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Archives 2009

HUMBLE BOY

by Charlotte Jones

ABOUT THE PLAY:  

HUMBLE BOY by Charlotte Jones is a dark comedy, rich in metaphor that takes the audience on a turbulent ride to a satisfying ending. It is the story of a mother and son who live in England in the fictional Cotswold Village of Moreton in the Mold.  Imaginatively, the playwright has set a comedy against a parallel of Shakespeare's Hamlet. Other themes covered include dysfunctional families, bee keeping, theoretical physics and the gap between reality and our perception of it. If this sounds like heavy material, the opposite is in fact true as there is much to laugh about and enjoy in the witty dialogue and the splendid performances from the ensemble cast. Rating: PG 13 for adult material and language.

Humble Boy Cast List

In order of appearance

Felix Humble		David Norum
Mercy Lott		Rosh Wright
Flora Humble		Kathleen York
Jim		John Battalino
George Pye		Dwain Edwards
Rosie Pye		Britta Swearingen

More About Cast Members

	David Norum Recently retired from public service (tax sucking), David is attempting to return to a life in the arts.   After earning (his professors used the term “pilfering”) a degree from the prestigious (or formerly prestigious until this alumnus) Berklee College of Music he “worked” (LOL) as a jazz musician before embarking upon a (paying) career.  Ten years ago David began dabbling in acting; currently dabbling with an apocalypse of brilliant, beautiful and better than me actors (and director, Anet !).  He prays his appalling ignorance of Shakespeare, astrophysics and apiculture will be unnoticed (or forgiven) by the audience.   David thanks his wonderful wife (Janene) and daughters, as well as the inventors of  parenthesis (and italics).
Kathleen York After a 30 year hiatus Kathleen is returning to the theatre.  She attended the New College of Speech & Drama in London where she received her Diploma in Dramatic Art from London University.  She recently moved to the Central Coast and is excited about returning to the theatre.   Kathleen has a degree in business and communication from Otterbein College in Ohio and has worked in the business world and real estate - she says that is all theatre too!  Kathleen is married, has 3 grown children and enjoys travel, reading and tennis
	John Battalino
Rosh Wright Rosh Wright is delighted to be back performing at the hidden gem of Atascadero, the Brickyard Theatre. Rosh has also performed at SLO Little Theatre, is involved with Improv comedy and in independent movies. She has been following her dream of acting for twenty five years, taking classes and courses whenever she can, and working with the best directors she can find. To support her acting habit, Rosh is an RN who works as a Legal Nurse Consultant. Thanks to Charley and Anet for their support of the arts!
	Dwain Edwards Dwain is the artistic director and producer for Stolen Fire. This year marked the ninth year that Stolen Fire has awarded cash prizes for outstanding achievement in playwriting to students during the New Play Festival at Arroyo Grande High School. He has also written several essays on the supposition that theater is dead. To quote novelist and actor Stephen Fry: "I saw a play the other week (plays are nothing to films, nothing. Theater is dead but sometimes I like to go and watch the corpse decompose)..." More can be read at Stolen Fire's website: www.stolenfire.com.

Britta Swearingen I definitely took a big b-b-b-bite into this fabulous experience of collaborating with the fine folks that make up Brickyard Theatre.  It is an artistic delight to work with this saucy cast and magical crew on this production of Humble Boy.  My calling is to pursue life with an openness that allows me to ease and educate through my profession as a Dental Hygienist. I am honored to include my theatrical involvement with Brickyard Theatre along with San Luis Obispo Little Theatre and The Pacific Conservatory of the Performing Arts as integral pieces in my being. Thank you for supporting the Arts in many ways, as ‘play’ is essential for self discovery in all of us.

2008 - Picasso at the Lapin Agile By Steve Martin "Very engaging.... Martin sends ideas onstage in baggy pants, with a cigar .... mixing the sublime with the ridiculous so that they can't be easily disentangled.... Very good fun."   N.Y. Times

Young Picasso woos another young miss, Suzanne

The 2008 production at The Brickyard was a fantastic comedy "Picasso at the Lapin Agile" by Steve Martin, the popular actor and screenwriter.  His first play was a romp through an evening (hypothetical) at the Lapin Agile bar in Montmartre, Paris in 1904. In this bar, the young Picasso and Albert Einstein meet, and discuss women, art, philosophy, and life.   The play is Martin's celebration of the two iconic figures of the 20th century, Picasso and Einstein, just as they are about to break on the scene with their first major works. Martin surprises the audience again and again with his supporting cast of zany characters.

