavski once said.

Largely inspired by the works of William Shakespeare and Orson Welles, Gretzinger is an actor, director and part-time teacher in the Department of Theatre and Film at the University of Toledo. His stage experience spans nearly 20 years, with many acting and directing credits on the professional and university levels with UT and Bowling Green State University. Some of his notable performances include roles in “King Lear,” “Eurydice” and “Hamlet.”

Matthew Gretzinger

Adding to his résumé this summer, Gretzinger will attempt what many close to him call impossible. Not only will he direct two Shakespeare plays within a month of each other, he will also star in one of them.

Starting Aug. 9, Gretzinger will direct and star in his adaptation of the drama “Macbeth.” The play will run Aug. 9-11 and 16-19, and will be an independent black-box production inside the studio theater at UT.

One month later, Gretzinger’s take on “Hamlet” will open at The Toledo Repertoire Theatre in Downtown, with the show running Sept. 14-16 and 20-23.

Gretzinger said he decided to direct these productions because he wants to share the inspiration he has received from Shakespeare.

“I’m doing this because I love Shakespeare, but it’s also because I want to share it,” he said. “I would like to give other folks the opportunity to share that love with me.”

“‘Hamlet’ and ‘Macbeth’ feature a protagonist whose mind we come to know through soliloquy,” Gretzinger said. “You have a window view into the mind of these characters, with ‘Macbeth,’ especially. I’ve always loved it; it’s so brutal, bloody and quick, and if it’s done well it should be horrifying.”

Actress Jennifer Nagy Lake said she and Gretzinger have known each other for roughly 20 years. Their friendship dates to their days as theater students, when they acted opposite each other in a production of another Shakespeare play, “A Midsummer Night’s Dream.” This August, they will do it again when Lake stars as Lady Macbeth, opposite Gretzinger.

“‘Macbeth’ actually started off as a conversation between the two of us and I said, ‘Yeah, sure,’” Lake said. “So, then it was just a matter of getting some friends together and trying to figure out how we can make his baby come to life.”

While acting and directing simultaneously can be a tall order, Lake said Gretzinger’s energy, intellect and acting experience are the qualities that make him a smart and successful director.

“He’s so smart that everything he says is interesting,” Lake said. “He knows the text inside and out and he dissects everything so you don’t have to look something up if you don’t know what it means because he knows it. Because he’s an actor, he gets it. I think many directors are just really frustrated actors, but that’s not the case with Matthew. He just gets it.”

As for her character in the upcoming adaptation of “Macbeth,” Lake said that as strange as it may seem, her favorite aspect of Lady Macbeth is her inevitable weakness and the journey she goes through to succumb to that weakness.

“No one thinks she has any human qualities until she does; and, unfortunately it’s too late by the time she realizes it,” she said. “In the beginning, she sort of comes off as if she doesn’t have a soul or if she sold her soul; but, when she breaks down, it’s like, ‘Oh yeah, she is human. She does have a soul.’ It’s very fascinating to me.”

Extreme difficulty

Jennifer Rockwood, the assistant dean in the College of Innovative Learning at UT, was one of Gretzinger’s theater teachers at UT. As a stage director and an actress, she said it is very difficult to wear both hats at once.

“It is impossible. It scares me,” Rockwood said. “If there’s anybody who can do it, it’s Matthew, but I wouldn’t touch it with a 10-foot pole.”

Matthew Gretzinger and Kate Abu-Absi in ‘Bell, Book and Candle.’

Gretzinger said there is an extreme difficulty in attempting to run a show while being on stage. So, to ensure he and his fellow cast mates give their best performances with his creative vision still in mind, Gretzinger said he brought a close friend to the project to serve as co-director.

“It’s not hard, it’s impossible,” Gretzinger said. “A good friend of mine, Kate Abu-Absi, will be co-directing. She will see everything I do. When we’re doing a scene I’m in, she’s the director.”

While Gretzinger said he agrees that putting on two in-depth plays so close to each other can be difficult and time consuming, he said his love of Shakespeare’s material makes it a comfortable environment.

