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Theater review: "Sordid Lives" at Theatre Downtown
![People are people, the platitude goes, and in Del Shores' comedy <i>Sordid Lives</i>, we peer into a family similar to many: Sisters squabble, an aunt struggles to quit smoking, a gay son worries about coming out.
Oh, there is a gay-transvestite brother locked in a mental institution who has spent 20 years impersonating country-music singers, but more on him in a moment.
When Theatre Downtown's production emphasizes the humanity and relationships of these addled folk, the laughs land squarely and meaningfully. When things wander into clowning, the laughs still come sporadically but are a lot more hollow.
Shores split his play into four distinct scenes, and things get off to a rousing start as small-town Texas resident Sissy Hickey (Pam Baumann) worries about burying her recently deceased sister while trying to quit smoking by snapping herself with a rubber band.
"It's called behavioral modifi... something," she sputters to a friend on the phone.
Things immediately get awkward as Noleta (Peri Hope) drops by with a tuna-noodle casserole. It's the kind of small town, by the way, where name dropping means pointing out the canned soup in the casserole comes from Campbells and the potato chips are Lays.
In other words, everyone knows everyone else's business. And in this case, the sordid business at hand is the fact Sissy's dearly departed sister died in a motel room with Noleta's husband.
The set, by James Zelley, immediately evokes small-town life as Sissy tidies up stray paper plates, and fusses around a buffet of fried chicken and potato salad from well-meaning neighbors.
And Baumann lets her words rush out faster and faster as we see her brain just <i>gasping</i> for a cigarette while she tries to keep the peace between her nieces, the uptight Latrelle (Katrina Tharin) and easy-going LaVonda (Marion Marsh).
The play wobbles in its middle section, however, as the pace seems to slow and some actors veer toward caricature. An extended bit in which male characters are forced to dress in drag takes too long to get to its payoff (in part because Shores' script becomes repetitive).
And in coke-snorting, fame-seeking Dr. Eve Bolinger, the performance by Jamie Lyn Hawkins goes so over the top that it's out of balance with Doug Boarman-Shorts, underplaying the outrageousness of Brother Boy, that drag-wearing mental patient who feels just fine dressed as Tammy Wynette, thank you.
The production, directed by Fran and Frank Hilgenberg, gets its groove back in the final scene: a funeral in which family secrets are revealed, old hurts are healed, and maybe -- just maybe -- a few lessons are learned.
As a framing device, Adam Del Medico opens each scene as closeted Ty, the youngest member of the family, talking about his life with his unseen therapist.
Wide-eyed, Del Medico imbues each of his monologues with a growing sense of confidence and optimism, smile getting bigger and speech getting faster as he works up the nerve to be true to himself.
He's the perfect example of how characters don't have to be larger or louder than life to draw laughs -- just being a messed-up human from a messed-up family in a messed-up town can be funny enough.
That's something that Shores knew, and when Theatre Downtown's production finds those human moments, the humor hits both the funnybone and the heart.](http://media.trb.com/media/thumbnails/story/2010-06/54101944-03221619.jpg "People are people, the platitude goes, and in Del Shores' comedy <i>Sordid Lives</i>, we peer into a family similar to many: Sisters squabble, an aunt struggles to quit smoking, a gay son worries about coming out.
Oh, there is a gay-transvestite brother locked in a mental institution who has spent 20 years impersonating country-music singers, but more on him in a moment.
When Theatre Downtown's production emphasizes the humanity and relationships of these addled folk, the laughs land squarely and meaningfully. When things wander into clowning, the laughs still come sporadically but are a lot more hollow.
Shores split his play into four distinct scenes, and things get off to a rousing start as small-town Texas resident Sissy Hickey (Pam Baumann) worries about burying her recently deceased sister while trying to quit smoking by snapping herself with a rubber band.
"It's called behavioral modifi... something,\" she sputters to a friend on the phone.
Things immediately get awkward as Noleta (Peri Hope) drops by with a tuna-noodle casserole. It's the kind of small town, by the way, where name dropping means pointing out the canned soup in the casserole comes from Campbells and the potato chips are Lays.
In other words, everyone knows everyone else's business. And in this case, the sordid business at hand is the fact Sissy's dearly departed sister died in a motel room with Noleta's husband.
The set, by James Zelley, immediately evokes small-town life as Sissy tidies up stray paper plates, and fusses around a buffet of fried chicken and potato salad from well-meaning neighbors.
And Baumann lets her words rush out faster and faster as we see her brain just <i>gasping</i> for a cigarette while she tries to keep the peace between her nieces, the uptight Latrelle (Katrina Tharin) and easy-going LaVonda (Marion Marsh).
The play wobbles in its middle section, however, as the pace seems to slow and some actors veer toward caricature. An extended bit in which male characters are forced to dress in drag takes too long to get to its payoff (in part because Shores' script becomes repetitive).
