This good news just in: After a successful run with Rockwall Community Playhouse’s production of “You Can’t Take It With You,” I’ve managed to nab another role in RCP’s next play opening the end of March!
The play is called “Love, Sex and the I.R.S.” by Bill Van Zandt and Jane Millmore, and is a three-act comedy. A quick synopsis:
Jon Trachtman and Leslie Arthur are out of work musicians who room together in New York City. To save money, Jon has been filing tax returns listing the pair as married. A visit from a lonely IRS auditor, one young man’s girlfriend, the other young man’s mother and a suspicious landlord all at once throw the two guys into a cross-dressing frenzy of cover-ups, half lies, outright lies and even some truths. A bedroom farce on steroids!
My twin brother will be playing the part of Jon Trachtman, a lead role which has quite a bit of lines and stage time, so I’m super thrilled for him! Not to mention the fact that his wife will also be portraying one of the lead characters, Kate Dennis, who is Jon’s fiancé but is secretly having an affair with Leslie. It’s so great to see them perform in another RCP production together; they did first meet as fellow castmates in one, after all. And what’s better, director Felicia Sykes is the very Cupid responsible for bringing those two lovebirds together! So all in all, the cast for this show feels very much like family.
I will be playing the role of the shady Arnold Grunion, who does not appear until much later in the show. But he’s a pleasurable character and I’m psyched to get to demonstrate the quirky direction I’ve decided to take with this role. I won’t say much regarding his costume, but the show does take place in the late ‘70s, so think somewhere along the lines of “Saturday Night Fever” and you’ll have an inkling of Mr. Grunion’s physical appearance. I have also adopted an accent for him which I feel will fit in nicely and hopefully compliment the humorously wild situation of the two roommates.
I’m afraid I’m not inclined to give any more details regarding this character’s background, so as not to spoil any pivotal moments in the production. All I can say is the character is very unlike myself, which makes the part that much more fun! And I have more lines than in my last play, “You Can’t Take It With You.” I had a BLAST with that show! Who knew playing FBI could be so much fun, even if it was only for one scene. A much frenzied and central scene, I might add.
Some of you might be wondering what it was like to be up on a stage in front of a full house for the first time, especially for someone like myself who has a very introverted nature and dislikes being the center of attention. Allow me to be a bit anticlimactic here and just say that it wasn’t as nerve-wracking as you might think. True, my heart did beat hard and fast the very first time I shoved my way past Mrs. Kirby into those bright stage lights. But it wasn’t due to anxiety, more of a nervous excitement. For those of you who saw the play, that particular scene is very chaotic, so I really didn’t have time to stop and think, Dear me, I’m on stage in front of countless eyes wearing a ridiculous looking trench coat and acting like a brute. I daresay the most worrying part for me was the flashing of the FBI badge. I constantly worried about dropping it or not pulling it out fast enough. But God blessed us with a very smooth run, for the most part, and thanks be to Him that there were no major slip ups.
I can only hope we get as great of an audience for this next show as for YCTIWY. Every single audience we had was reactive, lively and just amazing! So I’d like to take the time to thank each and every person who came out to see us. You can’t have a show without an audience, and we couldn’t have asked for much better in that regard.
If you enjoyed that last play, I encourage you to attend this next one! Opening night is Friday, March 25, at 8 p.m., followed by a performance on Saturday at 8 p.m. and a matinee on Sunday at 2 p.m. The show runs every weekend for three weeks, with the last show on Sunday, April 10. For tickets, visit rockwallcommunityplayhouse.org.
By Austin Wells, Blue Ribbon News editor.
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