Pioneer Drama Service to publish Ukrainiacs!

Pioneer Drama Service, the premiere full-service provider of plays and musicals primarily to the amateur theatre market, has agreed to publish my latest play, Ukrainiacs! This marks my 19th play with Pioneer, and the seventh of my scripts published or re-published this year!

In Ukrainiacs!, a troupe of youthful Skommadai (storytellers), travelling on a cultural exchange tour of the United States, present three topsy-turvy Ukrainian folk tales. In “The Blabbermouth,” a woodsman devises an ingenious ruse to keep a buried treasure secret. Next, the goofy, cellar-dwelling “Puff Monster” bites off more than it can chew. In the children’s literature classic “Sirko and the Wolf,” canine cousins outwit a cranky, noodle-wielding Baboushka and make their dreams come true. This uproariously funny, fast-paced and tour-friendly ensemble comedy is easy to cast, rehearse and stage almost anywhere, with minimal resources. The fun-filled one-act “storyteller’s theatre” production will make audiences of all ages wish they too could be… “Ukrainiacs!”

Ukrainiacs! is yet another in my series of "Storyteller Theatre" plays, which breathe new and wildly theatrical life into popular and obscure folk and fairy tales. This show is unique in its incredible flexible casting potential: anywhere from six to 24 actors or more, male or female, can participate. There are parts for a variety of ages and levels of experience.

Pioneer Drama Service is at the forefront of providing age-appropriate, family-friendly plays for schools, churches and community theatres, and I'm thrilled that they are going to publish and market Ukrainiacs!

For more information on Pioneer Drama Service, check out their web site at www.pioneerdrama.com. For a complete listing of my published plays, visit my web site at www.geocities.com/patrickrdorn

New e-mail address

THE TROUPE'S e-mail address is changing to G-mail! Please make the following change in your address books:

Old e-mail: thetroupetheatre@yahoo.com

NEW e-mail: thetroupe@gmail.com

This change has been made because of the wearisome spam the yahoo account keeps receiving, and because of other features in G-Mail that will make contacting supporters of THE TROUPE even more convenient.

Thanks for updating your address books!
Patrick+

REVIEW: Hay Fever

Nathan Bock (left) as Simon Bliss, Deborah Persoff (center) as Judith Bliss and Misha Johnson (right) as Sorel Bliss in Miner's Alley Playhouse's production of Noel Coward's Hay Fever. Photo: Richard H. Pegg


Chatty and catty, Noel Coward's flippant early 20th century comedy of bad manners Hay Fever has aged well, mostly because watching witty, spoiled rich people feed their voracious egos by making fools of hapless innocent bystanders never seems to go out of style. Sure, decadent comedies like this are guilty pleasures, but Miner's Alley Playhouse's production is presented with such gleeful abandon, and the laughs are so fast and frequent, it's hard to feel guilty for long.


The quarrelsome and ironically named Bliss family, consisting of pulp novelist David (Claude Diener), his semi-retired diva actress wife Judith (Deborah Persoff), along with their bored and bickering young adult children Simon (Nathan Bock) and Sorel (Misha Johnson) amuse themselves by inviting gullible would-be suitors to their country home and subjecting them to all kinds of teasing, mischief and psychological warfare.


Lured by flirtation, or by the prospect of an encounter with one or more frivolous members of this vicious, vivacious brood, are a middle-aged diplomat (Verl Hite), an American socialite (Kendra Crain McGovern), an argyle-attired athlete (Derby Thomas) and a befuddled Brit (Leslie Randle Chapman). All four are instantly overwhelmed as the Bliss family pounces on them like cats on mice, batting them about and using them as pawns in their twisted parlor games.


A local diva in her own right, Persoff does stellar work as the fabulously flamboyant grand dame on the precipice of decline, while Bock and Johnson are splendid as the squabbling siblings. Hite pulls off one of the funniest bumbling seduction scenes ever staged, and the rest of the cast has nearly continuous episodes of inspired lunacy. Peggy Miller has several nice moments as a most unhelpful maid.


Thanks to the deft direction of Richard H. Pegg, any concerns about the dreary, dull and droll dialogue usually associated with this style of comedy are banished outright, as he squeezes the farcical potential out of every line, gesture and scene.


The unrelenting egocentricity of the Bliss family is problematic. They treat each other badly, and their guests even worse, and have fun doing it. Intelligence, boredom and an underdeveloped conscience can be a toxic combination. Only Sorel exhibits any real self-awareness as she peevishly declares, “We're a beastly family and I hate us.” But none of them do anything to change. A large part of the humor in Hay Fever is derived from the Bliss family's outrageous antics and amoral behavior, performed without real malice but with devilish flair.


Hay Fever performs at Miner's Alley Playhouse in Golden through September 7, 2008. Call 303-935-3044 or visit www.minersalley.com. For information and reservations.