January in central Pennsylvania can conjure many images, all of them white. The view from my window is a haze of pallid froth over the nearby landscape. A cotton candy world that gives the illusion of quiet, peaceful serenity.
The roof of my husband’s workshop is deep with heavy, white snow. The drooping limbs of the apple tree arching into my vision are laden with puffy clumps of frozen precipitation. My lane is mounded with mountains of blanched accumulation, and my car has become an igloo just waiting for a new inhabitant.
Snow blindness seems impossible to avoid if you look for too long a time at the conditions outside.
But then again, maybe not. The closer I look at the limbs of my favorite tree, the more I am able to see the stark contrast between the rough darkness of her bark and the snow that caresses it. And the workshop roof is contoured with the texture of the shingles, causing dark shadows to peek through the blanket of white. There are tiny, dark twigs stealing a look through the unplowed cover on my lane, a promise of yard work that will need to be done in the spring. My car is still an igloo though.
So what have I learned? January in central Pennsylvania is not all about white after all. It is about white and black. I guess that is better than nothing!
How appropriate is it that on this cold winter’s day, when the snow continues to fall, that the first production I should write about in this season is Nuncrackers. A rainbow in white and black.
Nuncrackers takes us back to the convent of Mount Saint Helens to be reunited with four of the five Sisters we met in Nunsense, and to meet the newest member of this church family, Father Virgil. Cindy Bennett reprised her role as the Reverend Mother, Sister Mary Regina, as she led her band of theatrical nuns through the ups and downs of a parish Christmas pageant.
Darcy Wilson as Sister Amnesia- a crucifix fell on her head, her memory’s gone, what a shame- delighted audiences with her squeaky voice and innocent response. Mary Jane Bickle, the alter ego of Sister Robert Ann the wisecracking, street smart kid from Hoboken, continued her thorn-in-the-side relationship with the Reverend Mother.
The twist in the casting of this production came when Steve Helsel, Sister Hubert in Nunsense, came back to TCP to play the part of Father Virgil. That left Alice Mulhollen, a new nun face with a booming voice, to fill the role of Sister Hubert.
You would think that the costuming in a show where all the characters are dressed in black and white would not be something of note, but you would be mistaken. Although the Sisters and Brother never wavered from the attire of their order, it was a Christmas pageant after all, and they were well adorned with any number of delightful costume pieces.
Laura Cave and her students in the costume design class at Grier School burst into the theater of the YMCA with an enormous amount of enthusiasm and creativity. They created unique, special, whimsical pieces for the nuns to don over their habits to bring the spirit of the holiday to life. A few of my favorites were the large, soft sculpture swan headpieces for Sisters Hubert, Amnesia and Robert Ann to wear during their rendition of Swan Lake, and the tutu’s, complete with organza skirt, belly button and halter all sewn into one piece, that the Reverend Mother and Father Virgil wore when they pirouetted it out to find who would be the real Sugar Plum Fairy.
The set for this production was fabulous. Carolyn Patton spent countless hours laying out the design of Cindy Bennett. Together they built the facade of an abbey that spanned the breadth of the stage, and climbed to a height of 20 feet at the tip of the dome. The set was built from 4×8 foot blocks of Styrofoam that were scored with hot irons to give texture to the granite blocks and create mortar lines. Down to the Styrofoam cherubs and gargoyles that perched in the crevices of the building, this was a very complete, remarkable, and realistic set.
The Plaids entered the theater carrying lit candles and walking down the center aisle in relative darkness, their white dinner jackets seemingly luminous in the subtle lighting.
Forever Plaid is a classic theater musical about the life and career of a four man doo-opp group in the late 1950’s. Max Dick, Nathan Pownall, Rick Ramsay and Oscar Stuckey blended together beautifully to create exquisite music from an era when music made sense.
The music, however, was not the only thing in this delightful production that blended well. Each of these performers got a handle on their character and made them come alive to the audience. From Oscar’s interpretation of the frightened, timid Jinx to Max’s smooth yet lovable character, each was well defined and believable.
Karen Mayhew controlled the reins for this show, teaching the music, blocking the movement and designing the choreography. That is a huge undertaking and one that Karen handled with her usual style and competence.
The set was minimal, allowing the actors, story and musicians to be the focus of the evening. The Plaids, as the tale is told, were about to get their big break in show business when they were all killed in a traffic accident. Forever Plaid is a gift, one chance for the group to come back to earth and perform their final show.
And perform they did. From dancing with plungers to keeping time to their music on a ketchup bottle, Forever Plaid was a huge success and a delight to watch, whether it originated on this planet or came to us from a distant star.
Murder, mystery and mayhem, all dark words that could be used to describe a light, white, audience participation murder-mystery. Southern Fried Murder was performed at the Citizens Social Hall with the audience being as big a member of the cast as any of the auditioned performers.
Dale Bushe convincingly wove his way through the play and the audience dressed as an elderly woman. Hostess to the evening’s festivities, Busche gave a compelling performance that allowed the doubt inherent in this type of production to flourish and further involve the audience. Clues to the murder were hidden in the hall, sometimes in the condiments on the tables, and every patron to the evening got a chance to try and solve the crime that had been committed during their dinner party.
This show was unusual because it contained \\\”families,” not only in the script but in the actors involved. Performing beside Busche was his wife, Sue, and the Fink family of Tyrone, Irv, Kathy and Sarah, were also characters in the whodunit. Rounding out this cast of misfit, sometimes slipshod criminal characters were Donna Derdel and Nathan Pownall.
Kathy Kuhstos joined TCP once again to lead this band of suspicious characters and the audience through the maze that comprises an audience participation-murder mystery-dinner theater. That certainly is a mouthful, and Kathy handled all the details with panache and finesse.
There certainly was no black or white in the clue gathering, placing, or enjoyment of the evening. In fact, quite deliberately, everything was a muddled shade of gray!
I began this column last evening in the midst of a rather severe snowstorm. As I finish, some 24 hours later, the violent weather has passed, the snow is no longer falling, the cutting, winter blasts have diminished, and the dark, evening sky is clear. One thing hasn’t changed however. It is still January in central Pennsylvania and it is still white outside.
I wouldn’t miss the change of seasons for anything. They keep me fresh and imaginative, my juices flowing as they say. For that reason I shall proclaim that, just for today, white is my favorite color.
