Week two of Fritz Blitz 2008 opens with Tim West's Charade directed by Duane Daniels with Caitlin Finch assisting. It's a fitting play in this season leading up to the national elections. Politics in the 21st century is all about just one thing: winning. That, too, is what the play is about.
This absurdist (my thoughts) play is about two teams attempting to create the winning campaign for their candidates. While professed to be Republicans, they could be any political party, anytime.
The first team (Eric Esquer, Bryan Nicholson, and Sascha Stucky) and the second team (Bobby Bromley, Nick Louie, and Briana Baker) have totally different agendas. Thus, there is a lot of stylized posturing, ending with a determination that they could solve their dilemma through games. Charades becomes the game of choice.
Charade is both silly and a delightful social commentary. It is done on any empty stage with no props. The highly animated cast work well.
Kim Porter's Liferaft Willie, also directed by Duane Daniels, features Christopher Grye as Liferaft Willie and Justin Brinsfield as Steve, another survivor from yet another sunken ship. Willie has already survived one earlier ordeal of sixty-plus days in a life raft. This netted him fame and a book deal. His current ordeal is twice as long. He's yearning for land and another book deal when Steve floats into sight. Alas, Steve has been at sea longer. What transpires is totally amusing. There is a book signing, diaries of their exploits, and much more. Grye and Brinsfield are totally into the characters. Grye's Liferaft Willie soon becomes duplicitous while Brinsfield's totally way-out dude seems cool and somewhat oblivious to his fellow rafter's intentions. Low comedy at its best.
Robert May directed the final piece of the evening, Peaches En Regalia. Steven A. Lyons' play opens with Peaches (Sharla Mandere) expounding to the audience. She is quite upset about being hit upon by an old dude, her professor, and about gas prices, and other concerns. Peaches is a waitress who takes joy in bringing her favorite from the kitchen, Peaches En Regalia. Fortunately, I did not write down the recipe.
Joanne (Jennipher Lewis) spends an inordinate amount of time going over flow charts. She also has to be stopped from picking the fuzz off of her angora sweaters. A laundromat is her venue for the inevitable meeting with Norman (Diep Huynh), the man with a terrible spot on his crotch.
Meanwhile, at the local greasy spoon where Peaches waitresses, debonair Syd (Jonathan Sachs) is deciding on dessert. The plot has a few more twists and turns, making it the perfect play to end a delightful evening of humor.
Another enjoyable weekend of memories at the Fritz Blitz.
