The Chance Theater - Reviews & Other Press: 2000

The Stroop Report (World Premiere)
by Robert Preston Jones
directed by Oanh Nguyen

ANAHEIM HILLS NEWS
"Play recalls resistance in the Jewish Ghettos of
World War II"

It is a well-known story. The pain and struggle of the Jewish people during World War II - but few know about the organized resistance against the Nazis in the Jewish ghettos. "The Stroop Report" tells that story. "The Stroop Report" is the latest production at The Chance Theater in Anaheim Hills. The title of the play is based on the report compiled by Jurgen Stroop, the SS general responsible for elimination of the Warsaw ghetto during the Nazi invasion.

The play follows the lives of seven Warsaw residents of different ages and walks of life. Mira Fuchrer (Jennifer K. Majdali) and Mordechai Anielewicz (Casey Long) are the young and strong-willed children who voice their anger and feelings of injustice. Adam Czerniakow (Tony Howley) and Arie Wilner (Joey Bisoglio) are the conservative few who believe that cooperation with the Germans will help their situation.

"This war is with Poland, not with us," said Wilner. Luba and Abraham Lewin (Irene Sacks and Harv Popick) are the elderly couple who innocently believe "everything will eventually go away" and their lives will return to normal. Simcha Mazor (Frank Miyashiro) is the last of the bunch. [Whose] wit and sense of humor help balance the group which is torn between radical action and extreme denial. The story begins with the sound of SS troops marching through the streets of Warsaw. Its residents watch from the side of the street with stoic faces full of fear and uncertainty. At this point, they are not sure what the invasion will mean to them. Their only preoccupation is the scarcity of food and supplies. Their nightmare begins to unfold though, when they are forced to relocate to a "Jewish-only" ghetto.

Slowly, the pieces of what their tragic future holds for them begin to unfold. Signs of rules and regulations are posted on the streets. SS soldiers harass and belittle them. A barbed wire fence goes up and gates are shut. According to Nazi doctrine, the Jewish population is to be confined in a separate area to keep them from "contaminating" the Aryan race.

With every anti-Semitic action, Mordechai and Mira become more frustrated. Their thoughts of action and resistance begin to spur, but with little support. It isn't until Jewish residents are forced to relocate once more that the pair begins to gain some support. They know that this time, the relocation really means elimination. The trains filled with thousands of Jewish people leave to never come back. "I have come to understand that it is no longer a choice between life and death," states Mordechai. "It is only how I choose to die." The Heritage Society is formed. It is the clandestine name for the resistance group which begins to gather weapons and ammunition. The rebellion lasts for almost a month, during which time many SS soldiers are killed or wounded. For the first time since the invasion, the Jewish residents have a choice: kill or be killed. The group chooses to kill. Jurgen Stroop (Alex DeVorak) delivers his last report on the podium standing tall in his green uniform, long black boots and swastika armband. There, he proudly announces the Warsaw ghetto has been eliminated.

In 1953, Stroop was charged with crimes against humanity. He pleaded innocent, stating he was only following orders but the courts disagreed, finding him guilty and executing him. Filled with sounds of gun battles, chilling train whistles and war sirens, "The Stroop Report" teaches a lesson that won't soon be forgotten. It is the fight and opposition of the Jewish residents of Warsaw, a story not commonly known until now.
--- Ivonne Camacho, Anaheim Hills News, January 20, 2000

ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER
"The Stroop Report"

Holocaust dramas have long gripped us, both onstage and screen, and why not? The plight of the European Jews and their struggle against the Nazi regime is the stuff of tragedy, with enough subject material for thousands of stories.

In "The Stroop Report," Texas playwright Robert Preston Jones has chosen Warsaw, Poland, as his subject. Jones takes us from the Nazi invasion of Poland, in September 1939, through the subjugation of Warsaw's Jews, to their eventual uprising against their Nazi tormentors. It concludes with the final destruction of the Warsaw ghetto in May 1943, after months of skirmishes between Nazi troops and the underground resistance movement.

This is potentially explosive stuff, rife with human conflict and powerful emotionalism. Spare Change Productions' world-premiere staging of "The Stroop Report" at its Anaheim Hills venue, The Chance Theater, is an admirable attempt by the young troupe to demonstrate that it is capable of mounting works of theatrical importance and social significance.
The production, directed by Oanh Nguyen, succeeds only insofar as its presence on the Chance stage, and the obvious reverence Nguyen and his cast hold for this material.

...The production boasts impressive production values, including Erika Ceporius' visually arresting costume design and her sound design, which integrates sound clips from actual news broadcasts...and uses incidental music that includes haunting violin passages.

"The Stroop Report" also has several good performances. T. Ryan Arnold is chilling in his joint roles as Klaus, a sadistic Nazi soldier, and Tobbens, the choleric German businessman who sets up shop in the ghetto, using Polish Jews as cheap labor.

Jonathon Carter Schall is equally frightening as the ghetto commandant, Col. Kraftmeier. Schall creates a portrait of a cool-headed military man whose suave, polite veneer is a thin mask for his simmering hatred of the Jewish populace.

Though his accent often makes it difficult to discern his lines, Austrian actor Alex DeVorak lends authenticity as Gen. Jurgen Stroop, who provides an ongoing "report" to the Nazi high command on his handling of the Warsaw ghetto. Like most of the characters in this play, Stroop is based on real life; he was decorated for his success at exterminating Polish Jews.
Jennifer K. Majdali is affecting as Mira, a young woman caught up in the resistance. So is Erin Rhodes, who essays a variety of roles. Casey Long and Joey Bisoglio have their moments, as well, as fiery resistance leaders, their characters based on real-life figures.
--- Eric Marchese, Orange County Register, January 23, 2000

LOS ANGELES TIMES
A Profile in Courage: Survivor of the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising Lends Memories to 'Stroop Report'

Joseph Greenblatt had vengeance in his heart and arsenic in his pocket when he fought the Nazis in the Warsaw Ghetto. He intended to kill as many Germans as he could and not be taken alive to be gassed in a death camp. That was more than half a century ago. Now at age 84, Greenblatt is one of the few surviving fighters of the ghetto uprising, and he is using his painful yet proud memories to bring authenticity to "The Stroop Report," a play about the defense of the Jewish ghetto. Greenblatt still shows signs of the determined fighter as he sits at his dining-room table in Anaheim and demonstrates his special method of concocting and detonating a Molotov cocktail. He jokes readily about his past--but the anguish is not so easily erased. The Passover Seder scene near the play's end moves Greenblatt to tears. "Why is this night different from all other nights?" goes the refrain of a song--reenacted on stage--that Jewish children have chanted for centuries during the ritual holiday meal. Hearing it reminds Greenblatt why the first night of Passover, 1943, was different for him. On that day the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising had begun, and on that night, at that Seder, Greenblatt saw his doomed parents and older brother for the last time.