“It is a tall order, but it seems taller because of where we are,” Gretzinger said. “Community theater makes it seem larger than it is. I love Shakespeare, so putting me in these two plays is the kind of situation that’s going to work for me. With ‘Macbeth,’ I’m going to be surrounded by people who know me well. I’m going to be at my best.”

Creative freedom

While this will be his first venture into the world of “Macbeth,” Gretzinger has been in the director’s chair for “Hamlet” before. While still in college, Gretzinger said, he directed a stage production of the play in the ’90s.

“That production was set in ’30s Europe and it had a fascist Europe sort of approach to it,” he said. “This production is going to happen in September 2012 so people will see it in the height of election season. I like the idea of doing some kind of an American ‘Hamlet.’ There are a lot of things in this play that can speak to our moment, where we are with our country right now. [Hamlet] is a philosopher; he’s a man of action. In my head, ‘Hamlet’ is a contemporary production.”

Creative freedom for a stage director does have its advantages when it comes to production, though Gretzinger prefers to let the story do the talking. While he is approaching both of his upcoming plays differently, he said making sure the stories are told “clearly, strongly and well” is a top priority.

He said he learned that lesson early on while watching a minimalist performance of a play he would eventually direct.

“There was a touring company, an English company that came to UT in the early ’90s and did ‘Macbeth’ with eight actors in the center theater. A very minimal production,” he said. “It was just amazing. The emphasis was on storytelling and not on big effects. The emphasis was on language. It was just amazing. It was riveting.”

Setting the stage

Rockwood said spending time on stage has matured Gretzinger and given him the knowledge and confidence to take on the tasks of acting and directing simultaneously.

“He has learned how to communicate his ideas, which is not easy,” Rockwood said. “He knows how to tell the actors what to do because he’s had people telling him what to do before.”

Originally starting his UT undergraduate career as an English major, Gretzinger switched to theater during his sophomore year, starring in and directing a number of university plays including “Full Circle,” a play about Nazi-occupied Germany.

Just as Gretzinger still jumps at the chance to work with some of his UT classmates, he has continued to work with Rockwood throughout his career, most notably acting alongside Abu-Absi in November 2011 in Rockwood’s take on John Van Druten’s “Bell, Book and Candle.”

Acting and directing are not the only aspects of theater that inspire Gretzinger. He said the unpredictability of rehearsals and collaboration often make the whole experience more enjoyable.

“I love rehearsing. I love the environment where it feels like anything is possible and you’re collaborating with talented people that you respect,” he said. “With performance, what I value is you can’t get what you get in a theater anywhere else. I think a lot of people are not aware of that. We love to go see movies and we get a lot of entertainment on the Internet these days, but none of that can compare with really, really good theater that you’re experiencing live.”

Parental guidance

Gretzinger said he learned to love all things theatrical at a young age, tracing his love for the stage to his days as an elementary school student starring in the lead role in “Merlin.” His late father, a magician and former teacher, helped him prepare for the role. His father’s magical occupation taught him a lot about performance and theater, often just by watching, he said.

“I spent most of my childhood watching him do things,” Gretzinger said. “My dad was a magician and that’s not theater, but it’s very close. He worked at a place called Guntown Mountain in Cave City, Ky., where he did magic and he played a gunfighter; he would get shot in the middle of the street in a duel like the O.K. Corral. And then he would get put up on the gallows and he got hanged. I saw that and I must’ve been like 6 or 7, so I was exposed to that at an early age.”

His mother Carolyn’s support and affection also helped motivate him, he said.

“My mother always told me you can do anything you want to do,” he said. “And I think a lot of the passion that I have for making art comes from that, just her constant support and love. She was very committed to that idea.”

Some of Gretzinger’s greatest memories involving his artistic performances come from his family and his friends.

