World Premiere of 'Jellofish' at Phoenix Stage Company - My Review

The American Association of Community Theatre (AACT) selected Naugatuck's own  Phoenix Stage Company to participate in the inaugural AACTNewPlayFest as producing theatre of the 2014 winning play, Jellofish. The show sponsor is Arabesque.

According to the press release, AACTNewPlayFest is an initiative by AACT to address the critical need for new, high-quality plays for community theatre audiences around the globe. A script is not likely to be published unless it is produced and creates a buzz; and it is not likely to reach future audiences if it is not published. This initiative is in keeping with AACT's mission of providing support and resources to community theatres. The winning playwrights get their plays published in an anthology by Dramatic Publishing Company and their plays receive full productions by established theatres.

More than two-dozen theatres across the country applied to be a producing theatre and Phoenix Stage Company in Naugatuck is one of only six theatres in the nation to receive this honor. Scripts were submitted by more than 200 playwrights. As a producing theatre, PSC was able to help determine the final six plays, and is producing a play that landed at the top of its list - Jellofish by Jim Henry

The PSC and the five other producing theatres receive the recognition that comes with premiering a national award-winning play, national publicity, the experience of working directly with the playwright, the honor of introducing an award-winning playwright to their community, and will have a direct impact on the future of the play.

An added bonus for Phoenix Stage Company and the five other theatres, is a surprise financial gift. When announcing the selected theatres and winning playwrights at the national theatre festival (AACTFest 2013), in Carmel, Indiana in June, former AACT President, Linda M. Lee, made a touching announcement. She revealed that her late father’s cousin, a Mr. Jack K. Ayre of Sunnyvale, California had recently passed and left a large estate. She and her siblings decided that it would be a fitting tribute to Jack to use a portion of the proceeds from the estate to help finance the new play productions of AACTNewPlayFest. Each company will receive $4,000 to aid in the producing and marketing of these new theatrical works. Founding PSC partners Agnes Dann and Ed Bassett gratefully accepted the check after opening night.

Regular readers of my blog will know that since being founded in 2010, Phoenix Stage Company has produced 34 full length plays (virtually all of which I have reviewed) and musicals (one of which I appeared in.) The theatre is currently preparing for the Second Annual One Act Festival from May 15 to May 18.

Dedicated to producing new works, they have included a new play in each season with great success. One Night with Fanny Brice was an original one-woman musical that went on to an Off-Broadway run for over six months. Other new works include The Ice Box, Writer’s Cramp, or How Will Shakespeare got into Show Biz, Murder at the Prop Table, and Just Around the Bend. This summer, PSC will be taking another new play, You’re Right, I’m Dead to New York for a limited Off-Broadway production.

Mr. Henry is an actor and writer in the Chicagoland area, is a resident playwright at Chicago Dramatists, and Literary Manager at Chicago Street Theatre. Several of his plays have been professionally produced, including a 3-month off-Broadway run for his play 7th Monarch. In addition to being an award-winning playwright, Jim is also a successful screenwriter and optioned two screenplays with Producer Ian Bryce whose production credits include such films as Transformers I, II, and III, Saving Private Ryan, Spiderman, and Almost Famous.

I attended the lovely opening night reception at Jesse Camilles where I got to meet Mr. Henry and the dignitaries from AACT and Dramatic Publishing Company. My group included my dear aunt Prof. Ruth Sasso, my sometimes photographic contributor Jennifer Cummings and former Naugatuck mayor Tim Barth. We then headed to the theater on Rubber Avenue, complete with a red carpet outside covered by a photographer, to attend the world premiere performance of Jellofish. I was grateful to have an excellent complimentary seat for this exciting and special evening. The vibe in the house was electric and many local theater celebrities got a shout out during house announcements, including yours truly.

The action of Jellofish focuses on four aging World War II veterans who have been playing a monthly game of poker since 1945. They’ve been dragging five percent from every pot for over 50 years and this “side pot” has grown to a sizable fortune. The audience must wonder who will survive this game of wits and be the heir presumptive to the poker fortune.  Or will competition and resentment destroy their friendships and the game itself?

The four characters are very well-defined in this often funny, sometimes touching play. While the opening night audience laughed their way through the first act, there were many tears in the house by the end of the second. The playwright told us at the talkback which followed the performance that he loves the game of poker and the head butting and banter of the aging veterans are based on his grandfather and great uncles. Although the play has had a handful of staged reading, he admitted to feeling "jazzed" to see the show come to life in this full production.

Mr. Henry also admitted that he did not include a lot of parenthetical directions for the actors in this script, so it was interesting for him to see how the actors and director Ed Bassett chose to deliver some of the lines. He loved the props that were chosen and noted that he noticed "way more humor" than he expected in what will be his first published work which is scheduled to come out early next year.

Founding partner and managing director of PSC, Mr. Bassett was honored to direct what he called a "great piece," but felt the pressure of directing a new work. Adding to the pressure of an opening night attended by the playwright was the fact that due to illness, the director had to step into the leading role of the bitter and mean old Billy. This supremely talented actor admitted to feeling sick himself, but with the support of the rest of the cast and stage manager Agnes Dann, he rose to the occasion and delivered an amazingly nuanced performance. I was struck by his amazing memory of his many lines with only two days to prepare and can only describe his performance as "brilliant." In the program he graciously thanks the author with "your vision and talent are clear and I am extremely proud to have had the chance to work with you on this most excellent piece of theater."

Some of my favorite parts of the play were the rituals that the gentleman brought to the poker table and the references to Catholicism. PSC frequent flyers will note a fun Jacob Marley reference. I was quickly wrapped up in the goings on of these elderly men and felt the inevitable loss as the action progressed.

Next weekend the part of Billy will be played by the wonderful Jeff Savage; I could see that this older actor (and I say that with love) would be perfectly cast for this leading role. The "Tim's squared" brought to life the other veterans. The cherubic Tim Cleary played the slightly handicapped Earl, while Tim Phillips played the much more verbal role of Kooch. Kudos to them both on excellent performances.

The token female in the piece was well played by the very talented Debbie Forish. She gave a touching performance as the cleaning lady named Judy. This PSC veteran told me that she very much enjoyed this role because she got to tell all the men what to do. I always look forward to seeing her work on the Phoenix stage.

The simple set is essentially a kitchen table and it works. Lori Poulin did an excellent job of securing the necessary props that even impressed the play's author. Al Hathway designed to beautiful lighting and master carpenter Mark E. Rees built the black background. The cast must have been responsible for the perfect costumes that included a great (borrowed) fishing vest for Mr. Phillips.

I highly recommend seeing one of the remaining performances of this world premiere in our own hometown. Jellofish opened on Friday, May 2nd and runs through Sunday, May 11th. Call the theater box office at 203-632-8546. Advance purchase of tickets for this production is highly recommended.