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Local Playwright and Producer Terry Earp has addressed many issues in her collection of writings: neighborhood action, friendship's lost and found, Wild West legend, and the Lingerie of the Gods, among others. She has now focused on D-I-V-O-R-C-E, producing through her homegrown On The Spot Productions two one-acts composing an evening of theatre ironically titled A Friendly Divorce. Directed by A. Nannette Taylor, these two comedic looks at breaking up are an even split; one works and one doesn't.
The first one-act, The Big D, pits Type-A Marilyn against soon-to-be-former hubby and self-improver Hank. They represent the group of boomers who have stayed together, ostensibly for the kids, until college has claimed the last one, leaving them to split and seek their lost possibilities. While this is a very real and pertinent topic, Ms. Earp has created two self-centered and unappealing characters who spar in their unseen therapist's office, making it difficult to enjoy their issues and repartee. Even worse, she adds a twist involving the therapist half-way through the forty-five minute play that changes the theme, and drags on for far-too long. As a result, belief is more than suspended, it's expelled. Ms. Taylor's direction is frenetic, considering the static situation given by the author. In trying to force some kind of movement on this "talking heads" piece, Ms. Taylor makes the actors jump up and down like jack-in-the-boxes, though this is a better choice than the scripts natural tendency to leave the characters chair-bound.
As New-Career-Woman Marilyn, Cherie Donahoe is too automatic. The caustic wit rolls nastily from her, and in a way that seems rehearsed. Little of what she says sounds genuine, let alone considered. Self-improvement guru Hank is played simply and directly by Bruce Schechter. Mr. Schechter brings a pathos to the role that actually works against the creation of sympathy for his plight. There's less self-improvement-seeker and more self-obsessed-whiner to his characterization. Both actors start out talking separately to the unseen therapist, but their monologue-like ways continue even when they're talking to each other.
While this would ordinarily have killed an evening, the second one-act, Cora Lee's Epiphany does right where the other has done wrong. Ms. Earp creates two completely different people in this situation; a couple getting ready to celebrate their fiftieth wedding anniversary. These two are not the self-centered whiners we have met previously, but two down-home Southern folk who are a bit caricatured, but much more funny and poignant. The simple couple, retired trucker Roy and long-suffering and newly-self-discovering Cora Lee, are finding in retirement that being together all the time is not necessarily the best thing for a marriage. While this play could also have become a talking heads situation, Ms. Taylor directs the couple in a very natural and simple way, so that the blocking enhances, rather than fights, the script.
As the pent-up Cora Lee, Maggie Wade does a commendable job of presenting a woman who finally wants to enjoy her life, not live through others. She performs her character in a warm, yet devious way, a joy to watch. Her needs and fears are universal, and she is able to affect everyone without overdoing. Despite being a bit-too young for the role, emphasized by his awful and inadvertently funny greyed hair, Bill Strickland plays good ol' boy Roy evenly, never letting some of his character's shortcomings become detriments to audience understanding. Yes, Roy has done some terrible things, but his love still shines through and makes him loveable in return.
Ms. Earp's recent successes, coupled with her consistent output and support of other writers, has made her On The Spot Productions a company to watch. Unfortunately, as is the case with original work, not everyplay is a guaranteed hit. Of course, one out of two enjoyable one-acts is still pretty good odds.
Production Details:
A Friendly Divorce (Two One-Acts: The Big D & Cora Lee's Epiphany) by Terry
Earp
On The Spot Theatre, Phoenix
564-6606
June 26th-July 25th, 1998
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