The Locals Do It Again, Brilliantly

— by Jackie Bates —

The Actors Theater of Orcas Island opened the tenth annual Ten Minute PlayFest on Friday, April 24 at the Grange to a most appreciative audience. Seven short plays by local playwrights are featured and everybody involved in the production is a local. Playwrights, actors, directors, stage and tech crew are all talented, hardworking artists from our little island. As you will see, several of group took multiple roles in getting the production on the stage. Cara Russell set the example as overall coordinator, light and sound tech, and director of two of the plays. I didn’t ask, but she probably cleaned the restrooms too.

The evening opens with Kristen Wilson’s A Most Auspicious Day, a memoir piece about adopting a baby from China. Moving back and forth between China and here, Wilson manages to make her play heartfelt and profound, without ever dipping into sentimentality. Bailey Sande, as the adopting mother, Ella Conrad as the narrator and Zach Knight as the adoring foster father are superb. Adroitly directed by Tom Fiscus, Wilson’s play examines this complicated operation from all viewpoints involved. Examples of love and generosity hope and humor and plenty of great lines make this a most memorable play.

James Wolf’s Peggy follows. Wolf, a remarkable writer of several genres, once again produces an intricately layered, gentle drama on a serious subject. All the characters display their strengths and mixed feelings as they try together to survive the difficulty of watching a beloved family member slide into dementia, even as she watches her own deterioration. Sensitively directed by Cara Russell, the talents of Carla Weston as the mother, Kevin Doyle as the son and Haley Klein as the compassionate granddaughter, are revealed. Wolf always has a surprise for the audience, and he doesn’t fail us here.

What could follow these two gems? Well, Kathi Ciskowski had the audience howling at The Certified Letter. Directed by Kristen Wilson, John Cunningham and Cat Gilliam are a couple spending the weekend trying to surmise what will be in a certified letter. Returning from an off-island trip to the notification, they must wait until the post office opens for the actual letter. Their guesses are flung out wildly along with confessions and accusations that might best be revealed in saner times, if ever.

Then comes Confessions of a Toilet Paper Hoarder, by Amy Russell. This comedy with a frightening underbelly is directed by Cara Russell, and stars Adia Dolan and Ed Sutton. With their perfect timing, Sutton and Dolan make this farce into a believable relationship between grandfather and his survivalist granddaughter. It’s worth driving to the Grange just to see Dolan fill up the stage with her outrageous energy delivered with rapier precision. Sutton is her perfect gentle, guiding foil.

After the intermission we have Storytime written by Mary Murfin Bayley and directed by Ron Herman. This is a clever play in which you never know quite who is telling the truth and what might happen next. Rebecca Herman, Kevin Doyle and Emily Toombs make up an unlikely threesome who come together late at night in an isolated farmhouse. What (or whom) you see is not always what you get. All three reveal skills and contradictions in such rapid succession you don’t know who to fear. Bayley shows that beauty and strength can grow under dire circumstances, even when survival is at stake.

The Bedroom by Ron Herman is a study of invention born of need. A woman does what she must to become who she has to be, then guards her creation like a mother tiger. Directed by Andy Martin, actors Cat Gilliam, Demi Gary, Zach Knight and John Cunningham go through a dance of superficial posturing that reflects an underlying struggle. This play beautifully illustrates how one person’s pathology requires the cooperation of all around her to maintain illusion, and ultimately, how their generosity might bring her some ease.

Tenacity is a romp through corporate madness married to pop psychology that only Michele Griskey could create. She stars in her own play along with Kelly Toombs and Aaimee Johnson. Gillian Smith directs this intense high comedy/horror show that you have to experience to understand. It’s a perfect ending to a perfect evening.

Final performances are Friday, Saturday and Sunday, May 1-3, 7:30 at the Grange. $10 tickets can be purchased online, at Darvill’s, and at the door.