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''Impossible Marriage'' in San Miguel
By Lola Smith
Theater
Impossible Marriage
Wed, July 25, 8pm with reception
Thurs–Sat, July 26–28, 8pm
Sun, July 29, 3pm
Teatro Santa Ana
Biblioteca Pública
Reloj 50A
100 pesos
Marriage as an impossible proposition? Maybe…for better or for worse, no topic in history has drawn as much comment as this hallowed institution. From the ridiculous to the mundane, the comic to the blissful, the pulpit-serious to the sillier-than-silly, the quotes abound.
Back in the third century BC, the Greek writer Menander called marriage “a necessary evil.” Robert Louis Stevenson said that marriage “is not a bed of roses.” And yet, so many other familiar names, Shakespeare, Voltaire, even George Bernard Shaw, have reminded us of the unmitigated pleasures of a good marriage. Says Shaw, “ Marriage is popular because it combines the maximum of temptation with the maximum of opportunity.”
Poets, cynics, priests, politicians have all chimed in at one time or another on the good and the bad of marriage.
Even Beth Henley, the Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright of Crimes of the Heart, has contributed her take on the subject with her witty and incisive play, Impossible Marriage, which will be presented by Player’s Workshop from July 25 through July 29 at the Teatro Santa Ana.
The entire action of the play takes place in Kandall Kingsley’s beautiful and mysterious garden. Her younger daughter is to be married to a much older man, a worldly artist and the divorced father of seven ( or eight?) children. While Kandall thinks the match quite unsuitable, the bride-to-be’s older and very pregnant sister plots to break off the marriage.
Unexpectedly, the groom’s son arrives with his own plan to keep the wedding from happening. Even the Reverend who has come to wed the couple has secret hopes and desperate desires.
Throughout this wildly funny and moving play the characters struggle heroically with the impossibility of finding an allegiance between their civilized duties and primitive desires.
Player’s Workshop is delighted to have several actors from last winter’s successful production of Prelude To A Kiss returning to play roles in Impossible Marriage. Nancy Kandal is playing Kandall Kingsley (ironic?), Tim Johnson is Jonsey (also ironic?), Megan Pearson is the expectant mother, Floral, and Nick Beles plays Sidney, the groom’s visiting son.
New to Player’s Workshop, but not to theater, are Jim Newell as the groom and Michael Gottlieb as the Reverend. Both Jim and Michael received many accolades for their roles in last winter’s A Man For All Seasons.
Rounding out the cast is Anna Bensaud as Pandora, the bride-to-be. Anna made her SMA debut in a recent Playreaders production, Almost Perfect.
Also returning from Prelude To A Kiss is Rudy Hornish who directed that production and has also been seen as an actor in many Playreaders productions. Lola Smith is producing, and David Concha is handling scenic design. Gary Voight is stage manager, and the invaluable José Luis Aubert will handle lighting and music.
The opening night performance will be immediately followed by a wine and hors d’oeurves reception in the Santa Ana Café. A ticket to that performance is also a ticket for the party.
Tickets go on sale in the patio of the Biblioteca on Thursday, July 19 from 10:30am to 1:30pm. Tickets are also available at the Santa Ana Theater office between 4 and 7pm.
Don’t miss what the Associated Press called “a blissful visit with a delightfully balmy family.” Make your plans early. Happily for us, but sadly for many Sanmiguelenses, our last production, Prelude To A Kiss sold out quickly.
Theater
Anne Frank
Mon, July 31–Sat, Aug 4, 7:30pm
Sun, Aug 4, 3pm
Mon, Aug 5, 5pm
Teatro Santa Ana
Biblioteca Pública
Reloj 50A
150 pesos (Opening night– 250 pesos)
An “Anne” for all seasons
By Christine Foster
Anne Frank— The Diary of a Young Girl was first published in 1947 and has since been translated into over 50 languages and has sold an astonishing 25 million copies. It became a play in 1955, and in 1959 was made into the well-known film starring Millie Perkins. Few people know that a new adaptation was produced on Broadway in 1997 with Natalie Portman. It is this most recent version— using slightly different passages from the diary which streamline the dramatic tension— that director Michael Whaley has chosen to bring to the stage here in San Miguel. Opening on July 31 at the Teatro Santa Ana, the cast includes Kokila Bryne, Gerry Camp, Flor Dengreville, Jill Gottlieb, Tom King, Dennis McCarter, Istina Rubalcava, Seth Sharp and Henry Vermillion.
