#1
Posted: 10/25/04 at 4:51pm
The show I am currently working on was reviewed on Friday and here it is. It is a great review. I love this play. Richard Greenberg did a wonderful job writing it. He also wrote Take Me Out.
Family's mystery satisfying journey
Weathervane play unravels parents, children
By Kerry Clawson
Beacon Journal staff writer
In the intriguing Three Days of Rain at Akron's Weathervane Community Playhouse, the whole story hinges on one seemingly innocuous sentence in a journal.
Playwright Greenberg expertly takes what sounds like a mundane journal entry and turns it into a mystery that kept me curious for a good 2 ½ hours. Bit by bit, the layers of a surprisingly unlikely secret are peeled off.
Richard Greenberg's writing is subtle enough to let us connect the dots ourselves. Well-placed clues tie together beautifully in this finely written play -- part of what makes seeing it so thoroughly enjoyable.
The story begins in 1995 New York, where siblings Walker and Nan Janeway meet a year after their father Ned's death. Their lifelong friend Pip also joins them in the reading of the Janeways' father's will. Ned Janeway was a celebrated architect who has left behind two greatly wounded children.
Sharply drawn characterizations by Ryan McMullen, Michelle Michael and Scott Shriner make this three-actor play excellent. Credit goes to their acting talents and director Sean McConaha's keen direction.
On opening night Friday, McMullen gave us plenty to chew on as the bitter, fast-talking Walker. Walker's vocabulary is highly witty, with lines such as this one describing his father's journal: ``It's practically written in cipher.'
A real sense of melancholy pervades the first act, where we feel for the deeply unhappy Walker. Michael and Shriner also do a good job of portraying their characters' repressed chemistry.
The play becomes livelier in the second act, a flashback to the characters' parents 35 years earlier. All three actors switch roles to play the parents.
In the greatest transformation, McMullen goes from the sarcastic Walker to the stuttering, self-conscious, insecure Ned. His physical transformation also is impressive.
Actress Michael's Nan is so normal, she borders on boring. But even she has a secret. The actress has more fun to work with in the role of Lina, the effervescent, high-spirited, southern mother of the Janeways.
In a touchingly realistic love scene, the audience can relate well to the discovery of newfound love. Greenberg uses vivid word pictures here to illustrate the colorful people one sees on the streets of New York.
As Ned becomes emboldened in this scene, McMullen has him believably dropping much of his stutter.
The play's setting is a loft apartment made purposefully drab in the first act but which takes on personality in the second. It actually rains onstage, and rain also runs down the loft windows.
Three Days of Rain would receive an R rating for profanity. It also contains one sexual situation and a couple of allusions to sex.
The actors are so good playing both generations in this play, we feel disappointed that these children have missed their chance to understand their parents. Most of us want to define our parents in our own terms, but we can be so far off base.
Greenberg's intelligent work and Weathervane's fine actors are the perfect blend for a highly satisfying theater experience. Kudos to Weathervane's play selection committee for choosing this excellent contemporary piece.
The play keeps you thinking, well after the final curtain. I've realized that Ned had several very good reasons for being completely silent -- something that hurt his children as they were growing up.
You'll have to see the play to find out why.
Family's mystery satisfying journey
Weathervane play unravels parents, children
By Kerry Clawson
Beacon Journal staff writer
In the intriguing Three Days of Rain at Akron's Weathervane Community Playhouse, the whole story hinges on one seemingly innocuous sentence in a journal.
Playwright Greenberg expertly takes what sounds like a mundane journal entry and turns it into a mystery that kept me curious for a good 2 ½ hours. Bit by bit, the layers of a surprisingly unlikely secret are peeled off.
Richard Greenberg's writing is subtle enough to let us connect the dots ourselves. Well-placed clues tie together beautifully in this finely written play -- part of what makes seeing it so thoroughly enjoyable.
The story begins in 1995 New York, where siblings Walker and Nan Janeway meet a year after their father Ned's death. Their lifelong friend Pip also joins them in the reading of the Janeways' father's will. Ned Janeway was a celebrated architect who has left behind two greatly wounded children.
Sharply drawn characterizations by Ryan McMullen, Michelle Michael and Scott Shriner make this three-actor play excellent. Credit goes to their acting talents and director Sean McConaha's keen direction.
On opening night Friday, McMullen gave us plenty to chew on as the bitter, fast-talking Walker. Walker's vocabulary is highly witty, with lines such as this one describing his father's journal: ``It's practically written in cipher.'
A real sense of melancholy pervades the first act, where we feel for the deeply unhappy Walker. Michael and Shriner also do a good job of portraying their characters' repressed chemistry.
The play becomes livelier in the second act, a flashback to the characters' parents 35 years earlier. All three actors switch roles to play the parents.
In the greatest transformation, McMullen goes from the sarcastic Walker to the stuttering, self-conscious, insecure Ned. His physical transformation also is impressive.
Actress Michael's Nan is so normal, she borders on boring. But even she has a secret. The actress has more fun to work with in the role of Lina, the effervescent, high-spirited, southern mother of the Janeways.
In a touchingly realistic love scene, the audience can relate well to the discovery of newfound love. Greenberg uses vivid word pictures here to illustrate the colorful people one sees on the streets of New York.
As Ned becomes emboldened in this scene, McMullen has him believably dropping much of his stutter.
The play's setting is a loft apartment made purposefully drab in the first act but which takes on personality in the second. It actually rains onstage, and rain also runs down the loft windows.
Three Days of Rain would receive an R rating for profanity. It also contains one sexual situation and a couple of allusions to sex.
The actors are so good playing both generations in this play, we feel disappointed that these children have missed their chance to understand their parents. Most of us want to define our parents in our own terms, but we can be so far off base.
Greenberg's intelligent work and Weathervane's fine actors are the perfect blend for a highly satisfying theater experience. Kudos to Weathervane's play selection committee for choosing this excellent contemporary piece.
The play keeps you thinking, well after the final curtain. I've realized that Ned had several very good reasons for being completely silent -- something that hurt his children as they were growing up.
You'll have to see the play to find out why.
CCM '10!
Updated On: 10/25/04 at 04:51 PM
