By DAVID DUPONT
BG Independent News
That coffee shop could be in Bowling Green. That comic convention could be in Columbus. The Lionface Productions one-act plays – all three written for the troupe – have a sense of familiarity viewed through a different lens.
The Lionface production of one acts opens tonight at 7:30 p.m. in the rehearsal hall behind the Performing Arts Center in the middle school. The show continues Friday and Saturday. Guests should enter through door M, near the patio area to the south of the Performing Arts Center. Tickets are $7 and $5 for students.
Two of the plays were presented at a Wednesday night dress rehearsal. (The third “The Amazing Red Diamond” written by Jesse Koza got an early run through because of a scheduling conflict.)
“Every Seven Years or So,” written by J. Benjamin and directed by Christina Hoekstra, traces the arc of the friendship between Eric (Cole Stiriz) and Fiona (Kathryn Gonda) from being artistically inclined and insecure high school students into young adults when the issues that first drew them together still resonate. We meet them mid-conversation as Eric is telling Fiona how his father, the high school art teacher, caught him in flagrante with another boy in the ceramics studio. The story sets up the relationship between Eric and Fiona as friends with no romantic interest. It also helps introduce the character of the father, as a fellow dreamer, who is never seen, but casts a shadow on the action.
Stiriz and Gonda have good chemistry as friends so close they know just how to grate on each other. Eric is high-minded, and a snob. Fiona is interested in writing fantasy, which Eric mocks as these “fairy stories” and considers selling out. On a dare they push each other into new artistic territory that influences the way their lives unfold.
The play addresses real life issues faced by creative people as they struggle to survive and find their muses. The characters also struggle with their relationship to home, and where that is. Fiona leaves for New York, while Eric becomes an advocate for the local Toledo scene. Benjamin manages to weave these topical concerns into sharp dialogue, and includes a tragic plot twist.
Nicole Tuttle and Scott Stechschulte in “Pros and Cons”
Nothing tragic happens in “Pros and Cons” written by Rin Moran and directed by Griffin Coldiron. Here a quartet of roommates head off to a comics convention. They each have an agenda. Amy (Gabby Thomas) is a diehard fan girl, who reminds us at every turn that fan is short for fanatic. She gets the first shriek. “You guys! Guys! Guys! We’re actually here. It’s more amazing than I imagined.”
Owen (Rory Gallagher) is intent on locating a guy dressed as Capt. Kirk, who he met and fell in love with the previous year, only to lose his number at a McDonald’s. Camdon (Nicole Tuttle) wants to meet her favorite author, the heart throb David Garth Laimon (Scott Stechschulte).
Then there’s poor Jeremy played by Allie Levine, who is secretly in love with Camdon. Jeremy is the one always getting left behind, wondering off on his own.
Complications ensue with Amy ending up working as an organizer of the convention and Camdon losing her driver’s license. All this plays out with near encounnters and miscommunications.
Heather Hill and Katy Schlegel play lurking fan girls ready to ambush Laimon at every turn. Alycia Miller and Jeffrey Agan round out the cast playing several smaller, yet key parts. Everyone contributes to the hilarity.
Much is played for laughs, but there’s a heart rending scene when Camdon finally meets her idol. It is appropriately uncomfortable, though as fitting a comedy, all is resolved in the end.
Koza’s “The Amazing Red Diamond,” directed by J. Ryan Albrecht, is a comedy of a different sort. As described by Albrecht it depicts an old-time radio adventure story produced by a quartet of rather inept players, who take on 30 or so roles among them.
Playing inept takes skill, and I’m sure the Lionface cast is up to the task.