And in coke-snorting, fame-seeking Dr. Eve Bolinger, the performance by Jamie Lyn Hawkins goes so over the top that it's out of balance with Doug Boarman-Shorts, underplaying the outrageousness of Brother Boy, that drag-wearing mental patient who feels just fine dressed as Tammy Wynette, thank you.
The production, directed by Fran and Frank Hilgenberg, gets its groove back in the final scene: a funeral in which family secrets are revealed, old hurts are healed, and maybe -- just maybe -- a few lessons are learned.
As a framing device, Adam Del Medico opens each scene as closeted Ty, the youngest member of the family, talking about his life with his unseen therapist.
Wide-eyed, Del Medico imbues each of his monologues with a growing sense of confidence and optimism, smile getting bigger and speech getting faster as he works up the nerve to be true to himself.
He's the perfect example of how characters don't have to be larger or louder than life to draw laughs -- just being a messed-up human from a messed-up family in a messed-up town can be funny enough.
That's something that Shores knew, and when Theatre Downtown's production finds those human moments, the humor hits both the funnybone and the heart.")
Orlando Sentinel theater criticPeople are people, the platitude goes, and in Del Shores' comedy Sordid Lives, we peer into a family similar to many: Sisters squabble, an aunt struggles to quit smoking, a gay son worries about coming out. Oh, there is a gay-transvestite brother locked...Tags: Mergers, Acquisitions and Takeovers, Potatoes, Arts and Culture, Quitting Smoking, Health Treatments
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25th anniversary Celtic Classic to feature best bands from many years
Lehigh Valley MusicThis year marks the 25th anniversary of the Celtic Classic, the Bethlehem festival that each September celebrates all things Irish, Scottish and Welsh. And the Celtic Cultural Alliance has just announced a music line for the event that reads like...... -
'Love Bus' was overwhelming for proud mom
In May, I emailed friends and acquaintances who had expressed interest in seeing The Studio Theatre in Washington, D.C., production of "POP!" — the rock musical that Maggie-Kate Coleman, MY DAUGHTER, wrote (book and lyrics) with composer Anna K....Tags: Cinderella (movie), New Jersey, Washington, DC, Arts and Culture, Physical Fitness and Exercise
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Religion: Speakers and Topics
Beaver Creek Church of the Brethren, Pastor Rachel Black's sermon topic will be We Wait in Peace at the 10 a.m. service. Mary Diehl and Karen Myers will be the worship leaders. Sunday school is at 9 a.m. Benevola United Methodist Church, Boonsboro,...Tags: Religion and Belief, Religious Texts, Lutheranism, Baptist, Bible
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Bluegrass legend Ralph Stanley nominated for a fourth Grammy Award
ReporterBluegrass musician Ralph Stanley says his latest album is straight from the heart. That's one reason, Stanley says it's satisfying to be nominated for another Grammy Award. "You know I was really surprised and everything," Stanley told News7 in a...Tags: Awards and Prizes, Entertainment, Concerts, Music
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Bluegrass legend Ralph Stanley up for fourth Grammy Award
The master of Appalachian mountain music, Ralph Stanley, is in the running for a fourth Grammy.
The nomination announced this week is for "A Mother's Prayer," a collection of Appalachian spirituals. The 84-year-old Stanley says of the hundreds of...Tags: Awards and Prizes
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Christmas season events in Catonsville
![<strong>Breakfast with Santa —</strong> Dec. 3, 9 a.m.-noon. Adults $6, children 3-10 $4.Children younger than 3 free. Hosted by Trinity United Methodist Church, 2100 Westchester Ave. <a href="http://www.trinitycatonsville.com">http://www.trinitycatonsville.com</a> or 410-747-5841.](http://www.baltimoresun.com/media/thumbnails/story/2011-12/66465283-02070033.jpg "<strong>Breakfast with Santa —</strong> Dec. 3, 9 a.m.-noon. Adults $6, children 3-10 $4.Children younger than 3 free. Hosted by Trinity United Methodist Church, 2100 Westchester Ave. <a href="http://www.trinitycatonsville.com\">http://www.trinitycatonsville.com</a> or 410-747-5841.")
Breakfast with Santa — Dec. 3, 9 a.m.-noon. Adults $6, children 3-10 $4.Children younger than 3 free. Hosted by Trinity United Methodist Church, 2100 Westchester Ave. http://www.trinitycatonsville.com or 410-747-5841.