 

Concluding with the arrival and visit from a third extraordinary figure from the 20th century, Picasso is a 90 minute delight.

 

"It's really about how exciting it is when you're on the verge of something."

 Steve Martin

 

Produced by arrangement with Samuel French, Inc.

 

Staff for Picasso - 2008

2007 [sic]

By Melissa Gibson

'the most alluring new play to open in New York this season'

The New York Times, 2002

This year's Brickyard Theatre offering is a 2002 OBIE winner and truly a new modern comedy. The puzzling title has been commented on by all its reviewers and probably would be best subtitled as Was That A Mistake? 
The zany story can only be compared to the likes of an episode of Seinfeld.

'[sic]' is the story of three urbanite neighbors in their 30s who are struggling with failure in their various artistic disciplines. Babette is an editor who has been working on a book for a very long time; Theo is a classically trained composer who, for money, has been reduced to writing 'scores' for amusement park rides; and Frank is a budding auctioneer. The three neighbors inhabit the same floor of an apartment building, where, explains playwright Gibson, 'they live as if their real lives are yet to be.'

'Their lives add up to a frequently hilarious catalog of mistakes, regrets, opportunities missed or botched' comments the Village Voice review.

Other characters people this world: a couple from the air shaft, a neighbor who sings in the shower, the hated landlord, and Larry, the ex-boyfriend. . . all of whom we never meet but many of whom we hear.

It's a treat to offer this wacky comedy to our audiences.

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2006 - Alfred Stieglitz Loves O'Keeffe

The Red Poppy by Georgia O'Keefee	Alfred Stieglitz Loves O'Keeffe is a torrid love story between two American giants, photographer Alfred Stieglitz and painter Georgia O'Keeffe. Here we meet the man who worshipped (perhaps created?) the artist he insisted on calling simply 'O'Keeffe'.  His power and celebrity in the art community introduced her to the world. O'Keeffe, on the other hand, revitalized the work of Stieglitz through his new obsession for photographing her.  Lanie Robertson's love story is crafted with careful research and cradled with genuine admiration. He takes pains to give us intelligent dialogue and meaningful exchanges that bring these larger than life characters to the stage.  The story begins with Stieglitz's death, and flashes back to the time when they first met, following their union, marital wars and eventual separation.  The play is passionate, humorous, relentless in its love of art within the artist, and so very tender in its humanity.  Strong language and some adult situations.  Not recommended for youth.
The Terminal - 1892 by Alfred Steiglitz	Alfred Played by Michael Siebrass	Georgia played by Gailee Walker

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2005 - Wit

About the Play  'Brutally human and beautifully layered new play... you feel both enlightened and, in a strange way, enormously comforted.'                                                                 -- New York Times

 In 1999, Margaret Edson won the Pulitzer Prize for her extraordinary first play, Wit. Intellectually challenging and emotionally immediate, this dramatic piece presents us with Vivian Bearing, Ph.D., a renowned scholar and professor of English who has devoted her life's work to teaching and studying the brilliant and difficult metaphysical sonnets of John Donne. At the start of the play this academician of distinction is diagnosed with terminal ovarian cancer (although the word terminal is never used). During the play, and the course of her illness, she reassesses her life and work with a profundity and humor that are transformative for herself and the audience.

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About D. Rosh Wright

 D. Rosh Wright grew up in and trained as a nurse in London, England. She traveled extensively, working in Canada, Texas, Saudi Arabia and other locations in the U.S. and abroad. After a full career which included positions as head nurse and nursing supervisor at Stanford University's Lucile Packard Children’s Hospital, she headed in a new direction, studying drama, voice-over, and film acting in the Bay Area. She worked for years with Mystery By Design (www.mysterybydesign.com), performing in more than 200 murder mysteries before moving to the Central Coast. Playing the part of Vivian Bearing in Wit has been a major goal for her, as the role combines her acting talents with her understanding of medicine. Rosh has been a volunteer public speaker for the hospice organization and worked for a year as liaison nurse for Hospice of the Valley. She expects this familiarity will combine with her own life experiences to help her portray the role truthfully.

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2004 - Anton in Show Business

Anton In Show Business
Cast & Crew