This Week in Palm Springs
| Dezart Performs Theatre |
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 Second Annual Play Reading Series Not to be Missed The festival kicked off with three plays on evening ne.Friday, April 23, with “The Girlfriend Experience” by Mark Troy, “Love in the Times of Bailout” by Jason Aaron Goldberg and “Happy and Gay” by Mary Steelsmith. Evening two on Saturday, April 24, featured three more plays: “Animation in Dust” by D. Lee Miller, “A Fabulous Coat” by Schatzie Schaeffers and “Ellipses” by Colette Freedman and Nick Mize. Evening three, April 30, will present “The Hum” by Robert Tsonos and “House of the Holy Moment” by Cary Pepper. The festival concludes on May 1 with three plays: “Thirst” by Sean David Bennett, “King of the Castle” by Kay Poiro and “Midnights” by Carlos Manuel. In all, the lucky patrons who have or will attend the series will have seen 11 Plays, five directors, 15 actors, all in four evenings and all for one of the best dollar values available in the Valley. Individual tickets are only $ 8 per evening at the door. I had the good fortune to catch evening two on April 24. “Animation in Dust,” directed and narrated by theatre co-founder Daniela Ryan, was a two-hander featuring Alden West and Heather Von Dillenberg, as a mother and daughter trying to better understand one another on the eve of the daughter’s wedding. It’s a bittersweet story of a mother (West) whose own life was one of unfulfilled dreams and disappointment with the result that she never quite connected with her daughter (Von Dillenberg). Now, their communication gap is almost too wide to bridge. Nice performances, however, by West and Von Dillenberg who capture the moments of frustration and disconnection. “A Fabulous Coat,” directed by Charles Rinaldo and narrated by Michael Shaw, featured Von Dillenberg and Jeffery Rhoads, each performing three separate sequences all with a common theme. In this case, it’s the faux fur coat worn by Von Dillenberg and her encounters with various people while wearing it. It’s clever, but my take is it’s better suited as skit material for a standup comedian voicing all the parts. The two actors in the play, however, do their best and share the laughs. In the final piece of the evening, “Ellipses,” a comedy written by Colette Freedman and Nick Mize and directed by Jeannette Lyons, the audience is treated to a nicely crafted play with an outstanding cast. Daniela Ryan and Michael Shaw, as the engaged couple shopping for her wedding dress, are spot-on and downright terrific. Von Dillenberg, as the snotty shop assistant, adds to the fun. What I liked about this segment is the linear crafting of the piece (there is a beginning middle and end) by two talented and clever writers who know how to write funny dialogue with the ring of authenticity dripping all over their characters. The laughs from the audience told the actors they were hitting all the proverbial nails smack on the head. The on-stage chemistry between Ryan and Shaw was palpable, and their guarded and coded prenuptial dialogue in the beginning, sets up their on-the-nosey confrontation when the moments of truth concerning past paramours arrives. If one listened closely, one could almost hear the squirming of seats in the audience. Now, that’s really resonating with one’s audience big time. A great deal of credit for the fun evening goes to director Lyons. She is a fine actor in her own right, and one who knows and understands her actors and how to orchestrate the material. There is still time to catch this Dezart Performs second annual play reading series at Dezart One Gallery, Palm Springs. Don’t miss the last two performances! For tickets and information go online at www.dezartperforms.com or call 760-322-0179.
For more about the Dezart One Gallery, click here. | |||||||
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