Quirky comedy at Playreaders
September 26, 2008 San Miguel de Allende

Playreaders Theater
Neon Psalms
Wed & Thu, Oct 1 & 2, 7:30pm
St. Paul’s Church
Cardo 6
20 pesos

Michael Gottlieb directs Neon Psalms by Thomas Strelich, the next Playreaders production. The play won the Dramatists Guild/CBS New Play Award; Strelich also wrote the acclaimed Dog Logic performed by Playreaders last season.

The setting of this offbeat comedy/drama is an isolated trailer near Boron, California, site of the world’s largest open-pit borax mine. A fragile truce between Luton Mears, a retired heavy equipment operator, and his born-again wife, Patina, is disrupted by the unexpected arrival of their daughter Barbara, a divorcee in her thirties whose kids prefer to live with their dad next door to Disneyland. Lost and bottomed out, she moves home to get on her feet and finds herself trapped in a funny but progressively brutal crossfire between Luton, full of doubt and struggling with the meaning of life, and Patina’s certain faith in God’s plan. This wasteland receives a blast of fresh air from the propane delivery guy, Ray, who describes a bizarre but strangely comforting future for Barbara to inherit. Strelich’s genius is his ability to draw sad, lonely and desperate characters yet make them funny, compelling and endearing at the same time. 

Neon Psalms, like all of Strelich’s work, draws us in with poignant laughter and then confronts us with the specter of humanity’s vulnerable frailty juxtaposed against our indomitable spirit to try again and again for happiness and love within a lifetime of broken hearts and dreams. 

Neon Psalms requires a cast of talented actors and this show will not disappoint. Jim and Judy Newell, recently of It Had to Be You fame, take on the roles of Luton and Patina Mears, joined by veterans Clara Dunham as their daughter Barbara and Seth Sharp as Ray, the propane delivery guy with a heart of gold. 

Dic Simandl manages light and sound. Doors will close before 7:30pm if the church fills earlier.

New acting classes this fall
By Alan Jordan

San Miguel Actors Workshop
Tue & Fri, Nov 10–Dec 5, 2–5pm
Register: 154-0352
www.theatersanmiguel.com 
1,500 pesos

San Miguel Actors Workshop announces a new series of eight intensive acting technique classes that focus on physical, vocal and emotional warm-ups as well as a fun, improvisational, Method-based approach to acting. The three-hour classes, limited to 10 participants, build on each person’s unique life experience in a safe, professional and creative environment devoted to the craft of acting. 

Artistic Director Alan Jordan has been a professional actor/director in Canada and the US for over 35 years. He is a graduate of the Neighborhood Playhouse in New York, where he studied with the renowned Sanford Meisner.

Jordan’s many stage credits include starring roles at New York’s Circle Repertory Company, Manhattan Theater Club and Playwrights Horizon as well as Stratford Festival in Canada. He has appeared in over 100 TV and film productions such as Hill Street Blues, Dallas, Knight Rider, Friday the 13th, Sorry Wrong Number and Santa Barbara.

In Hollywood, Jordan was chairman of the board at Theatre West, and in Toronto he founded The Actors Workshop, where he was artistic director for 15 years. In San Miguel, he directs Iguana Productions and has given us Blown Sideways through Life, Love Letters, The Love List and Sex, Lies & Quilting. 

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