Monday, July 20, 2009

On the local/regional scene

Close on the heels of returning from CATF, Kathy and I took off for a jaunt to Greenville, SC, to catch The Distracted Globe's production of "Beyond Therapy" by Christopher Durang. We'd never seen the show, or enough Durang period, and former Kernersvillian Kelly Wallace was one of the stars in a fine cast all the way around. It was a nice space and a good production, we felt, and given that all of the characters are chiefly nuts, it was a lot of fun to watch, too. Though I don't highly recommend trying to escape from downtown Greenville on a Saturday night if you only know how to leave using Main Street. Their great success in revitalizing downtown has turned into a traffic mess -- so a qualified success, I would say as an outsider.

From Greenville, we hustled back to Kernersville, and then over to Greensboro and Open Space to take in Richard Dresser's "Rounding Third." I had heard of this show some BEFORE we knew Open Space was doing it, and then -- serendipity -- I saw a poster for it (and for a couple of other Richard Dresser plays) as having been done in 2004 at CATF.

In any case, our friend Ken Ashford was one of the two actors in this show, which was painfully funny for anyone who had ever encountered Little League in any form. Ken and fellow actor Scott Stevens did a great job, and the story line turned out to be a little deeper than I had anticipated at first. An enjoyable afternoon at the theater!

And now, four days without a play to attend. How will I survive?

2 comments:

The O'Brien Family said...

How did Durang go over with the southern crowd? His shows are a staple in the midwest theatre (even community theatre), but not often done around "these here parts."

Bill said...

It was about a three-quarters-round theater, with maybe 150 seats? Full to the rafters, and everyone seemed to enjoy it just fine. Though Greenville downtown seems fairly hip for upstate SC. The scripot is probably a smidge more accessible than some other Durang I have seen/read, though.