The play, which runs through Feb. 6 at the Chance Theater, a 54-seat house in an office-industrial block in Anaheim Hills, is the creation of an ethnic tossed salad, a living negation of Adolf Hitler's dream of racial purity through genocide. The author is Robert Preston Jones, a Gentile novice playwright who lives in Dallas and studied history at a small Methodist college in Arkansas. The director is 26-year-old Oanh Nguyen, who was 2 when his family fled South Vietnam by boat on the day Saigon fell. The company member who pushed first and hardest to stage the play was actress Jennifer K. Majdali, the daughter of a Palestinian Arab. The special advisor to the production--in some ways, says Nguyen, almost the co-director--is Joseph Greenblatt. Nguyen had worried that some people might question the validity of a Vietnamese director staging a play about the Holocaust written by a non-Jew. He phoned synagogues and Jewish organizations seeking expert advice on how to keep it authentic. In Greenblatt, he got an opinionated, unpaid consultant willing to attend numerous rehearsals and not afraid to interrupt with his objections. "He was funny," Nguyen said. "He was very high-spirited, and he was very ornery."

Greenblatt has been a battler for 70 years. At 14, he joined Betar, the most militant Zionist youth group in Poland. Members trained in soldiering and martial arts, preparing for the day when they would carry out an armed Jewish exodus from Europe to British-ruled Palestine, which the Jews would claim as their homeland, Israel. Among Greenblatt's friends in Betar was Menachem Begin, future prime minister of Israel but before that the leader of the Irgun, an underground faction that used terrorist tactics during the 1940s struggle to expel the British from Palestine. In his late teens, Greenblatt furthered his military training by joining the Polish Army reserves--a rarity for a Jew. He was mocked for his religion, he says, but always defended himself. Superior officers saw that he was a good soldier and stood behind him. Greenblatt was in the front line, a lieutenant in a heavy machine gun unit, when the Polish Army crumbled under the German blitz in 1939. He fled to Warsaw, where some of his old comrades from Betar recruited him. They had an ample stock of weapons and ammunition, collected in the streets after fleeing Polish soldiers flung them down. They figured the Allies would soon win the war and they would send the guns to forces fighting for a Jewish state. But the Germans had other plans. They created the walled-in ghetto and penned some 400,000 Jews in it. "It was a hell," Greenblatt recalled over the dining table in his Anaheim apartment. People starved in the streets. One child grabbed a paper bag from Greenblatt's sister-in-law and bit into it without looking. It contained shoes. Families would lay out the bodies of typhoid victims in front of their houses. Greenblatt and others in his resistance unit, the Jewish Military Union, would collect them in covered carts and take them to a cemetery outside the ghetto. On the way back, the carts hid munitions bought from smugglers and profiteers. In 1942, 300,000 Jews from the ghetto were either killed in the streets or deported to the death camps.

By 1943, the young Jews who were left were ready to die fighting. While preparing to fight, Greenblatt fell in love. He and his wife, Irene, were married on Jan. 10, 1943. They spent their wedding night on a mattress stuffed with ammunition and hand grenades. "It wasn't pleasant," he said with a twinkle. "I don't advise you to try it." Shortly after, Greenblatt gave up his wedding ring so it could be melted into gold to buy arms. Three months later, when the Germans moved to liquidate the ghetto, they met a force of ill-equipped young urban guerrillas. Greenblatt says he commanded about 80 fighters--men and women--in a four-block area that included factories owned by Germans. The factories used Jewish slave labor to repair uniforms and make boots for German troops. There is scant historical documentation of Greenblatt's actions. The most authoritative source is "And We Are Not Saved," a 1963 memoir by David Wdowinski, a leader of the Jewish Military Union who was captured by the Germans and survived the concentration camps. "After [another officer] was arrested, his command was taken over by Joseph Greenblatt who made a valiant stand," Wdowinski wrote. But the Jews' ultimate defeat was foreordained, and they knew it. Greenblatt and his fighters held out for 43 days as the ghetto was bombed into rubble around them. When they could hold out no longer, Greenblatt led the remnant through the sewers and out of the ghetto. Many died as the Germans pumped toxic gas underground; only a handful came out alive. Irene Greenblatt survived the war hiding in Warsaw. Under the assumed Christian name Jan Bednarcik, Joseph Greenblatt became a guerrilla fighter again with the underground Armia Krajowa, the Polish Home Army. Greenblatt's sister survived Treblinka and Auschwitz, he said. His parents and brother perished in the death camps, along with some 50 others in his family.

After the war the Greenblatts lived in Belgium, where their only child, Jenny, was born, then moved to New York City in 1950. There Greenblatt ran a travel agency and was executive director of the American office of the Irgun's political heirs, the Herut and Likud parties. Two years ago, the Greenblatts moved to Anaheim to be close to Jenny, her husband and their two teenage grandchildren.

Greenblatt considers it a duty to tell the truth of the Holocaust to anyone who will listen--hence his periodic speaking engagements at synagogues, Jewish community centers, colleges, high schools and junior highs. Now he has his first theatrical credit. Director Nguyen and others at the Chance Theater saw the universal message in the story of the Warsaw Ghetto. Majdali, 28, the first company member to read the script, said she had no idea that any Jews had resisted during the Holocaust. "It's not necessarily about Jews or Germans. It's about hatred in any society in the world," she said. "History can easily be repeated. That's why I thought this story needed to be told." Nguyen's anxiety that he might botch details and give offense vanished with Greenblatt's arrival. "I had my hand held through my first historic piece," he said. "I was incredibly lucky." Greenblatt was no rubber-stamp. He hated, but has learned to tolerate, the play's sympathetic portrayal of Adam Czerniakow, head of Warsaw's Nazi-established Jewish Council or Judenrat. Holocaust historian Israel Gutman, among others, depicts Czerniakow as a well-intentioned man damned by impossible circumstances. Greenblatt, like most Warsaw Ghetto Jews, reviles him as a puppet who, albeit unwittingly, helped feed victims to the ovens. Still, many details in "The Stroop Report" bear Greenblatt's imprint, from small ones such as how the Jews' mandatory armbands looked and how they were worn to major elements of the staging. Greenblatt disdains most fictionalized accounts of the Holocaust except "Schindler's List" and the production at hand. "Generally speaking, the play is good," he said. "Especially for people who did not live in those days, that show is a real eye-opener. It is close to the real thing." Life grants no parole from hardship. Nowadays, Greenblatt goes twice a day to the Anaheim nursing home where his wife has lived since last summer. Alzheimer's disease has erased her ability to speak English and much more, he says. She speaks only in Polish. "For me, it's heartbreaking," Greenblatt said.

