Don't Talk To The Actor

Here are some photos from the production, and the review -

Ants!!

They'll like you - I promise.

Bea's reluctant rehearsal

The big ending

Beatrice can sing

Jerry draws the line

The mailman song

Needlepoint . . . 

stage manager extraordinaire

‘Don’t Talk to The Actors’ at Shaker Bridge Brings Laughs
By Warren Johnston

Valley News Staff Writer

Thursday, December 11, 2014 

(Published in print: Thursday, December 11, 2014)

Just before rehearsals are about to begin on fledgling playwright Jerry Przpezniak’s first Broadway production, Director Mike Policzek advises the young playwright not to talk to the actors. As it turns out, bad and hilarious things happen when Jerry ignores the advice in the Shaker Bridge Theatre’s very good production of Tom Dudzick’s comedy Don’t Talk to the Actors.

In the opening moments of the two-act play-within-a-play, Jerry (Joe Guarino) and his fiancee, Arlene Wyniarski (Michelle Carlson), a school teacher, actor and “one of the best cross-stitchers I know,” are waxing on about how lucky they are to be in a rehearsal room in the heart of the New York City theater district after having just arrived from their home in Buffalo. This is his big break, the one that will change their lives, Jerry says. He’s already rented an apartment in the city and given up his lease in Buffalo, much to the chagrin of Arlene, who saw a return to their hometown as a good back-up plan.

Despite Jerry’s pending success on Broadway, his play, The Piano Tuner, reflects his and Arlene’s homespun values and limited urban sophistication. It is the story of a piano tuner and his wife living in Buffalo. He’s dying of cancer and, as a sign of his undying love, he teaches her the piano tuning trade.

When the remaining four characters arrive and introductions are made, each one can’t say enough about the brilliance of Jerry’s masterpiece, which is bound to be a hit. “The parents in this play are my parents,” they all say. And Jerry and Arlene are reassured.

But as Don’t Talk unfolds, and Jerry talks to the actors, there are just “a few small changes” they’d like to make, and the naive Jerry and the wide-eyed Arlene find themselves swept up in the self-serving, chaotic New York City theater world of manipulation and ego-driven behavior. The dream they were celebrating quickly becomes a nightmare. Where is that back-up plan now?

Don’t Talk to the Actors is autobiographical and based on Dudzick’s experience when he got his first break with the off-Broadway production of his comedy Greetings, a Christmas play starring the late stage, screen and TV star Darren McGavin. The Buffalo native was fascinated by the unexpected events and interactions that happened backstage and during rehearsals, the playwright has said in published interviews.

As rehearsals get underway for The Piano Tuner, relationships and distractions begin to emerge, despite the best efforts of Mike, an understated, calm director, solidly played by Bill Coons who also doubles as the co-director of the Don’t Talk production. The avuncular has-been Curt Logan, an aging stage and television actor whose TV reruns have brought him back in to the public’s eye, is hoping this Broadway appearance as the piano tuner of the title will relaunch his career. The young and attractive Arlene has admired Logan since her childhood and keeps scrapbooks of all his clippings, an affinity the lecherous Logan, played by veteran actor Munson Hicks, is quick to exploit.

Stage Manager Lucinda Shaw (Jeannie Hines), “the best stage manager in New York,” tries to get the rehearsal started despite the absence of Beatrice Pomeroy (Dottie Stanley), a television actress and bawdy comedienne, who plays the wife. Every time the overly efficient Shaw tries to make a point, her cellphone rings, causing her to scream at the caller about being interrupted while she’s working. It’s her boyfriend, calling to tell her he loves her every five minutes, she apologizes.

Things move along slowly until Pomeroy shows up — she’s been delayed by her efforts to bring presents to the cast, toiletry baskets she’s stolen from her hotel — and breaks into the raucous Mailman Song, a number from her raunchy comedy routine. She thinks the play could use a song. Logan thinks the husband could be a stronger character. After spending a misunderstood evening on the town with Logan, Arlene convinces Jerry to rewrite the play to give it more “grit.” Jerry spends a sleepless weekend rewriting the play, and the results are disastrous, but quite funny.

As the playwright and the director in Don’t Talk, Guarino, in his first role with Shaker Bridge after appearances at Parish Players and Pentangle Arts, and Coons, the founder and director of Shaker Bridge, are the foundation of the play and well cast as the hapless straight men. That’s not to say they’re not funny. Jerry’s mounting frustration over his crumbling dream and Mike’s efforts to keep things in line while constantly whining about the prices of “things these days” provide laughs through out the play.

But the bright lights are the women and Hicks. Carlson, who teaches seventh- and eighth-graders in Plainfield, is a natural for Arlene and shines in the lovely and gullible role. This is her second appearance, and she’s also had roles in three Parish Players productions. A veteran of the local stage, Hines has appeared in numerous other Shaker Bridge productions. She’s terrific as the stressed, workaholic stage manager, and nails the British accent, the explosive phone behavior and her poignant emotional breakdowns. In her wonderful portrayal of Bea Pomeroy, Stanley is the life of the play. She’s a familiar face on the stages of the Upper Valley and has been in 17 shows on Broadway. Hicks embodies Curt Logan, just egotistical enough, funny enough and lecherous enough, masterfully pulling off a role that calls for playing a flamboyant over-actor without overacting himself. On Broadway, he’s appeared in dozens of shows, and he has numerous movie and TV credits as well.

Don’t Talk to the Actors, which was co-directed by Coons and Hicks, is an excellent, funny production that is well-suited for the intimate Whitney Hall.



Shaker Bridge Theatre’s production of Don’t Talk to the Actors continues through Dec. 21 in Enfield’s Whitney Hall. For reservations and ticket information, email reservations@shakerbridgetheatre.org or call 603-448-3750.