Christmas tea with senior...Tags: Religion and Belief, Business, Arts and Culture, Christmas, Holidays
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A new scene for 'Twilight' stars
![A Westside compound that "Twilight" stars <b>Robert Pattinson</b> and <b>Kristen Stewart</b> had been leasing for the last several months has come on the market at $5.995 million.](http://www.latimes.com/media/thumbnails/story/2011-12/66450360-02121522.jpg "A Westside compound that "Twilight\" stars <b>Robert Pattinson</b> and <b>Kristen Stewart</b> had been leasing for the last several months has come on the market at $5.995 million.")
A Westside compound that "Twilight" stars Robert Pattinson and Kristen Stewart had been leasing for the last several months has come on the market at $5.995 million.
Built in the 1990s, the west-facing property encompasses almost half an acre and...Tags: Zach Gilford, Movies, Robert Pattinson, PGA Tour, Swimming
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Best week ever: Baltimore events, music, TV and more
Our list of everything going on the week of 11/28-12/4
NOTABLE TV
MONDAY
Basketball Wives LA: Reunion, Part 2 (special; 8 p.m.; VH1)
Top 40 (special; 8 p.m.; BBC America)
Bored to Death (season finale; 9 p.m.; HBO)
The Closer (mid-season premiere; 9 p....Tags: CBS Corp., Graham Norton, Pink Martini (music group), Wanted (movie), TNT (tv network)
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Money Clip D dead at 34
KIAHThe local hip-hop community is in mourning over the loss of Dominic Levar Brown, aka Money Clip D. Brown and friends were visiting Breakers, an after-hours nightclub on the south-west side early Friday morning when an unknown male opened fire in the... -
Tea Table Community Notes Friday, Aug. 12, 2011
Births A son, Colter Max Peck, was born to Amy and Travis Peck of Boyne City at 12:36 a.m. Aug. 8, 2011, at Munson Hospital in Traverse City. Colter weighed 5 pounds, 7 ounces at birth. His siblings are Jagger, 6, Rider, 4, and Sayler, 2. Grandparents...Tags: Dancing, Defense, Dave Fowler, Medical Services, Physical Fitness and Exercise
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Patt Morrison Asks: Inside guy, Buck Henry
![Buck Henry arguably made his showbiz debut at the age of 2, when his mother, the silent film star Ruth Taylor, took him to the Paramount lot to show him off. She denied then that she wanted him to go into movies. Sorry, Mom. Henry has become a polymath of directing, acting, and for my money, especially writing -- "The Graduate"; "Catch-22"; that fine dark comedy of manners, "To Die For"; TV's "Get Smart," with Mel Brooks; and a generation later, the seminal "Saturday Night Live" -- which he hosted for a then-record-setting 10 times. He beavers away on screenplays, plays and sundry prose; I pestered him into a lunch interview in West Hollywood. It was engagingly packed, with talk of the pleasures of "Hamlet" in German and a Hollywood/not Hollywood commentary on passing paraders, delivered with spare humor as dry as the natron used to stuff mummies. Hey -- isn't there a script in there somewhere?](http://www.latimes.com/media/thumbnails/column/2011-08/63781128-05175552.jpg "Buck Henry arguably made his showbiz debut at the age of 2, when his mother, the silent film star Ruth Taylor, took him to the Paramount lot to show him off. She denied then that she wanted him to go into movies. Sorry, Mom. Henry has become a polymath of directing, acting, and for my money, especially writing -- "The Graduate\"; \"Catch-22\"; that fine dark comedy of manners, \"To Die For\"; TV's \"Get Smart,\" with Mel Brooks; and a generation later, the seminal \"Saturday Night Live\" -- which he hosted for a then-record-setting 10 times. He beavers away on screenplays, plays and sundry prose; I pestered him into a lunch interview in West Hollywood. It was engagingly packed, with talk of the pleasures of \"Hamlet\" in German and a Hollywood/not Hollywood commentary on passing paraders, delivered with spare humor as dry as the natron used to stuff mummies. Hey -- isn't there a script in there somewhere?")
Buck Henry arguably made his showbiz debut at the age of 2, when his mother, the silent film star Ruth Taylor, took him to the Paramount lot to show him off. She denied then that she wanted him to go into movies. Sorry, Mom. Henry has become a polymath of...Tags: Movies, The New York Times, Get Smart (movie), Alan Arkin, The Graduate (movie)
Aug 9, 2012
|Story| Orlando Sentinel
May 15, 2012
| Allentown Morning Call
Aug 5, 2011
|Column| Herald Mail
Dec 2, 2011
|Story| Herald Mail
Dec 2, 2011
|Story| WDBJ7
Dec 2, 2011
|Story| AP Broadcast
Dec 2, 2011
|Story| Baltimore Sun
Dec 4, 2011
|Story| Los Angeles Times
Nov 28, 2011
|Story| Baltimore Sun
Nov 28, 2011
|Story| KIAH-LTV
Aug 12, 2011
|Story| Petoskey News
Aug 6, 2011
|Column| Los Angeles Times
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