San Miguel’s Shining City

Theater Shining City Wed–(N)Thurs, Aug 8–(N)9, 7pm St Paul’s Parish Hall Cardo 6 10 pesos donation

An unqualified critical success, Shining City is Conor McPherson’s finest play to date. Set in Dublin, it is about a man who, seeking help from a therapist, claims to have seen the ghost of his recently deceased wife. It is a strange encounter that ultimately becomes a struggle between the living and the dead that will change both men for the rest of their lives.

McPherson won the Olivier Award for The Weir. His other works include Port Authority, Dublin Carol, This Lime Tree Bower, The Good Thief, St. Nicholas and Rum and Vodka and screenplays for Saltwater and I Went Down. London’s Daily Telegraph says McPherson is “the finest dramatist of his generation” and “Shining City is…moving, compassionate, ingenious and absolutely gripping.” Other accolades: “Absolutely stunning” (Daily Mail); “Compulsively gripping” (Guardian); “Literally lifted the hairs on my scalp” (London’s Evening Standard); Shining City is a compelling, disturbing, amusing and terrifying play.” (Mail on Sunday); “Conor McPherson’s new play, which has the most shocking ending on Broadway, is quiet, haunting and absolutely glorious.” (New York Times). Shining City ended its run at the Biltmore Theater in New York City on July 16.

Director Fran Rowe Robbins is fortunate to have local talent involved in the collaborative play-reading production of Irish playwright McPherson’s Shining City.

For over thirty years the Playreaders of San Miguel has been producing staged readings of published plays every two weeks of the year except from mid-April through mid-June. These play readings are popular for many reasons—(M)the venue at St. Paul’s Parish Hall is comfortable and convenient, the director has an opportunity to mount whatever play she or he wants to, the actors can invest whatever time they need to develop characters, the tech director, working with the director, plots a light/sound and maybe special effects script for the show, everybody works together to scrounge up a few set pieces and costumes and, after three rehearsals, voila—(M)two performances in the summer and three in the winter for the admission price of only ten pesos!

Over the last couple of years, a small band of professional performers has moved to town. One of these, Rudy Hornish, has done the whole New York theatrical and Hollywood scenes—(M)Broadway, off-Broadway, movies, TV and production. He is also a musical composer. Rudy and his wife, Nancy, moved here two years ago and since then he has directed two Players Workshop productions and directed and acted in several play readings. Another local performer in full productions and play readings is John Wharton, who is inaugurating his Shelter Theater (Vicente Guerrero 4) with a guitar concert on August 2 and 3. Stephanie Turner, talented musician/singer, businesswoman and mother of a 1˝ year-old baby boy, also graces the stage from time to time.

Welcome to the following professionals: Despite her hectic schedule at the Galaria Izamal, Britt Zaist is a regular actress on the Playreaders stage. A recent transplant from Washington, where he studied forest management at the university, Nick T. Beles has acted in two full Workshop productions and a play reading. Of course, the show can’t go on without Dic Simandl’s expertise. As Tech Director, for many years Dic has executed lights and sound and created set pieces and special effects for our productions. He recently purchased a new light board and gave us lessons on how to operate it!

Ready, set, Stop the World!
By Christine Foster

Theater
Stop the World, I Want to Get Off

Aug 9–(N)12, 7:30pm

Sun, Aug 11, 3pm

Aug 16–(N)19, 7:30pm

Sun, Aug 18, 3pm

Teatro Santa Ana
Biblioteca Pública
Insurgentes 25
150 pesos (250 opening night)
MikewhNY@aol.com 

Stop the World, I Want to Get Off is opening at the Teatro Santa Ana on Aug 9 and I dropped into rehearsals recently to ask the stars of this production, Amy Chankin and Michael Sudheer, what made them so eager to tackle this challenging show.


AMY CHANKIN: First of all, Stop the World is a very well-known and well-loved play. I have had many people in San Miguel [who on] hearing that we were going to do a revival of the show, tell me that this is one of their favorite plays, sharing their fond memories with me. And quite a few were fortunate to have seen the original production on Broadway, straight from the London stage, with the creator and star, Anthony Newley.

MICHAEL SUDHEER: I’m one of those people who saw it in New York and was blown away. It was so different from traditional musicals around in the early sixties. It used mime and clowning and a circus motif for one thing, and for another, the star, the lead, was not loveable, and yet you cared for him despite everything. It’s the story of his life, and he’s a real lower-class scrapper; he’s ambitious, greedy and naďve.

AC: And yet it’s funny and filled with life lessons along the way. It’s a very universal theme.

MS: I wanted to do it from the time I saw it, because there aren’t that many musicals where the lead is a “character” instead of a romantic leading man. And I thought we can do this here, it’s not a huge cast. Most musicals would be impossible to cast here.

AC: Michael is doing a wonderful job as “Littlechap.

MS: But the role for the female lead is equally rich. Amy is amazing, just a riot. She plays all the women in Littlechap’s life.


AC: I play his British wife, Evie, and his three lovers—(M)Anya the Russian tour guide, Ilse the German domestic, and Ginnie the New York cabaret singer. Each role stretches from light comedy to all-out farce. Michael Whaley, our director/producer, has created wonderfully funny choreography to complement the music of each character.

MS: And of course the music is great and famous.

AC: Absolutely. Because of Barbara Streisand and Sammy Davis, Jr., among others, we all know “What Kind of Fool Am I?”, “Once in a Lifetime” and “Gonna Build a Mountain,” even if you’ve never seen the play.

MS: And these are great acting songs. It’s a vehicle, yes, but full of charm, and personality, quirky and you really get a chance to act. I’ve been wanting to do this a long time. And when I saw Amy in Lola Smith’s production of Eleemosynary here last summer….

AC: It’s great, after less than one year here as an actress, I was very fortunate to be referred to Michael Whaley for an audition. I do consider this role of “Evie” and all the girls as one of the richest for a woman to play in any show. What fun! A wonderful role in a terrific play with great music. What actor could ask for more? Except a great cast. And, we have that, too! We invite everyone to come see us and be prepared for a fun-filled, musical night in the theater—(M)another great memory in San Miguel!

The production stars Michael Sudheer and Amy Chankin. Peggy Powell and Gwenneth Holmes play Littlechap’s daughters. Rounding out the chorus are Grete Nilsson Amblie, Libby Clemens, Jean Dorr, Martha Holmes, Peggy Lee, Azzah Mannikoy and Alephbalam Cruz Ramirez.

Tickets are on sale at La Tienda at the Biblioteca, as well as at the door of Teatro Santa Ana, and at Casa de Papel on Mesones or email Michael Whaley at MikewhNY@aol.com for reservations.