“You remember things that have a deep, emotional impact on you,” Gretzinger said. “When I did ‘The Tempest’ at BG, my father had just died the semester before that and I was obviously still grieving. The thing is, ‘The Tempest’ is a play about a magician who lets all of his power go. Emotionally, it was a big deal. You feel like everything has been arranged so that moment has been given to you so you can deal with your grief.”

Giving back

While acting and directing are his great passions, Gretzinger said his ultimate goal is to one day teach the subject he loves so much. After going back to school in 2001 and receiving his master’s degree in theater from BGSU, he began a career as a part-time teacher at UT so he could give young theater students the same enjoyable experience he had in college. This past spring, Gretzinger taught a theater history course at the university.

“I have a lot to give and I have a lot to give back. I’ve benefited from having some of the really great teachers in my time and it’s just something that I enjoy,” Gretzinger said. “I enjoy helping people discover what it is that they want to do in life. I had a really great experience at UT because I learned a lot about myself while studying theater and I would like to give that to other people.”

When he is not thrusting himself into the dark world of lies, tragedy and death that power “Hamlet” and “Macbeth,” Gretzinger said he finds himself inspired by current events and the uncertainties surrounding the future.

“I’m trying to figure out, like everyone else is trying to figure out, what’s going on in the world and how it’s changing,” he said. “It’s changing very, very quickly. If you’ve been around for even as long as I have, you’ve seen some huge changes. When I was younger I had some ideas as to what I thought the future was going to hold. We’re so off the map now that it’s really hard to see what the future holds.”

Tags: Bowling Green State University, Hamlet, Jennifer Nagy Lake, Jennifer Rockwood, Kate Abu-Absi, Macbeth, Matthew Gretzinger, Orson Welles, Toledo Repertoire Theatre, University of Toledo, William Shakespeare

This entry was posted on Tuesday, May 22nd, 2012 at 11:55 am and is filed under Featured, Star, Theater.
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University of Toledo theater veteran Jennifer Rockwood’s latest play literally puts her leads under the bewitching spell of love.

“Bell, Book and Candle,” written by John van Druten, opens Nov. 4 at The Toledo Repertoire Theatre.

“It’s about a woman who bewitches a man into falling in love with her,” Rockwood said. “It’s about the spell one is under when one first falls in love.”

The play debuted on Broadway in the 1950s and was made into a movie starring Kim Novak and Jimmy Stewart.

“It’s very sexy and cute and sweet, but we’ve modernized it and brought it up to date,” said Rockwood, who in addition to directing serves as UT’s assistant dean at the College of Innovative Learning and the director of the First Year Experience program.

Every person in her cast attended UT, Rockwood said. Lead Kate Abu-Absi is director of the Arts Living and Learning Community and has performed with several of the actors before including male lead Matthew Gretzinger.

Matthew Gretzinger and Kate Abu-Absi in ‘Bell, Book and Candle.’

“It’s a great gang of actors who really get each other,” Rockwood said.

Rockwood became interested in theater in high school.

“I ran away with the theater when I was like 17 and never looked back,” she said with a laugh. Rockwood went on to teach theater for 29 years at UT before moving into an administrative position. She estimated she has directed about 70 plays.

“I live, breathe and eat all sides of the classroom and all sides of the stage,” Rockwood said.

Earlier this year, she directed a reading of a play she wrote, “Watershed,” and is currently reworking it. She is planning a new play for the spring, potentially with her own theater company.

Part of what Rockwood loves about directing is the ability to interpret plays differently each time. In “Romeo and Juliet,” she said, “some people might put emphasis on the love of Romeo and Juliet, some people might put emphasis on the fact that they’re up against the parents and the history of young love. That’s the cool thing about doing plays over and over and having people do things differently.”

Directing a love story like “Bell, Book and Candle” has its challenges. “That’s been the part I’ve had to delicately direct and my actors have had to be fearless and not giggling all the time,” Rockwood said. “I like to have fun and not take myself too seriously … I like it to be a work of joy and not pain,” she said.

Theater also gives Rockwood a chance to express herself during time off from her “wacky” schedule.

“I have an artistic outlet as well as the stuff I’m doing administratively,” she said.

