Published: September 14, 2008 12:08 am            

T&G opens with ‘I Hate Hamlet’

Town & Gown Theatre opens its 58th season on Sept. 25 with Paul Rudnick’s “I Hate Hamlet,” directed by Ashley Hodges.

“I Hate Hamlet” centers on Andrew Rally, who seems to have it all: a starring role in a hit television series; a rich beautiful girlfriend; a glamorous, devoted agent; the perfect New York apartment; and the chance to play Hamlet in Central Park.

There are, however, a couple of glitches in paradise. Andrew’s series has been canceled, and he has no desire to play Hamlet.

When Andrew’s agent visits him, she reminisces about her brief romance with John Barrymore many years ago — in Andrew’s apartment, prompting a seance to summon Barrymore’s ghost. From the moment Barrymore returns, dressed in high Shakespearean garb, Andrew’s life is no longer his own.

Barrymore, fortified by champagne and ego, presses Andrew to accept the part and fulfill his actor’s destiny, even as Andrew’s deal-making friend from Los Angeles arrives to offer Andrew a fabulous new TV deal.

“I Hate Hamlet” is Hodges’ directing debut at T&G. A graduate of the OSU theater department, she has cast seasoned T&G members. Andrew Rally will be played by Shane O’Mealey, Felicia Dantine is Dawn Wilson, Deirdre McDavey is Valerie Thrasher, Lillian Troy is Lucy Robinson, John Barrymore is Jacob Boyd, and Gary Peter Lefowitz is Paul Weber.

Members of the crew are Charissa Prchal, stage manager; Tim Prchal, sound design; Cindy Sheets, sound board operator; Shane O’Mealey, light design; Ty Reitan, light board operator; Mindy Foster, costumes; and Janice James, assistant stage manager.

The show will run Sept. 25-28 and Oct. 2-5.

Other shows in the season will be “The Cover of Life,” written by R.T. Robinson and directed by Kevin Worley, Nov. 13-15 and 20-23; “Everybody Loves Opal,” written by John Patrick and directed by Jane Price, Jan. 29-Feb. 1 and Feb. 5-8; “The Bad Seed,” written by Maxwell Anderson from William March’s novel and directed by Liz Tabish, April 2-5 and 9-12; and “On Golden Pond,” written by Ernest Thompson and directed by Anne Cummins, June 4-7 and 11-14.

In “The Cover of Life,” set in 1943, a Life magazine sends a New York writer to the South to write a story about three women who have moved in with their mother-in-law when their husbands went off to war.

“Everybody Loves Opal” centers around Opal Kronkie, a middle-aged recluse who lives in a tumbledown mansion at the edge of the municipal dump, the perfect hideout for three purveyors of bogus perfume on the run from the authorities. They decide that what she needs is plenty of insurance with three beneficiaries and a rapid death.

“The Bad Seed” tells the story of Rhoda Penmark, a little girl in a small Southern town who begins to scare her mother. On the surface, Rhoda is sweet and charming, but her mother begins to worry when one of Rhoda’s schoolmates, a boy who won the penmanship medal Rhoda wanted, is mysteriously drowned at a picnic.

In “On Golden Pond,” Ethel and Norman Thayer’s daughter and her fiance leave his teenage son with them for the summer while they go to Europe.

The boy becomes the grandchild the couple has wanted, and as Norman revels in taking his ward fishing and thrusting good books at him he also learns some lessons about modern teenage awareness and slang in return.

For more information about Town and Gown Theatre or its season, visit its website at townandgown.org.

        

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