On opening night, moments after "The Stroop Report" had ended, the old fighter walked the few paces from his front-row seat to the stage. He is barely 5 feet tall but erect and solid, casting a presence. On the lapel of his brown suit jacket was a silver Irgun pin; on his right hand the large gold ring he wore in the Warsaw Ghetto to identify himself at resistance checkpoints. Behind him was the stage set's replica of the red brick ghetto wall topped with barbed wire. Flanking him were the cast members. Fronting him, the audience. "We fight like Samson in the temple of the Philistines. 'If I have to die, let me take as many of my enemies with me.' And we did it," Greenblatt said in clipped cadences. "Am Yisrael Chai!" he concluded in a husky near-shout, then translated: "The nation of Jews will live forever."
---Mike Boehm, Los Angeles Times, January 24, 2000

OC WEEKLY
The Stroop Report

Written by Texas resident Robert Preston Jones, the play...tells its story well without sparing any of the gripping details of a hopelessly outnumbered group of rebels daring to stand up to the Nazis. [Opening night] was one of the most affecting nights I've experienced in the theater -or anywhere else.
--- Joel Beers, OC Weekly, January 21, 2000 [top]

The Stop My Insanity Trilogy
written and directed by Chris Secor

FOUNTAIN VALLEY NEWS
The Stop My Insanity Trilogy

A 21 year-old Fountain Valley student is having his wish come true. Chris Secor, a drama and theater student at U.C. Irvine, has now become a budding playwright. He will direct one of his own plays at The Chance Theater 5576 E. La Palma in Anaheim Hills.

Since age 19, Secor has staged six prior works of his while attending Orange Coast College, but with the production of "Stop My Insanity Trilogy" this will be his first major effort....Come and watch as Secor deftly brings to life the characters and their struggles break free from their oppressive circumstances. --- Staff Writer, Fountain Valley News, January 20, 2000 [top]

The Mikado
by Gilbert and Sullivan
directed by Kent Johnson

ANAHEIM HILLS NEWS
'To flirt is capital'... So see 'Mikado'

Gilbert and Sullivan's musical, The Mikado, opened on Friday, March 3 at The Chance Theater in Anaheim Hills, a departure for this new group, which has so far specialized in contemporary drama. Their Mikado does reflect the house's style with its spirited interpretation, which, although serious and faithful to the piece's musical comedy roots, is updated with wry contemporary touches. The cast has fun with it and shares its tongue-in-cheek humor with the audience. The Chance may be an intimate house in a light industrial frontage, but they know how to draw the spectator I once the tiny lobby's threshold is crossed. The small corridor lures you into the seating area with a preview atmosphere conveyed by the piece, in this case, the highly decorative Japanese styles with its rice paper and silk screenings Opening night coincided with a sudden ad stunningly powerful storm adding to the surreal feel of the moment, transplanted in a gorgeous rendering of a traditional Japanese garden, complete with cherry blossom, bamboo, Zen, bonsai and koi pond touches, under a serene scenic background of majestic snow-capped Mount Fuji. The piece is billed as Gilbert and Sullivan's classic tale of royalty, love, death, duty and deception, where to flirt is capital… and the law must be obeyed, in a surreptitious Nippon style, which is a thin disguise for universal human comedy. The lot is scabrous and twisted, but easily followed with its mistaken identity, quid pro quos, and highly predictable rebounds. Scott Ratner stars as Ko-Ko, the fumbling, bumbling, obsequious official engaged to beautiful Yum-Yum. His pathetic character wavers between elation and despair with unerring humor. His rendition of the "Won't be missed list" is hilarious with its targets du jour; Y2K consultants, Britney Spears, TV millionaire couple, Pokemon kids, presidential candidates, tele-marketers and other assorted nuisances. Jill DeFreitas is delightful as prim and prissy Yum-Yum, primping and prancing as only an ingenue can get away with. Her facial expressions of false modesty are wonderfully accurate. The prudish maiden flirts unabashedly with her would-be lover Nanki-Poo, performed by Bradley Miller. Brad gives an entertaining performance of the shrewd and lecherous son of the Mikado in disguise. Sheldon Craig is a powerful Pooh-Bah, the corrupted official with several public positions, decked with rosettes, bandages, pins and ribbons to indicate his various duties-a definite case of multiple personality-and Steven Jones is Pish-Tush, a noble resident of Titipu. The musical numbers are peppered with highly entertaining dialogues between the main characters, volleys of spicy repartees and apartes. The chorus is a gaggle of giggling geishas in a rainbow of rich, silky pastel kimonos and rice paper umbrellas. Freda Nelson Evans cuts a striking Wagnerian figure as discarded daughter-in-law-elect Katisha in her black and red garb, "an acquired taste for the educated palate," as does Dan Rodgers as the nefarious Mikado who thinks of himself as a humanitarian whose "punishment will fit the crime, yet be a cause of merriment for the audience." The two are a formidable pair. Dolores Fitzpatrick and Susan Youel are engaging as Pitti-Sing and Peep-Bo, Yum-Yum's friends and confidantes. Colin Fitzpatrick makes several cameo appearances as an almost disjointed warrior in his simian, spidery character. The musical numbers are all aptly performed, with a good blend of voice and timbres, from the deep, rich tones of Pish-Tush and Pooh-Bah, to Pitti-Sing's thrills. The Merry Madrigal with Yum-Yum, Nanki-Poo, Pitti-Sing and Pish-Tush is particularly polished. My nine-year old daughter especially enjoyed the lilting "Tit-Willow" ballad where KO-KO self-servingly attempts to woo Katisha. KO-KO, Pitti-Sing and Pooh-Bah are wonderful in their description of how Nanki-Poo met his end, full of "corroborative details and affective particulars," with, as it turns out when it suits them, plenty of artistic license in the case of someone who is, for all intents and purposes, "as good as, or practically, dead," if this is the Mikado's pleasure. The final tableau is a burst of sound and sights, a bouquet of fireworks with the dainty brushstrokes of a Japanese palette. The entire package is a delightful affair, which can be enjoyed on many levels-including as family fare-as the radiant look of sheer enchantment on my young daughter's face showed. Nothing is left to chance by The Chance, with a great attention to details in costume, scenery and props to support the enthusiastic cast.
--- Anne-Margret Bellavoine, Anaheim Hills News, March 9, 2000

ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER
Taking a 'Chance' on 'The Mikado'

BACKGROUND: A veteran director tries steering a young troupe onto the path of success.
Kent Johnson is no stranger to Gilbert and Sullivan. The veteran director has staged between 15 and 20 of the Victorian duo's comic operas - at least half of these in Orange County, the rest in his native Chicago. The last time he was at the helm of "The Mikado" was with Orange County Light Opera company in 1993. Although OCLO was new, it was founded and staffed by musical theater veterans from all over Southern California. Quite a difference from Johnson's current "Mikado" experience at the Chance Theater in Anaheim Hills. Founded just over a year ago by an eager group of 20-somethings who call themselves Spare Change Productions, the troupe bills itself as "the theater company dedicated to the development and production of original plays." But they have paid a heavy price for sticking firm to that policy: lagging attendance and a dangerous lack of interest from Orange County's theatergoing public. Enter Johnson, who has carefully tried to steer this group of young pups onto a more successful course.

Johnson, 67, has been acting for 53 years and has directed for 41. He was bitten by the G&S bug as a Chicago high school student in the late 1940s. "We did a different Gilbert & Sullivan show each year, and I acted in all of them," said Johnson, beginning with a chorus role in "The Sorceror" his freshman year and leading up to his senior year playing Nanki-Poo, the romantic lead in "The Mikado." Since coming to O.C., in 1963, he has played Nanki-Poo once and directed four productions - the first at Newport Theatre Arts Center in 1986 - of the popular comic opera, a spoof of power-hungry bureaucrats and a thinly veiled critique of England's class society set in feudal Japan. In early 1999 Johnson read a newspaper article about the budding Chance Theater and their search for original scripts. He submitted his script, "Memories on the Wind," which was slated for production that summer. He asked them to assign the show a director, but wound up directing it himself. Johnson also trod the boards at the Chance, taking a role in an October production, "Diaries of Frankenstein." Meanwhile, Johnson had tried to mount a new production of "The Mikado" at Cypress Civic Theatre Guild. Audition turnout was poor and the show was canceled, so Johnson pitched the popular G&S comic opera to the Spare Change's brain trust of Oanh Nguyen, Chris Ceballos and Erika Ceporius. "We had been discussing the idea of doing a musical there. I thought it would be interesting for them to start with Gilbert and Sullivan," Johnson said. In some ways, the show seemed perfect for the troupe: Outside of a couple of touring productions, "The Mikado" has only been seen in O.C. three times in the last 20 years - all Johnson-directed stagings. The show is in the public domain, which means the tiny troupe would avoid expensive royalties. In other ways, taking on "The Mikado" was risky business: The show is among the most ambitious the Chance gang has yet tackled. It's not only the troupe's first non-original; it's also a musical, never an easy proposition for fledgling small theater companies. Add to that the difficulty of getting just the right handle on Gilbert and Sullivan, capturing the fun of the duo's shows without veering into parody, and you have a recipe for potential disaster. But Nguyen, co-founder of the Chance and the show's executive producer, said that Johnson's timing was perfect. "At the time, after doing 14 original pieces between April and December (1999), we were ready to do some published shows." He says the first question to Johnson out of their mouths was "How much is the show going to cost us (in royalties)?" With her background and training in musical theater, Chance cofounder Ceporius pushed heavily for the show. Everyone agreed that Johnson's expertise in Gilbert and Sullivan would be the engine driving the show; Johnson said "the fact that I had costumes and most of the props seemed to help" convinced the theater to go forth with the project.

Just after Thanksgiving, "The Mikado" was put on the Chance's 2000 schedule and Johnson began casting. AN ALL-NEW STAGING He didn't leave the casting to chance, spending several weeks lining up known G&S actors to audition at the small theater. His first phone call was to veteran character actor Scott Ratner, who had already essayed the show's central comic role, KO-KO, the Lord High Executioner, for Johnson in three previous productions. "Oh, yeah, he's first one I'll always call for that role," Johnson said. "I built the rest of cast around him." Once Ratner was secured, Johnson was able to interest two more local actors with G&S experience under their belt: Bradley Miller, an actor-singer-choreographer, as Nanki-Poo, and actor-singer Sheldon Craig as the grand Poo-Bah. Actress Jill DeFreitas was cast as the female lead, Yum-Yum. "She had played Maria for me in 'West Side Story' in Westminster years ago. I knew her acting and singing; what I didn't know was her comedic abilities. I've been very pleased with what she's done on stage in the role." The show also includes Freda Nelson Evans, whom Johnson discovered during his Cypress tryouts, as the female heavy, Katisha, and Chance trouper Dan Rodgers as the Mikado. "The Mikado" was several weeks in pre-production, as Johnson assembled a team from both old and new faces. Rehearsals began after the first of the year. The challenges for Johnson included locating enough male musical performers for the chorus ("no one auditions to be in the chorus") and indoctrinating the Chance gang into the intracies of musical theater ("in a straight play, the lighting may be 'lights up, lights down'; in a musical, you may have 150 lighting cues"). With a cast of 18, "The Mikado" is also among the largest shows ever done at the venue.

