The Big Picture

Raconteur Theater Presents “The Big Picture” A collection of Shorts By “Mark Harvey Levine, he has had over 800 productions of his plays around the world, at theaters such as The Actor’s Theatre of Louisville, City Theatre of Miami and The Phoenix Theatre in Indianapolis. His plays have been produced in Australia, Canada, England, Brazil, South Korea, The Netherlands, Germany, Morocco, South Africa, Switzerland and the Czech Republic” and now Columbus Ohio.

Raconteur staged this series of scenes at Club Diversity located just off of German Village downtown. Overall the vibe is fun, pleasant and welcomed. The seating is a welcomed change with options for table and single chair seating. I should tell you full disclosure there were twelve scenes in this series and though not all of them were masterpieces, some were quite wonderful. I would like to focus on these standout scenes and there respective actors. 

A Fit of Pique: In short this scene can be describe as a romantic comedy gone horribly wrong. We first meet Annie (played by CarmenScott) and her annoying companion and sister Lisa (Played by Jessica Studer) Annie’s newest Doting Boyfriend Rich (Played by Greg McGill) and our Flamboyant wait-staff (Played by Thanh Nguyen), and soon learn that “Suffering women are truly the most beautiful” Carmen Has this amazing transformation before our eyes almost wolf-like and horrifyingly unnatural, Though I loved Carmen’s delivery and execution I would advise her towards overacting to pander to laughter as it caused quite a break in her performance. Lisa (Jessica) was the truest definition of the “Annoying Sibling” I was truly annoyed by her constant picking and attacking, but in a good way My biggest applause goes to her use of dead pan cupcake eating, Marvelous. Rich (Greg) Our hopeless romantic, I enjoyed Greg’s choices in delivery and development and his constant use of “you are perfect for who you are” it felt dare I say genuine. Waiter (Thanh) played his part well and knew his place, but playing “The Gay Waiter” doesn’t have to mean “Larger than the action” 

A Birthday Party: Jen (Jen Barlup) Breaks the fourth wall while sitting on a park bench “awaiting her first date” sounds simple right? not...at...all! Jen brings this comical script to the next level. Going beyond dialogue itself and giving a full well rounded picture of a ‘desperate woman looking for her man’. One of my favorite scenes from this show. 

The Big Picture: Shall we say the Life and Death of Crayons. The show has a good premise and humorous outcomes, but it was one the weaker shows of Act 1: I felt like the Energy was there and was there in abundance...but excess energy needs control and distinction. This Cast of Colors included Peach (Molly St. Cyr), Olive Green (Amy Drake), Sky Blue (Julie Flynn), Burnt Sienna (Chris Martin), Copper (Catherine RInella) and Lemon Yellow (Ayla Strinaman). 

Act Two was shared with some wonderful scenes as well, One of which was 

Shades: The interesting study of color and emotion, all taking place focused around a colored cube, essentially the same scene 6 times reran with different shades and emotion. The three Strongest actors of the evening were featured in this singular piece, Freda (Jenn Barlup), Rick (Andy Batt) and John (Stephen Woosley). my only complaint for this show was its flow, stopping every other minute to make simple changes in direction and props I would advise against this to make it a natural flow, simply work with the space and move objects as need be. 

A Walk in the Ocean: the simultaneous ending and continuing of a relationship, all in the setting one mile in the middle of the Deep Blue Ocean Bill (Thanh Nguyen) and Karen (Jill Ceneskie). These two actors have great pacing I especially was taken with Jill’s emotional cues and switches, from happy to annoyed to skeptical to understanding. I do believe that Thanh has a romantic leading man hiding in him somewhere, I would advise him if he is going to play the romantic lead to butch it up a bit, being “outgoing” is a great thing but it can be a crutch in these scenes, dig deeper. 

A little Fresh Air: Man (Andy Batt) stops in the park with his newborn “giving mommy some fresh air”. This short starts out a bit rough and tumble, with Andy clearly exhausted from many sleepless nights, and it develops into this excessively sweet and wonderful father-child piece. Protector/Provider and Comforter. Andy almost had me to tears towards the end when the Child holds his hand and he simply says “You can always hold it...if you like”. 

