A 10-minute play being the theatrical equivalent of a short story, there is much to be said in favor of them. If you dislike it, after all, you have only a few minutes to endure it.
This, however, wasn’t a consideration in “8 x10” the new festival of short works that made its debut at the Napa Valley Playhouse last weekend and continues for three more performances this week.
A selection of eight plays, chosen from submissions around the country. provided a diverse and lively evening, spiced up by a sense that this was grand adventure, the likes of which Napa had not seen.
An inspired collaboration of the Napa Valley Playhouse and Lucky Penny Productions, it had the inventive stamp of the latter, and the keen theatrical flair of the former. Familiar faces from the Playhouse stage joined efforts acting and directing these never before seen works.
The group put out a call for scripts about a year ago; a committee of three read the 97 entries blind and selected a mix, that is, by turns, hilarious and haunting and ranges in subject from Heaven to Hitler. What they shared in common is entertainment,
“Color” by Jerry Levitin of Napa opened the show. Directed by Michael Doppe and featuring Kim Doppe, Alexandra Leonardo and Cata Parkhurst, it considered the plight of a secretary whose lawyer boss suddenly begins to speak only in colors — “yellow” “blue.” It’s a baffling circumstance, until she meets his wife — and another mysterious woman.
“Calliope” by Joseph Horst of Greenville, N.C., directed by June Alane Reif and featuring Patt Quinn and Eric Donovan, was an amusing consideration of muses.
A New Yorker, Daniel Weber, is the only one who wrote about wine. Napa Valley College’s Jennifer King directed “The Hidden Cellar,” about a cache hidden by Nazis. It featured superb performances by Richard Pallaziol and Karin Argoud, he as the inheritor of collection of wine, and she as the French woman who unveils the truth about it to him.
From Los Angeles writer Ron Burch came a touching work, “The Terminal,”directed by Robert Silva. Debbie Baumann and Paul Moser portray a couple, about to be separated by a journey that she is more willing to undertake than he is to let her depart.
Barry Martin, co-founder of Lucky Penny and a mastermind behind the festival, turned in a masterful performance as a man struggling with Alzheimer’s in “Coat of Gold” by Susan Jackson of San Francisco, directed by Taylor Bartolucci DeGuilio. Gabriel Hernandez is equally powerful as a stranger who is trying to help a man flickering in and out of reality.
Martin returned to the stage to perform in one of his own works, “Women of a Certain Age,” directed by Debbie Baumann. In a work that drew spontaneous applause, along with groans of recognition from the audience, Cata Parkhurst portrays an elegant, savvy woman of a certain age (49 but she put 42 on her Internet search) who comes to a bar to meet a man. He, slouching in his chair, looks her over and announces, “No, this won’t work,” sparking a lively dialogue that includes lines anyone who has ever endured a blind date probably wished she or he had said.
The audience will be voting for a Peoples’ Choice award. Based on the reactions at the Friday opening, it’s likely to be either “Eternity” or “When Irish Eyes are Flirting.” Clearly in the mood for a good chuckle, viewers found ample opportunity for hearty laughter in each.
In “When Irish Eyes are Flirting,” Daryl Roberts portrays a seasoned, if delusional, Irishman, who instructs the younger and engagingly incredulous Eric Donovan in the finer arts of seduction with uproarious results. The objects of their attention are two American women (Alexandra Leonardo and June Alane Reif) in When Irish Eyes are Flirting” by Joe Starzyk form Troy, N.Y. and directed by Harry Diavatis.
The prize, however, just might have to go to “Eternity” by Elan Garonzik of New York, N.Y., directed by Olivia Cowell. This gem features Davina Rubin as an elderly woman who arrives at the Pearly Gates, tended by St. Peter (Vic Chiarella) only to learn that she is going to spend eternity “with the visage” she presently has. “I’m 88 years old,” she objects to St. Peter. “You call this heaven?”
What ensues is a sparring match as the feisty octogenarian argues with the Gatekeeper for, at the least, the face she had when she was 62, with the Big Guy weighing in via gold-plated mobile phone. Both performances and script are rollicking good comedy.
“8 X 10” is more than a delight, it’s a triumph. Let’s just hope it becomes a tradition too.
This story was originally published by the Napa Valley Register.
By Sasha Paulsen
December 12, 2012