Ratner calls his KO-KO characterization "a sort of British Frank Morgan"; he views Morgan, the American character actor famed for playing the Wizard in "The Wizard of Oz," as the very personification of KO-KO ("ineptitude, but with a sense of self-importance"). One of the show's highlights is Ratner's rendition of Ko-Ko's famed singing of "I've Got a Little List." The song, a shining example of Gilbert's anarchic humor, features inventive couplets singling out those on KO-KO's list "who'll not be missed" by society. Each time Ratner and Johnson have teamed up for "The Mikado," Ratner, a skilled comic lyricist, has interpolated new, topical lyrics into the song to keep the show fresh. This time, Ratner takes pokes at Pokemon, Rick Rockwell, Ricky Martin and the current presidential candidates (he says he'll have to rewrite that line since the primaries winnowed the field). "And the Y2K consultants who made fortunes feeding fears,'' Ratner croons, "and the critics who compare us to that 'Topsy-Turvy' flick." Ratner has acted in numerous Gilbert and Sullivan productions in Orange County, including two stints in "The Pirates of Penzance," but KO-KO is the only role he has returned to repeatedly - each time with Johnson at the helm. "I love the role, and I'm finding lines in it that I never found the humor in before," Ratner said. In addition to the many playful comic bits Johnson and company have sprinkled throughout this "Mikado," Ratner says "there's plenty (in the script) to be mined." Ratner says that during rehearsals, Johnson is open to inspired improvisations from the cast, many of which make it into the show. For example, during one scene, KO-KO retorts, "Is that your final answer?" During KO-KO's "Tit-Willow" songs, Ratner, an amateur magician, creates the illusion of a live bird by using a black curtain and a hand puppet - another of the production's inventive comic highlights.

Seasoned G&S performers Miller and Craig are the show's other linchpins. Both were in Johnson's OCLO "Mikado" and the troupe's Johnson-helmed "HMS Pinafore" at the Gem Theatre a year later. Miller was also in Johnson's first Orange County "Mikado" and has worked with the director numerous times since, including a stint in the lesser-known G&S comic opera "Trial by Jury." Though everyone involved was eager to pull off this "Mikado," Miller says it's the first time he's been in a musical where doubt hovered over the production. The Chance had no history of doing musicals. "Several (in the cast) have never been in a musical, while some hadn't performed on stage in a while." And playing the romantic lead was a new experience for Miller, more accustomed to comedic or character roles. The Chance's "Mikado" production has blended Johnson and his team, which includes Johnson imports such as Marie Madera (choreographer), Marylou Dunn (musical director), Tim Nelson (taped accompaniment) and co-musical directors and conductors Ratner, Miller and Susan Youel, with the Chance's standing production team of Nguyen, Ceporius, Chris Ceballos, Fred Hatfield, Jim Book, Jeff Hellebrand and several others. Dozens pitched in to deepen the Chance's modest stage, transforming it into the medieval village of Titipu, complete with footbridge and koi pond. And audiences are responding. On opening night a week ago Friday, some three dozen braved an electrical storm, nearly filling the 54-seat theater; 29 arrived Saturday and 18 more on Sunday. The numbers aren't stellar, but for the Chance, they're huge. Nguyen says "The Mikado" has been drawing average nightly reservations of between 15 and 20, "compared with one or two reservations - if even that many - for our normal shows." "Normally, we're often wondering, 'Is there going to be an audience tonight?' It's a nice thing for us. We're dumbfounded by it all."

The show has been a triumph for Johnson in yet another way: In fall 1998, he began having occasional dizzy spells. An MRI revealed a benign tumor in his brain; surgery in March of last year removed the threat, but it's been a long, slow road to recovery for Johnson, who suffered some facial nerve damage during the operation. With the show's opening, Johnson may have cemented his growing relationship with the Spare Change troupe. As its father-figure and mentor, he's had loads of experience to pass onto them, but Johnson sees it as quid pro quo. "One thing that attracts me to them is that they're very open to advice. They don't think they're God's gift to theater or that they've got it all solved."
--- Eric Marchese, Orange County Register, March 12, 2000

LOS ANGELES TIMES
Victorian Tastes on Blue-Collar Budget

The set for Kent Johnson's pocket version of "The Mikado" was scavenged, in part, from a couple of backyards--his and his neighbor's. The production at the 54-seat Chance Theater in Anaheim Hills is budgeted at no more than $750, according to Oanh Nguyen, the theater's executive producer. This is Gilbert and Sullivan on a shoestring. But Nguyen and Johnson, a director of musicals on the local community theater scene for 35 years, hope their low-glitz "Mikado" will enjoy box office topspin from "Topsy-turvy," the current film about Gilbert and Sullivan that includes lavishly mounted scenes from the same play. The film is about William Schwenk Gilbert and Arthur Sullivan, the turbulent writer-composer team that dominated the theater in late-Victorian England. In wide release since January, the film has received four Academy Award nominations--for best original screenplay, along with three categories reflecting the dazzling look of the musical scenes: art direction, costumes and makeup.

"There is no question that Topsy-turvy is giving Gilbert and Sullivan operas far more exposure than they have had in many years," said Jim Farron, curator of the Gilbert and Sullivan Archive Web site. Farron said it is impossible to quantify the impact on theatrical productions as yet. "The Mikado" is a silly but scrumptiously clever and musically alluring spoof of autocrats and bureaucrats. Though nominally set in 19th century Japan, it isn't concerned with historical or narrative realism; it exists to make light of universal foibles--especially the egotism, rigidity and self-serving instincts of the powerful. "The Mikado" at the Chance played to about half-filled houses on an opening weekend marred by miserable weather, said company partner Chris Ceballos. Opening night featured a hailstorm before curtain time. Some who braved the elements told Johnson they had seen and liked "Topsy-turvy" "I can't say for sure they came because of Topsy-turvy The people who see it are often fans of Gilbert and Sullivan to start with. It's a wonderful movie--I've seen it twice."

The Victorian sets were beautifully crafted and detailed." Key elements of the set for Johnson's "Mikado" were culled from the outdoors of Orange County suburbia. The production's long, Japanese-style foot bridge usually spans the koi pond in the director's Los Alamitos backyard. Johnson got it from a production of "The Music Man" years ago at the Huntington Beach Playhouse. "It was too big for them to store, so they gave it to me," he said. Also prominent in the set are tall bamboo stalks--decor that Johnson scavenged from a neighbor who was trimming his trees. "The beautiful leaves have fallen off. I had to make new green leaves and glue them on," Johnson said. He also supplied many of the costumes and props needed for the play, having bought them from the Newport Theatre Arts Center, where he directed "The Mikado" years ago.