Rockwood encourages community involvement in the Toledo art scene, especially theater.

“Community theater has a great place in a city to keep theater alive and out front. My goal in life is always to get more people to come to the theater and enjoy it,” she said. Her husband, John Rockwood, a photographer, musician and artist, contributes to that scene and created two paintings shown onstage during the play.

“Bell, Book and Candle” is at The Toledo Repertoire Theatre Nov. 4, 5, 11, 12, 13, 17, 18, 19 and 20 at 8 p.m. on Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays and 2:30 p.m. on Sundays. Visit toledorep.org or call (419) 243-9277 for more information. Adult tickets are $18, senior tickets are $16, students 12 and younger tickets at $5, students 13 and older are $10 and groups of 10 or more guests are $15.

Tags: Bell Book and Candle, Jennifer Rockwood, Jimmy Stewart, John van Druten, Kate Abu-Absi, Kim Novak, Matthew Gretzinger, Toledo Repertoire Theatre, University of Toledo

This entry was posted on Tuesday, November 1st, 2011 at 12:07 pm and is filed under Star, Theater.
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Tucked beside a barbed-wire-fenced parking lot on 10th St., The Toledo Repertoire Theatre has an unpromising exterior. But onstage for The Rep’s current production of “The Secret Garden,” the visual is the strongpoint.

In the show, a young orphan named Mary Lennox comes to live in a gloomy Gothic mansion with her despairing uncle Archibald Craven, who is heart-broken over his wife’s death.

Director Matthew Bowland and his creative team have conceived the show as a series of Mary’s memories played out decades later when her grandchildren visit the attic of the house that haunted her as a child.

Scene from 'Secret Garden'

The concept allows The Rep, which has little space to work with, to stage the entire show within the attic, forcing the audience to imagine a Gothic mansion and ivy-covered garden. The clever set design minimizes scene changes as old knick-knack-filled chests become furniture, a wardrobe becomes a doorway for ghosts and an upper level of brick becomes a garden wall.

The conceit complements “The Secret Garden’s” already dreamy quality, as a Greek chorus of ghosts or memories wanders the halls and enchantments fill the magical garden.

The downside of the presentation is that the setting remains static as the storyline moves out of the gloomy halls and into the sunshine. This puts an extra burden on the actors to portray the trajectory from grief to hope.

Scott O’Brien plays Archibald, the show’s emotional center and true protagonist. Archibald’s journey, as he learns to again embrace life and the people around him, depends on a clear portrayal by the actor of both crippling sorrow and intense love and joy.

O’Brien, who has a full, rich voice and performs his songs flawlessly, rarely communicates more than a sulky depression. His, and the show’s, best moment came near the end in a moving duet with Lily, his wife’s spirit. O’Brien seemed for the first time to lose himself in the scene. It was also the first time his voice cracked with emotion.

Drew Longmore, 11, plays Mary Lennox. Her delicate vocals and mature stage presence are a highlight, as is her chemistry with 12-year-old Maxwell Lay, who plays the lonely, crippled Colin Craven. Lay has a beautiful voice, and the children’s scenes together as they fight, make up and become friends are some of production’s most charming.

The Dreamer chorus is another highlight, performing their dances — ably choreographed by Debra Ross Calabrese — with energy. Their tight vocal harmonies have a richness and volume that belies their small number, and several, most notably Jake Gordy as Capt. Albert Lennox, Jared Dorotiak as Major Holmes and Emily Taplin as the Ayah, stand out with great solo pieces.

Tickets are $22 for an adult, $20 for a senior, $5 for students 12 and younger, $10 for students 13 and above and $10 for a group of 10 or more. Remaining performances are June 16, 17 and 18 at 8:00 p.m. and June 19 at 2:30 p.m. Visit the website at www.toledorep.org. or call call 419-243-9277 for more information.

