February 16, 2011 7PM and 9:30Pm
Imagine you throw a dinner party. You invite five people. They are five people you do not know (they're passers-by) and they don't know each other. You put them in the same room, sit them at the same table so to speak, and take a seat out of sight where they can't see you and you watch them interact.
That's what happened tonight and every night for the run of this innovative theatre experiment developed and executed by Artistic New Directions.
Tonight, both parties were a success. The guests got along and did not get along in unexpected ways.
Kristine Niven has to agree that this was her best Daytona so far. Jill Melanie Wirth gave us another spirited Daytona.
Desmond Dutcher and Scott Davidson gave compelling performances once again, each with his own mix of anger, disappointment, and distress. I'm pleased each time to talk to these two actors afterwards, just to remind myself that they are really nice guys, a tribute to their talent.
Abby Lee and Cooper Shaw couldn't be more different in their portrayals of Larissa (that's LARI-double S-A, in case you wan't to write it down). That's an inside joke. Come to the show to get it. I've written plenty about Abby's comedic gifts (there have to be all kinds of roles in her future). She plays it just enough over the top. Cooper Shaw seems to have experimented the most with her character. I've seen four of her Larissa's, each one stronger and more confident than the last; more inventive, too.
John Calvin Kelly once again excellent, compelling, engaging. Great on the transitions. As single-minded as a security guard. Ben Sumrall, his counter-part, could do the entire role without moving. The expressions on his face track every action, articulate every mood.
The two Patti's take different routes to the same place. Irene Longshore brings back her bookish, shy, persistent, manic insistence. Amanda Ladd is quietly explosive.
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