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.