Tags: Patrick Timmis, reviews, The Secret Garden, Theater, Toledo Repertoire Theatre

This entry was posted on Wednesday, June 15th, 2011 at 12:29 pm and is filed under Arts and Life, Theater.
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Kate Abu-Absi loves to act, but on May 21 she hopes to stay firmly planted in her director’s chair during the Toledo Repertoire Theatre’s reading of “Three Viewings” by Jeffrey Hatcher.

“Three Viewings” features three half-hour long monologues performed by F. Scott Regan, Jennifer Lake and Patricia Rudes. Due to heavy snowfall, a previous performance on Feb. 5 at the Valentine Theatre was nearly canceled because the weather prevented Lake and Rudes from making the show.

“I was at a family birthday party and my husband called with the message that the actresses were flipping out and couldn’t make it,” Abu-Absi said. “The Valentine general manager said they were going to pull the plug. A half an hour before curtain, I got a call saying there were about 30 people there.”

“We were all kind of shocked,” said Brad Smith, president of the board and interim artistic director for the Rep. “The readings don’t draw big audiences anyway. They are material people haven’t heard of, sometimes there’s adult language, and it’s not for everybody. To have so many people show up for an unknown show in the blizzard was quite surprising.”

Brad Smith

With enough of a crowd in attendance, the show had to go on. Abu-Absi is an experienced actress, recently playing the female lead in the Rep’s “Chapter Two.” She filled in for both actresses despite never rehearsing the parts.

“I was totally freaked out about having to go up there and do it,” Abu-Absi said. “I just kept thinking ‘Pat needs to be here.’ She is totally the glue in this piece. She is a very strong woman and worked very hard. She is a widow, just like the character. Sometimes during rehearsals she had to stop. I thought ‘I can’t take away the opportunity for her to play this part.’ She’s very distinct.”

“It put Kate in a terrible position, and it was a real shame for the actors who put all the time into rehearsing and didn’t get the payoff of showing it to the audience,” Smith said. “It was unfortunate on a number of levels, but the show went off and people seemed to enjoy it.”

Smith wanted to provide the actresses with an opportunity to finally perform the monologues.

“As an actor myself, I know how frustrated I would be if I didn’t get to perform,” he said. “I sympathized with the fact they put in this time and didn’t get the benefit of it.”

The Rep’s staged readings are just one-night shows, but Smith was willing to foot the bill for another performance of “Three Viewings.”

“I have to look out for the Rep’s financial interests,” he said. “Even though we’re not going to gain or lose a lot no matter how well the show does, I couldn’t justify the risk. Since the expenses are relatively low upfront, I figured I could make it one of my donations to the Rep and a goodwill gesture to the actors as a thank you. I’m looking forward to seeing them perform the roles. Now I can try and dull the memory of the horror of Kate and see how it’s properly done.”

All kidding aside, Smith enjoyed Abu-Absi’s performance of both monologues.

“The February audience was not cheated in the least,” he said. “They saw a great performance. When Pat and Jennifer get to do it, they’ll see a great performance then, too. We didn’t miss a beat. Kate’s that good.”

“Three Viewings” contains three monologues set in the same funeral parlor within a week of one another in a small town.

“The subject matter deals with death, but it’s not morose,” Abu-Absi said. “Some moments are sad, but it’s not dwelling in that. It’s full of life and it is funny. It catches you off-guard. The monologues are really well-written. It’s not predictable, but it’s not out there in a way you can’t relate to.”

Regan opens the show with “Tell-Tale” as a mortician named Emil who is in love with a woman attending funerals for business purposes.

“During auditions, I realized right away he was perfect for this part both physically and in his energy and everything,” Abu-Absi said. “He’s been delightful to work with.”

Lake is up next with “Thief of Tears” as a grave robber named Mac.

“I consider it to be an incredibly challenging part,” Abu-Absi said. “In the very first paragraph, she says she robs corpses and describes how she does it. You want to think of her as a bad person, but throughout the course of it you realize what has happened in her life and understand. Jennifer really is the thief of tears. It makes you wonder who you would be if you had lived the character’s life.”

