This coming Monday, Nov. 7, at 8 p.m., the Vineyard Playhouse will present a staged reading of Standing on Ceremony: The Gay Marriage Plays. And they will not be alone. At the same time there will be simultaneous readings of the play worldwide.
Remember that old Dylan song, “Somethin’ is happenin’, but you don’t know what it is, do you Mr. Jones?” In the opening first scene of the two-person play, coming2terms, at the Vineyard Playhouse, we’re all Mr. Joneses as we try to figure out what a particular attractive couple is up to. They’re coming across with everything long-term couples tend to do. Bickering? Check! Avoiding larger issues? Check! Sharing their day? Check!
Acting is an endurance sport. Don’t believe it? Go to the Grange Hall any Thursday, Friday or Saturday night for the rest of the summer and see one man’s theatrical version of the Ironman Triathlon.
Remember that old 1950s TV show that posed the question, “Can this marriage be saved?” presenting his story, her story and a wrap-up by an expert? Most marriages hit rough spots, and when the subjects share their gripes, the listener find himself or herself silently asking the above question.
This coming Monday, Nov. 7, at 8 p.m., the Vineyard Playhouse will present a staged reading of Standing on Ceremony: The Gay Marriage Plays. And they will not be alone. At the same time there will be simultaneous readings of the play worldwide.
First, let it be said that on the evening this critic attended the Vineyard Playhouse’s outdoor performance of The Comedy of Errors, Friday, July 22, when the weather was so warm it felt as if the entire Island was holding a Bikrum hot yoga class (for those unfamiliar with the workout, the purpose is to reproduce a boiling afternoon in Calcutta), the heat itself became a starring character.
Walking into the theatre at the Yard in Chilmark during a dance rehearsal this week, one couldn’t help noticing a spilled glass of water on the edge of the stage, and, upon further inspection, a puddle in the middle of the floor. A few minutes later a dancer stood in the middle of said puddle, relishing its slippery nature.
Next Friday and Saturday evening, Nov. 18 and 19, the Tisbury school gym will transform itself into the magical world of Cinderella for the junior high school play. Twenty-three student actors have been rehearsing since the first week of school to prepare the show that’s a lot of glass slippers to try on. Four other students make up the stage crew, cue turning into a pumpkin. Barra Peak returns this year as a graduate assistant.
Be the star you know you are. The curtain is about to go up for summer theatre arts camp for ages 9 to 14 at the Vineyard Playhouse. Camp begins on Tuesday, July 5 and afterwards runs Mondays through Fridays from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. through August 26.
Camp directors Liz Hartford and Mac Young are returning this summer, along with Katharine Pilcher. The camps are designed to be small and nurturing with an average of 12 to 15 campers per week.
