Actors Alliance Festival 2007 - Program 5

All good things, I fear, do come to an end. Actors Alliance of San Diego's Actors Festival 2007 has but a very few more events.

Tall Tale , produced and directed by George Soete, begins Program Five. Steve Koppman penned this tale of two princes from Queens who discover the truth. One, played by Dave Rich, is overly impressed with his prowess with the opposite sex, while the other, Rob Conway, tries to cut through the thick layer of obfuscation. Amusing study of young men in action -- or is that inaction?

The Dealer has the following lineage: it is from a film script by Troy Rackley and Tim Simmons, based on a short story, "Penny," by Tim Simmons. Sally Stockton produces with Tina Coffey directing. Volt Francisco plays a sleazeball who tries to con a lovely older lady (Stockton) who has lost her husband and is selling his baseball card collection. Never, never try to con a lady when it comes to baseball cards.

Wednesday is an Amanda Hope Freeman play directed by Rachel Wohlander. We see Andrea Maida return from grocery shopping as young Max Oilman-Williams constructs a picture puzzle on the floor. He barely looks up her as he talks. Where he is long on dialogue, she is short. As the words are bandied about, it dawns on us that she is anal compulsive. Even on the kitchen table each multiple of a product is properly lined up. She is scary.

We Love Your Life stars Jude and Sean Evans, doing Braden McKinley's play directed by Jude Evans. What happens when one brother brings a house guest in for an indefinite stay and said house guest is a street person. How will the other brother feel? This play tells one possible scenario. An interesting piece.

Hear Me Roar is written and produced by Kristina Meek with Jennie Olson directing. It stars Kelly Lapczynski and Laurie Lehman-Grey. Costuming, highly relevant to the story, has Kelly in a prim and proper black suit (pants, not skirt) and white blouse closed to the neck, while Laurie is in a rather brief patriotic stars-and-stripes bikini. They are the first two women running head-to-head for President of the United States. While interesting, something is lacking. (I read the script and found that something got misplaced between page and stage.) Still an interesting look at what may happen in the not-too-distant herstory. 

Exit Lines is written by Ruth and Ed Eiger, with Ruth producing and Veronica Murphy directing. The cast includes Loretta Haas, Keath Hall, Ron Ray, Walter Ritter, George Weinberg-Harter, and Ed Eiger. Exit lines can be hell. A classic actor is about to die, and his mate of 20 years is having a very difficult time of it. The two men also take care of a mentally disadvantaged young man. We get to meet some of the people in their lives. This is a tender piece with delightful humor. Written extremely well, the dialogue is performed by some excellent actors. A fitting performance ending the last program of Actors Festival.