Johnson fell for Gilbert and Sullivan in 1946, as a freshman at a Chicago high school singing in the chorus of "The Sorcerer." By his senior year, he was playing Nanki-poo, the male romantic lead in "The Mikado." After a job transfer to Orange County 35 years ago, Johnson became a regular on the local theater scene. He has directed dozens of plays in community theaters, with credits ranging from "Amadeus" and "Man of La Mancha" at the Huntington Beach Playhouse, to "West Side Story" in Westminster and "Brigadoon" in Brea. The role he knows best is Benjamin Franklin--a character he has played for a living for the past 10 years at the International Printing Museum in Carson. "The owner hired me on the basis that I fit the costume," Johnson said. "He didn't know if I could act or write or anything else. I began to research Franklin like crazy. I've read 15 books on him now and become a pretty decent authority"--able to answer questions after his one-man shows at the museum and at Southland middle and elementary schools. At 67, Johnson plans to hang up his Colonial garb this year to concentrate on acting, directing and playwriting.

Though 31 years younger than Johnson, Joshua Carr is also a tested veteran on the boards. While growing up in Texas, he started acting at age 8 and directed his first show at 14. For the past 15 years he has been based in Orange County, joining partner Ray Limon to produce musicals, primarily in San Diego County, but also in Florida, Texas and Washington. They picked the ineffably silly "The Pirates of Penzance" as their first plunge into Gilbert and Sullivan, bringing it to the Curtis Theatre in Brea two years ago. A 1980 Broadway production and subsequent 1983 film of "Pirates," starring Linda Ronstadt and Kevin Kline, probably gives it the greatest name recognition among Gilbert and Sullivan titles, Carr said. This production probably will cost about $12,000, he said--including salaries for a choreographer, a musical director and a live five-piece band of piano and wind instruments. "The Mikado" is getting by with prerecorded music done specifically for the production; all the actors perform without pay at both the Chance and Main Street Players. Both directors have assembled key singer-actors they know from past productions to carry the shows, building the 20-member casts around them. Johnson said his biggest problem was staffing the chorus, especially the male voices, after only about 25 actors and actresses turned up for auditions.
---Mike Boehm, Los Angeles Times, March 10, 2000 [top]

Nobody Knows I'm A Dog (New Work)
by Alan David Perkin
directed by Aubrey Hartman

ANAHEIM HILLS NEWS
Internet relationships the focus of 'Nobody Knows'

Chance Theater production examines technology's impact on relationships. Six individuals sit behind computer keyboards and false identities in the production of "Nobody Knows I'm a Dog" at the Chance Theater in Anaheim Hills. Directed by Aubrey Hartman, the play focuses on how technology impacts social interaction. The plays author, Alan David Perkins, questions whether the gap the Internet is supposed to close is actually widening. "Each piece of technology seems to (push) people further apart," said Hartman. "The message we wanted to get across was that it's time to stop hiding behind technology." The performance revolves around six very different characters who believe they need to put on a façade to be accepted into the online community. Marsh Collins plays Nadine, a middle-aged woman with children. Eileen Dreger is Cutiepie, who in reality is not as adorable as her names implies. Christian Webb plays Horndog, a sexually-driven man without much of a brain or so it seems. Chris Ceballos plays Phyliss, aka Phil, who turns into Phyliss when he realizes that no one wants to talk to Phil. Gene Desrochers plays Cheese, the undercover social worker who upsets people with his hostility and obnoxious comments. Josh Gilman plays Plato, the 16-year-old brainiac who speaks only in quotes. As the story progresses, the audience sees the characters evolve into who they really are, no matter how hard they try to hide it. Audience members begin to discover that many of the characters are on the Internet because they don't feel accepted socially in daily life. They have trouble communicating with others and use the Internet to avoid personal interaction. "Human emotions pop up no matter how hard we try to hide them," said Hartman. The play does an excellent job demonstrating that. It also shows that once people learn to accept who they are, the Internet suddenly does not hold the same appeal. The playwright and direction are very clever and witty as they slowly draw in the viewer. "I was very pleased with the way it turned out," said Hartman. "It was a good script and the lighting design was excellent." The lighting design added an element to complement the themes of the play. On the Internet, the characters are all, in a way, dark. And as their true personalities appear, the light grows brighter.
---Zaheera Wahid, Anaheim Hills News, March 16, 2000 [top]