I was quite pleased with the over-all production, Though I would warn against accepting the final matinee as a reason to loose focus, some of the scenes not mentioned here are lost because of focus. Always play a show as it is the first and last time you will ever play it, and you will have the kid of theater and company people will flock to see every time. I wish to thank Raconteur for inviting me to review this fun-filled show, I hope to be invited back for their next undertaking. 

Black Coffee

Bread and Circus Theater presents "Black Coffee, a play by the British crime-fiction author Agatha Christie (1890–1976) which was produced initially in 1930. The first piece that Christie wrote for the stage, it launched a successful second career for her as a playwright. Hercule Poirot and his friendArthur Hastings are summoned to visit a famous physicist, Sir Claud Amory, but they discover on their arrival that he has been murdered. The plot revolves around a stolen formula, with Poirot deducing which of Sir Claud's house guests/family members is the killer."  
Bread and Circus’ newest location is 3013 W. Broad St. at Westgate Ave., sharing an intimate setting between the walls of an art gallery. This fanciful parlor is brought to life for us with a tiny, but fantastic, set. A few concerns were raised when the robin's-egg blue tiled floor was exposed in areas where rugs did not cover. I also caught more than one occasion when fellow attendees and myself were gasping as the walls would bow in and out from lack of upper section support (I’ve been told there was no way to secure said issue).  My last note, not complaint, was the use of the "Producers Seats." Both community and professional theaters often offer patrons priority seating to raise friends and funds. This is not a bad thing, but I did hear more than one complaint from new viewers who were there to support friends and family, that the "Producer's Row" blocked 80 percent of the show's action. I half agree with this sentiment since the space is small and the action, focused mere feet from the front row, was next to impossible to see. 

Overall, the production was enjoyable. The main issue with this show is not the dialogue (though a bit labor intensive and dry, but witty), but the action, It is mainly Move stage right, sit, deliver four pages of dialogue, insert witty joke and dry humor here. I would have liked to see more movement within the staging, to increase the feelings of unease and desperation. The purpose, however, in this production was served. The “WhoDunnit” ran rampant after Act 2 amongst the audience. A side note to the costumer: I would advise a bit more research into jewelry and accessories for this period piece--men would not have have worn modern watches with blue faces and metal bands.

As always, I would like to point out a few outstanding performers from this piece. It should be noted that, while not all of the actors are mentioned here, it does not mean their performances were any less important or valid. 

Sabina Thalheim (Lucia Amory): Thalheim has the rare ability of silky vocals. Her accent is a soft, sweet and inviting “homage to Mary Poppins" (an eavesdropped note from a fellow patron). She also has the rare trait to snap in and out of emotional vulnerability and close off to everyone. The show opens with her sitting on the parlor's couch amidst an emotional break down and, shortly after another entrance, acting as if nothing is on her mind--truly a rare and welcomed ability from an actress. You will want to keep your eyes peeled for what will come next for this wonderful local actress.

Doug Montanro (Hercule Poirot): Oozes French charm and fatherly guidance from the moment he takes the stage at the end of Act 1. I truly loved Montanro’s performance for the simple fact that he is the quintessential leading man of this show. And since the average arrogance of a leading man is not found in his performance, I applaud him for keeping his focus and playing the role to its truest intent.

John David Heisler (Edward Raynor): Is truly a snake in the grass, not just because of his bio in the playbill (filled with dubious intent), but because he brings us the (SPOILER ALERT) evil villain. Though he had quite an obvious tell in his half-cocked grin. I can look past this based on his skin-crawling performance. 

Leslie Robinson (Ms. Caroline Amory): Is quite the spectacle. Our spinstress complete with yarn and crochet bag. Though her performance runs border-line "over the top" and "pandering for laughter," at moments I was more than pleased with her take and deliveries. Caroline is one of the comic reliefs in the show and Robinson genuinely achieved this in her performance.

For the other members of the cast, it takes guts to perform Agatha Christie and, for successfully completing a run of this show, I congratulate you all. Though I would note that diction, accent quality and volume could always be examined under the microscope. Continue to round out these things, and you have a more than a stellar performance.

I look forward to more Bread and Circus shows and I humbly thank them for allowing me the opportunity to write a review for them. Keep your eyes open, dear readers, for the next show coming to Bread and Circus, the Shakespeare classic "Antony & Cleopatra."