“It’s such a daring thing for the writer,” Smith said. “He’s purposely setting her up to be so unlikeable to see if by the end of it you can sympathize with her.”

Rudes plays a widow named Virginia in the final monologue titled “Thirteen Things about Ed Carpolotti.”

“When she auditioned for that part, I cried, and I’m not even a crier,” Abu-Absi said. “She is so perfect. It deals with losing someone you love but finding all these disappointments. It’s the best monologue in the show and one of the best I’ve ever heard.”

Smith said he sees the staged readings as opportunities to take risks with pieces like “Three Viewings.”

“The Edgy Rep readings are a way to push the envelope even more with material people haven’t heard of,” Smith said. “We couldn’t fill three weekends with some of these pieces, but we can get one good audience that will appreciate this challenging, unusual piece.”

Despite the near impossibility of snow on May 21, Abu-Absi is not getting her hopes up for a large turnout.

“It will probably be the most beautiful day of the year, and we’ll have no audience,” she said. “Everyone might want to be outdoors. It would be amazing irony.”

Tickets are available for $10. The reading begins at 8 p.m. in Studio A of the Valentine Theatre at 410 Adams St. Visit ToledoRep.org for more information.

Tags: Brad Smith, Kate Abu-Absi, Three Viewings, Toledo Rep, Toledo Repertoire Theatre

This entry was posted on Tuesday, May 10th, 2011 at 9:27 am and is filed under Theater.
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Local theater patrons will soon get a taste of Broadway when the Toledo Repertoire Theatre presents Moss Hart’s underrated comedic gem, “Light Up The Sky.” The play begins at 8 p.m. Jan. 14.

David DeChristopher is directing.

“I had read the play and suggested it to Rep’s selection committee,” DeChristopher said. “One of the reasons I really wanted to direct this piece is that many of Hart’s classics have been done to death, and this has a little more edge to it. To my knowledge, this is the first time it has ever been staged in Toledo. I think that one of the reasons that it doesn’t get done very often is that it is an ensemble piece, it isn’t a star vehicle.”

One of the most celebrated playwrights of the 1930s and ’40s, Hart is perhaps best known as the longtime collaborator of George S. Kaufman, who was a key member of the literary salon known as the Algonquin Round Table. Some of their more noted successes include “You Can’t Take It With You,” “The Man Who Came To Dinner” and “George Washington Slept Here.” Hart was also a director and best-selling author. “Light Up The Sky,” a solo effort by Hart, was first produced in 1948. Hart passed away in 1961 at the age of 57.

“Having done a lot of recent work with students and young people, one of the most difficult aspects of this production has been remembering the arc of the process for adults and respecting that process,” said DeChristopher, who writes crossword puzzles for Toledo Free Press. “This is worth mentioning because Moss Hart himself is a few different characters in the piece, both the young and old playwright. You want everyone to have a great experience, while at the same time putting together the highest quality production possible. I think that this play offers something for everyone.”

The production features Marissa Rex, Jeffrey Albright, Elizabeth Cottle, Mark McGovern, Barbara Barkan, Brad Riker, John DuVall, Deb J. Brescol, Thea Grabiec, Gerry Royce, Scott Dibling and Fred Robinson.

Tickets for “Light Up The Sky” are $18 for adults, $16 for seniors, $10 for students and $5 for children 12 and younger. Additional dates are Jan. 15, 21, 22, 23, 27, 28, 29 and 30. Showtimes are 8 p.m. on Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays and 2:30 p.m. on Sundays. The Rep is located Downtown at 16 10th St. For information, call (419) 243-9277 or visit www.toledorep.org.

Tags: Barbara Barkan, Brad Riker, David DeChristopher, Deb J. Brescol, Elizabeth Cottle, Fred Robinson, Gerry Royce, Jeffrey Albright, John DuVall, Marissa Rex, Mark McGovern, Moss Hart, Scott Dibling, Thea Grabiec, Toledo Repertoire Theatre

This entry was posted on Tuesday, January 11th, 2011 at 10:43 pm and is filed under Star, Theater.
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