To Gillian on her 37th Birthday
by Michael Brady
directed by Oanh Nguyen

ANAHEIM HILLS NEWS
To Gillian on Her 37th Birthday

Michael Brady's "To Gillian on Her 37th Birthday" directed by Oanh Nguyen transports us to a beach on a small New England island, where we spend a weekend with a family touched by terrible grief. Two years earlier, Gillian died in a horrible accident off that same shore. It also happens to be the second anniversary of her death, which coincided with her birthday. She would have been 37 years old. David, her widower, has spent the past two years wallowing in grief, even giving up his work as a college professor. He fills his lonely days and nights stargazing and disconsolately pacing the beach, listening to the lilting song of the waves, imagining his wife's presence as a spirit of the ocean. David's teenage daughter, Rachel, decides that enough is enough and attempts to redirect her father's life toward real living, inviting a former student of his, Kevin (a young woman) now divorced and looking for a new meaningful relationship, to spend the weekend with them. Kevin arrives with Gillian's sister, Esther, and her husband Paul. Everyone except Kevin is well aware that the situation will be particularly tense because of the double anniversary. The last, but not least, character is a friend of Rachel's, Cindy, the kid next door who has matured into a young lady. She lives on the island, and has spent much time with David, jogging, and falling in love with this rueful father figure. In his obsessive mourning, David has forgotten that he is not the only one touched by Gillian's death - Rachel lost a mother and Esther a sister. Rachel also lost her father, who is too busy dealing with his feelings to realize that his growing daughter has needs of her own. Cindy takes an instant dislike to her potential rival Kevin. Meanwhile, Paul and Esther are getting the brunt of David's anger because of their well meaning attempts to force him to accept Gillian is gone and finally move on and awaken to his responsibilities as a parent. The plot gradually reveals the complex relationship between family and friends, and the need to re-evaluate them when a central figure leaves a void. As memories flood back, the truth is that even though Gillian is dead, they can all feel her magnetic presence when reliving special moments. As long as they are alive, Gillian is not gone. Gillian's ghost, summoned by everyone's thoughts, becomes a palpable reality. By iconizing his wife, David has forgotten some of her character flaws. When she became pregnant at 21, Gillian was only thinking of her budding career as an anthropologist and agreed to keep the baby only at David's express promise that he would handle most of the parenting when she was gone for months at a time in the Serengeti. Rachel remembers her mother was often distant, unwilling to perform the traditional female role of sacrificing all her aspirations to the self-effacing realities of motherhood. Gillian herself had a more easygoing approach to life than tightly wound David, had he gone first, she would have carried on living. Mating for life is not for everyone, and dating is a great antidote to sorrow. Wedding vows explicitly state that the knot is until death us do part, and even the strongest of marriages will eventually suffer this fate. When accidents happen, it is all too easy to internalize guilt and blame, as both David and Rachel do. "If only I had… or had not…" thoughts and statements are exercises in futility, as is the disproportionate importance certain keepsakes or mementos take - David is going berserk over a missing cap of Gillian's. In the end, we are all insignificant cogs in the wheels of time and space, too self-absorbed in our distorted sense of personal importance to see the eternal scheme of things larger than us, a grain of sand on an endless beach, a tiny temporary amalgam of particles in cosmic eternity. As usual, a great deal of thought has been put into the set design, including a massive amount of real sand and clumps of grasses. When the ladies slather on their aromatic sun products, it is easy to forget we are in a small industrial warehouse location. Skillful lighting brings us sunrise, high noon, sunset and night on the shore. Casey Long as David has the difficult task of portraying an essentially one dimensional character. Scott Ratner is always a delight with his breezy buffoonery as Paul. Lesa Vander Bie is wonderfully assertive as the antagonistic Esther. Erika Ceporius effortlessly becomes a high school girl, treading on eggs around her woeful dad. Racquel Lehrman makes the most of her role as mixed-up Cindy. Allison Mangrum is excellent as poor Kevin walking into an emotionally charged situation. Valerie Law is a vivid Gillian, the ghost come back to life in David's mind. The Chance celebrates its one year anniversary with this great production, and if you haven't taken notice of them yet, you are missing on a wonderful opportunity to see innovative, quality shows in a local and intimate setting. Upcoming pieces include such classics as Agatha Christie's "Ten Little Indians" and Gilbert and Sullivan's "H.M.S. Pinafore", which, if it is as good as their "Mikado" in March, promises to be a real treat for the entire family.
---Anne-Margret Bellavoine, Anaheim Hills News, May 7, 2000

THE CHARGER CHRONICLE
Gillian Remembered Well by The Chance on Her 37th Birthday

The Chance Theater's production of Michael Brady's "To Gillian on her 37th Birthday" makes for a great tribute to true love. Despite the slightly diminutive size of the theater, The Chance in Anaheim Hills should be given a chance. Directed by Oanh Nguyen, "To Gillian…" deals with David, a young father, who lost his wife, Gillian, on a boating accident on her birthday two years ago, while he was at the helm. The play is set on a New England beach where David, played by Casey Long, has sought refuge for the past two years since Gillian's death, abandoning his career as an English college professor and his responsibility as a father. The play was actually scheduled to open April 28, but the actor in the role of David was called away one week before opening night. Although Long picked up the piece only two weeks before the May 5th opening night, his performance as the soft-bearded grieving husband, and object of his daughter's best friend's affections was very thoughtful and uncontrived. David's daughter Rachel is played by Erika Ceporius who captures the sheepish and neglected, but loving daughter persona ...This play was first performed at the Ensemble Studio Theater on November 2, 1983 with Sarah Jessica Parker in the role of Cindy. It is slightly evident that [Racquel] Lehrman plays the role with the perky, upbeat Parker in mind, and she does so quite naturally. Rachel's aunt and uncle, Esther, who is also Gillian's sister, (Lesa Vander Bie) and her husband Paul (Scott Ratner) have a very plausible chemistry between an attractive and classy woman in love with her bumbling and frumpy, but sweet man. Vander Bie has a ...quality about her that commands extra attention to her performance. Paul and Esther try to set up David with an ex-student of his, Kevin, a woman hose parents wanted a boy when they named her ...the highlights of the play were the visits by Gillian, played by Valerie Law, whose occasional presence was illuminated by her piercing eyes and Nguyen's lighting choices. Nguyen definitely knows how to draw an effect. This production runs until May 28. Please call (714)777-3033 For more information, or visit the Chance Theater website at www.chancetheater.com.
---Jacquie Aquines, The Charger Chronicle, May 17, 2000

NORTHERN LIGHTS
Mature audiences will appreciate 'Gillian on 37th Birthday'

"To Gillian on Her 37th Birthday" offered by Spare Change Productions at the Chance Theater in Anaheim Hills, is well-suited to play at any time family and friends' interrelationships become relevant. As you enter the chance Theater, pass the ticket-taker and go through the hall entry, you are immediately at the beach with the properties, sand and music so well integrated you can smell sea air. Set designer Eileen Dreger gas done an excellent job beautifully matched by Aubrey Hartman's sound design and Robert G. Davis' unobtrusive but perfect lighting. Director Oanh Nguyen, his artists and staff deserve much credit for the interminable hours they have dedicated to building the theater, creating plays and developing an atmosphere that makes one want to return. David, the central character in "To Gillian on Her 37th Birthday," is a widower with a young daughter, Rachel, who has a best friend, Cindy. Paul and Esther are a married couple and best friends to David as well as the teenagers. Kevin, one of David's fellow teachers, comes to visit and Gillian, the dead wife, appears only to husband David. A year after Gillian's death - her 37th birthday - David is still obsessed with her memory and has withdrawn from life to live at the beach and study his other obsession, the planets and stars. He's taught both Rachel and Cindy the exact locations and histories of each heavenly sphere. David is preoccupied with every movement in the celestial bodies, equating them with Gillian's memory. Unaware that Cindy has a maddening crush on him or that Rachel feels deserted and lonely, David lives for the moments Gillian comes to "talk" with him. Casey Long as David captures the sadness of his loss and gradual reawakening…he has excellent moments... Rachel is sensitively rendered by Erika Ceporius and Cindy (Racquel Lehrman)… finds her younger self when she confronts love for David. As Paul, Scott Ratner provides the humor and reality of his close friendship with David while Lesa Vander Bie as Esther is just right as a bossy wife. Allison Mangrum as Kevin is lovely and her relationship with David is sweetly enigmatic…Valerie Law as the late Gillian is completely believable.
---Peggy O' Hara, Northern Lights, May 28, 2000

