Five plays, 18 actors, one fun show

Published 12:00 pm Wednesday, July 26, 2006

The Changing Scene Theatre Northwest is once again stretching the boundaries of its small black-box stage, presenting five original one-act plays in “Summerplay 2006: A Festival of New Works,” opening July 28 in Bremerton.

Four of the plays can be broadly defined as comedies, one is described as a “turbulent drama.” Three of the playwrights are from Denver, one is from Los Angeles and one is from Suquamish, Karlene George.

George has performed in local theater and this is her second play to be produced at Changing Scene. Her “Passion Like a Verdant River” was part of “Summerplay 2004.”

“It’s so fresh to see our plays produced with all the wonderful, beautiful things going on,” she said, referring to both the actors and the stories. “I think everyone should come and see what goes on in people’s heads.”

Judging from these plays, some of those goings on are pretty bizarre.

Pavlina Morris, Changing Scene director, said one play in particular is indescribable. She should know — she’s directing it.

“Warm Dense Matter,” written by Darren Schroader of Denver, is set in space, on a spaceship.

“That’s about all we know,” Morris said. “It’s futuristic and surrealistic. The playwright (who is a friend of Morris’) doesn’t even know what it’s about. It’s an exercise in the rhythm of comedy — it doesn’t seem to make sense, but it’s hilarious to watch.”

The one-act play features Ashley Hamrick, Judy Nichols, Raymond Deuel, Kyle Boynton and Dray Young, all experienced local actors.

George’s contribution this season is “Seeing Delight,” directed by Darren Hembd. She describes it as a sentimental comedy, based on a rather eccentric artist whom she knows personally.

“He isn’t anyone you’d want to live with, but he’s so vital. He’s always experimenting and looking at things with curiosity,” she said. “Everyone needs someone like him in their lives.”

In the play he is a doctor, not an actor, and the other characters developed as “satellites” around him, George explained.

Joining Harry Helm, as Doc Faraday, are Ryan Taylor, Mike Grauer, Jr., Brandy Thompson and Judy Nichols.

Hembd also directs the “turbulent drama,” “Bull Baiter,” written by Denver playwright Josh Hartwell.

It has just two actors playing brothers, Jim Wingren and Ryan Demerick.

The drama revolves around Caleb, a “rodeo comic,” i.e. “bull baiter,” and his younger brother, Simon, who returns home after hitting rock bottom in Los Angeles. It’s not a pleasant homecoming.

“I love the sibling rivalry,” Hembd said. “It’s topical and timeless.”

Turbulent drama seems to be a favorite subject of playwright Hartwell — he also wrote “Reaching for Comfort,” produced by Changing Scene last season.

None of the plays are more than 20 minutes, but “Passed Hordes” is probably the shortest. Written by Los Angeles playwright Mark Harvey Levine and directed by Raymond Deuel, the play features two misfits at a social gathering who undergo a remarkable transformation. Ashley Hamrick is the awkward Isabel and Taylor Mantzke is the dorky Paul. Waiters, played by Dray Young, Brandy Thompson, Riley Abel and Eden McFadden, relentlessly ply them with “passed hordes” — hors d’oeuvres — until they finally succumb to the temptation.

“I was impressed by the clarity and simplicity of the play,” Deuel said. “It unfolds in very few lines, but it really pops.”

Levine contributed “The Kiss” to last year’s “Summerplay.”

“Sleep Tight,” written by Denver playwright Scott Gibson and directed by Christopher Dolan, examines what would happen if the “monster who lives under your bed” and the “monster who lives in your closet,” came out from their hiding places and interacted with each other and the person they have terrorized for 20 years.

Kyle Boynton plays the terrified Chip, while Eden McFadden is Luby, the monster under the bed, and Riley Abel is Luke, the monster in the closet.

Dolan has spent more time on stage than in the director’s chair, and he’s no stranger to weird characters.

“I love Gibson’s wackiness,” he said. “There’s always something to laugh about.”

There is indeed plenty to laugh at and about at “Summerplay,” as well as topics to discuss on the way home.

“Summerplay 2006: A Festival of New Works,” opens July 28 at The Changing Scene Theatre Northwest, 5889 SR 303 NE, E. Bremerton, and runs weekends through Aug. 19.

Showtimes are 8 p.m. Fridays and Saturdays. Tickets are $12 adults, $10 seniors, students and military. Reserve at (360) 792-8601.