Michael Whaley chose the play because, “I have always thought of it as more a story of survival and sacrifice rather than another story of the Holocaust. During the two years they hid from the Nazis their lives became a roller coaster of love, depression, anger, fear and, for Anne, eternal hope. This year is the 63rd anniversary of Anne’s death. Had she lived, Anne would have turned 78 this year. These events are not so long ago, and too important to forget.”
There was another reason to do the play at this time. Michael knew someone who could take on the demanding title role. He had an “Anne.”
Gwenneth Holmes, originally from Canada, is a 16-year-old with a passion for theater. In the past year she has been seen in Girl Talk, On Golden Pond (as a teenage boy), The Night of the Iguana, Oleanna and Good as New, all with Playreaders. As well as in Lee Blessing’s Eleemosynary, directed last summer by Lola Smith for Player’s Workshop.
I asked Gwen how a 21st century teenager goes about preparing for a mid-20th century part like Anne.
She had a 21st century answer.
Gwenneth Holmes: First I hit the internet. I was able to read not only about her, but also about her parents, their cultures, their social position, which helped me understand what would be acceptable and what the rules of the family would be. That has a huge influence on the person— their upbringing. And I found pictures of the Franks, of Amsterdam at the time, of the attic where they hid, excerpts from her diary and of course, a lot about the war and the Holocaust. I have a great book on them, too.
Christine Foster: Had you learned about the Holocaust at school?
GH: Not a lot, hardly at all. When we studied WWII, the Holocaust was almost hidden. If you ask my friends here, or in Canada, they know the name Anne Frank, that she was Jewish and that she died, and that’s about it. I don’t think they know why.
CF: From what you’ve learned, do you think the play is fairly true to what really happened?
GH: I think it’s faithful to the main events and characters’ personalities. Except for the dentist who comes to hide with them, Mr. Dussell. The name actually means “dimwit” in German. The play really uses that character as a funny, fussy, difficult person. I guess to heighten the conflict, but also to represent a very secular Jew, one who didn’t keep any traditions, who even lived with a Christian woman, yet was in just as much danger as everyone else.
CF: Anne went from 13 to 15 during the time her family was in hiding. How is that for you to play, at 16?
GH: I absolutely remember feeling a lot of same things she did. She’s extremely outspoken, ignorant of others’ feelings, selfish, gets angry with her mother a lot and, while I didn’t necessarily always act that way, I sure felt the same way a lot. I remember being in a situation where everyone was under stress, but somehow believing that I had the worst of it. That’s being 13.
CF: What else do you feel you have in common with Anne?
GH: She’s a hopeless romantic, I can relate to that. And she was incredibly aware of her body and her emotions— in tune with every feeling. I love that because it really shows that it wasn’t that different growing up 60 years ago. The vocabulary wasn’t the same but the experience was. Girls that age always want to share everything they’re going through because otherwise it feels like it’s only happening to them. Anne was obsessed with not having anyone to talk to, so the diary was very much her only friend.
CF: How does this play differ from other shows you’ve been in?
GH: This is a real adventure for me. First, because of the time period. Then the fact the action takes place over two years. So much happens. And right at the time when a person is just starting to have a life of her own— doing all her changing— there she is, living with the same people day in and day out, which is amazing. They get under each other’s feet, but they also have such an intense bond. It’s a thrill to get to enter that world.
CF: Could you tell us how you first became involved with the theater?
GH: I started learning about acting when I was very young because my family had a theater company in Canada which did summer seasons and I was exposed to that life from the time I was six. I would watch every rehearsal, every performance, and try to be one of the gang with all the young actors. They were in their 20s, but I would trail around after them, eat lunch with them, study what they were doing. When I was eight I played an elf (the Chief Elf!) in a Scottish folktale called The Elfin Knight; that was my first real role, and the happiest summer of my childhood.
CF: And you moved to San Miguel almost three years ago?
GH: Yes. When I was 14, I met Nancy Nugent and took her acting class, and later I also enjoyed working with Alan Jordan and Jerry Phalen, doing more monologue and scene study. But because of the Showcase I did with Nancy, I was able to start doing Playreaders, which has been wonderful, and also Player’s Workshop. So this is it for me. This is what I love to do. I’m proud to be doing Anne Frank, and very excited.
CF: But you’re blonde.
GH: I’ll be wearing a wig.
Tickets for The Diary of Anne Frank are 150 pesos and are on sale now at the Casa de Papel on Mesones and La Tienda at the Biblioteca. They can also be ordered from Michael Whaley at mikewhNY@aol.com. The opening night, July 31, is a gala benefit (250 pesos) with all proceeds going to the Sociedad Protectora de Animales. Included in the price is a catered reception and party in the Café Santa Ana following the opening
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