OC WEEKLY
To Gillian on Her 37th Birthday

After an inaugural year in which they produced mostly new plays, the Chance Theater surprisingly decided to showcase the mainstream…To Gillian on Her 37th Birthday. Sharp and edgy in 1983, Brady's writing seems sentimental today - family relationships swirl inside a bittersweet human prism, evoking tears from the hardest of hearts…Rachel [is] convincingly played by Erika Ceporius… Valerie Law gives a quiet, stunning performance, displaying such a childlike, irresponsible presence we understand David's trouble in growing up and moving on. The coastal set design by Eileen Dreger and simple lighting by Robert G. Davis create an environment so real the air smells of salt.
---Stephen Wagner, OC Weekly, May 12, 2000 [top]

Ten Little Indians
by Agatha Christie
directed by Pattric Walker

BREA PROGRESS
Sanity is life or death concern in Anaheim Hills' "Ten Little Indians"

The first words that came to my mind were a pun: "Why? It's been done to death!" I admit I have never seen Ten Little Indians myself- and I am sure I am not the only one. Part of the appeal of a murder mystery is the seat-gripping suspense. Knowing the end takes away half of the fun- but, if you have seen it before, do bring a guest who hasn't, keep mum, watch for the clues, and dazzle them with your perspicacity when it's all over.

The set is a cozy rendition of an English interior a la Noel Coward in the thirties, complete with comfy studded leather seating, rich wood commode and an inviting fireplace. The setting is an isolated island off the Devon coast, and French doors open to a breathtaking view of the bay and coastline, a work of art by talented scenic designer Nancy Marlow whose bright coloristic pieces also adorn the hallway, including an intriguing neo-Picasso.

I can't reveal much of the plot for fear of spoiling the thrill, but any aficionado knows Dame Christie is a master of the genre, in which sequestered guests mysteriously perish one by one, per the little ditty of the title, in strikingly similar conditions. Everybody watches everybody in palpable fear and mistrust, and this leads to clever quid pro quos.

Each character is utterly believable in his or her quirks and mannerisms, [portrayed by a well casted crew of talented actors who lend their very bodyshapes to the overall depiction of their mental traits. It's a cosmopolitan, motley crew of individuals thrown into the weekend retreat at the invitation of an elusive Mr. and Mrs. Owen, who are most regrettably absent. The two servants greet hosts one by one, and rounds of introductions reinforce the quick establishing of who's who and why they're there.

But all is not what it seems, as a cavernous gramophone recording soon indicates. Every guest has a deep secret, a murder of his or her own, on his or her, conscience. After the initial shock of revelation, each individual quickly establishes innocence due to the murky circumstances surrounding their deed. Or do they? There is more to their tales than meets the eye, it would appear. And therein lies the perennial appeal of the piece, over a half century after it first premiered in New York on June 27, 1944. The theme of justice, carried out at the hands of the law, vigilante or God, is important underlying and unifying thread of the canvas. This is particularly relevant as America grapples over the moral issues surrounding the Death Penalty. Further more, truth is a relative concept, and rationalization can absolve even heinous acts. I'll say no more and let you figure it out when watching the play.

The bottom line, though, is that someone is adamantly bestowing capital punishment. The earlier the exit, the less we get to know the character, and he or she is automatically exonerated, until there are two, and each knows the other is the culprit, except the audience, unless you astutely deducted the outcome.

The atmosphere grows increasingly strained and personalities edge out on insanity at the realization that their days or even hours, are counted. The issue of madness is another important component of the piece, what it constitutes, and how it manifests itself. Stress further complicates the matter as abnormal reactions are triggered in otherwise sane people.

I particularly enjoyed Paul Lirette's dashing Captain Lombard and Lisa Duvall as his paramour Vera Claythorne. Cassie Jordan's Emily Brent was a delight in her monstrous self-righteousness. Director Pattric Walker imbued her characters with exaggerated eccentricities, hammering out the idea that diversity is strength and cooperation solves problems, an All-American ideal.

The evening was thoroughly entertaining. For late diners, night owls and avid mystery fans, a second murder show, Scream 4, is staged at 10:30 pm on Fridays & Saturdays, and 5 PM on Sundays, and original production by Chris Ceballos and Eileen Dreger of the Chance.
---Anne-Margret Bellavoine, Brea Progress, July 20, 2000

ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER
Ten Little Indians

It takes a certain kind of mindset to pull off a mystery such as Agatha Christie's "Ten Little Indians." Director Pattric Walker, who has acted in and directed many a Christie tale, has that mindset... The premise, and its execution(love that pun), are particularly ingenious: Ten people have been invited to a mansion on Indian Island off the coast of Devon, England. In comparing notes, they soon realize that their host, U.N. Owen (unknown, get it?), has no intention of revealing himself. Not only that, but the person responsible for bringing them together soon makes it clear that he - or she - holds each of the 10 accountable for various crimes against individuals and society and is going to see to it that each is executed according to a ghastly nursery rhyme, "10 Little Indians," above the mantelpiece. As each guest suffers a gruesome death, another one of the 10 Indian statuettes on the mantel disappears.

"Indians" is one of Christie's most enjoyable brain-teasers, filled with classic elements: the typically eccentric Brits; the potential victims cut off from civilization, realizing that the killer is among them; and Christie's typically wry, often macabre sense of humor. Walker and her Spare Change Productions colleagues have the smarts to keep the piece in period (the mid-1930s), which makes perfect sense: Not even in English society of today do men and women retain the kind of formality so essential to bringing a classic Christie mystery to life. Most of the right trappings are present at the Chance. Walker's period costumes are pitch-perfect, and her set is a welcome departure from the standard three-sided configuration: equal-sized vertical panels set equidistant across the stage's sides and back. Misty Lynch's sound design is also, for the most part, effective, especially during a stormy night when the electricity has cut out. Jack DeZell, Lisa Duvall, Jeff Hellebrand, Dee Howley and Rusty Vance do delicious work, with credible dialects and convincing characterizations. DeZell effects Oxfordian tones as a blase, callow playboy and avowed speed demon, delivering on the young man's comic eccentricities. Duvall is solid as a levelheaded, working-class secretary. Hellebrand and Howley are outstanding as the dwelling's servants, he effecting a Live

Reviews & Other Press: 2000

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