THEATER AND SUCH

     Hard to realize we are more than halfway thru the season at LLT, but after Streetcar next month, we wrap it up laughing with the Sunshine Boys. In Streetcar, the leading female roles are played by Liz White and Barbara Hawkins, both with strong acting instincts. The cast is finely honed by top director, Anya Flesh.
     Barbara Clippinger Keener is fitting better and better into her directors shoes. She has an easy way about her, but she does get the job done the way she wants it as was evidenced by her direction of Gingerbread Lady. It was a fine cast that moved at a good clip as Simon intended. The chemistry between cast members was excellent.
     What a feast February was for people who love to be entertained. Hope no one missed Greater Tuna. It was put on by those two versatile talents, Lonny Riddle and Cindy Paul under the mast of their new company, Circle Theater Productions. It is incredible the number of personalities they portrayed by voice inflection and by a change of costume. The southern drawl was flawless and not once did they miss a line, or if they did, they covered any slip.
     Also in town was a rerun of The Vagina Monologues, which again was well received. One woman who shall be nameless was ecstatic about the performance she saw. She raved about it and finished by telling her listeners not to miss the next session of the "Viagra Chronicles." Her statement was met by bewildered silence and then laughter erupted.
     As usual, Ruben Nuñez outdid himself with the mime show. Lipsynka, which he wrote and directed, played to packed houses. The cast had rehearsed a lot and it showed. Ruben has an uncanny instinct for selecting people who do comedy well. The audience was rolling in the aisles when Babcock and Kleffel did their version of "Don't Pet the Dog," and "Help me Make it Through the Yard." Then along came Jeritza's husband, Robert, doing "It Must be Him," and Louise Herren was hysterical in her interpretation of "Cocktails for Two." The piece de resistance was no lip syncing at all, but the presentation of Jorge Valencia as "Flydini," doing some pretty unusual magic tricks. "The Blue Danube" played in the background and the audience was in stitches in the foreground.
     The LLT play reading committee had its first meeting the last Sunday in January. Ideally it will end up with a couple of comedies, a musical, a serious play and a mystery. I wanted to read a play called Wind Between the Houses, but nobody had ever heard of it, so I got voted down. You can imagine the remarks I endured with that title. And yes, it really is a play. And no, it did not even come close to winning the Pulitzer.
     Don Chaloner will soon be offering a course on lighting. This is your town and your theater, so get involved.
     Cindy Paul and Lonnie Riddle's Circle Theater production of You're a Good Man, Charlie Brown was a smash hit. Coming up will be their Go Gershwin! production with fabulous Sandy Vandermeer, and accompanied by Douglas Livingston, at the Old Posada March 19, 20 and 21.