Hub Theatre’s production of Failure: A Love Story by Philip Dawkins continues the Hub’s winning tradition of producing shows that are singular, artistically fanciful, and acted with heart and intelligence. In this case, it is “a play with a lot of death, that so wholly celebrates life (and that’s not a spoiler, it is the very reason for the story)” as Hub Artistic Director Helen Pafumi wrote in her program notes.

Failure: A Love Story is a mischievous 90-minute, one-act about love, family, and melancholy all underpinned with live and recorded tunes of the 1920’s. It is far from gloomy, constructed as it is with brightly animated visual features and fast-talking characters to go along with its ultimately life-affirming message. Failure: A Love Story received its world premiere at Victory Gardens Theater, Chicago in 2012. Dawkins teaches playwriting at Northwestern University.

One way to describe the overall production is to think of it as an episode of public radio’s “This American Life” with its first person narrative. In the case of Failure: A Love Story, the narrative is “I don’t know why anything happens the way it does” as one of the characters states. The play generally takes place in the 1920’s in Chicago, near the Chicago River. It is a ultimately a memory play of the young man who unexpectedly finds his way under the three Fail sisters’ spell of warm domesticity.

The Fail family lives in a wobbly world in which the unexpected regularly happens. It is a world where a character will say “never saw it coming” and the audience nods in silent agreement, knowing that untimely death from various means is what the play is about. Well, so it is on its surface.

Under director Matt Bassett’s guidance, the actors can be highly stylized in presentation, often enough presenting their dialogue through a snappy manner. The actors speak not only with their voices but with vigorous facial, and especially eye, expressions, that add emphasis to the dialogue. They often act as live props using physicality to provide fascinating sound effects for added pop. The ensemble often find themselves as inanimate objects like clocks and appliances, as well as playful presentations of family pets including a snake, a dog and a couple of chipper, chirping parakeets.

The ensemble gives each character a colorful, clear personality and easy-to-read manners. The cast includes Michael Kevin Darnall as the charismatic, wide-eyed Mortimer Mortimer, the man who unexpectedly finds his way into the Fail family clock shop. Over the course of the play, Darnal becomes the fixed, standing, May pole that others dance around. Yet he is a befuddled soul trying to understand what is before him. He may know business and be a success, but the women in the Fail family are another matter.

The three sisters are Gerty, the eldest Fail sister, played by Carolyn Kasner. She is the business-oriented of the trio. Kasner gives off a steadfast protective quality moving and speaking with a deliberate pace. Jenny June is the tom-boyish, boundary-pushing middle Fail sister. The role is played with great charm and open-armed whimsy by Tia Shearer. Maggie Erwin is Nellie, the youngest Fail sister. Erwin is ever buoyant, highly- spirited with a effervescent smile that says “I want to experience life, right now!”

Chris Stinson is the reclusive, but weirdly-likeable brother John N. Fail. Stinson performs with a droll manner. His dialogue delivery may remind you of David Sedaris when he tells radio stories. His physical mannerism remind may remind you of earl Christopher Walken. Rose McConnell is the Gramaphone; a vital, delightful role in the hands of the right actor. McConnell is just that; she is a whoop in the way she presents herself as clocks, animals and as the live pianists. She doesn’t take away from those in the foreground of the play, but your eyes will track on her expressive movements and abilities to make percussive rhythms.

Betsy Muller’s scenic design imaginatively uses the theater’s diminutive stage space ably. There are small trunks, several tables and an upright piano that provide what the imagination needs to fill in detailed scenery. The Chicago River is well-represented by a movable painted three-panel display.

The play includes a spiffy sound design with some musical compositions by Patrick Calhoun. Preshow music includes Billie Holliday’s “In My Solitude,” and Hoagy Carmichael’s “Stardust.” During the production itself there is a score of eight songs that enhance the script’s word play. One song, “I Can’t Give You Anything But Love” is played several times moving through arrangements including a jaunty version to one that is in a minor, sorrowful key. Critical and live clock-like sound effects are made by the actors using their voices, wooden mallets and an assortment of whistles and toys. These sounds become percussive rhythm to illuminate the sense of time moving ever forward.

Maria Vetsch’s costumes must have been a joy to find in the local consignment shops and borrowings. The outfits include a flowery drop-waist dress, a practical woman’s two-piece swim suit, topped with a delightful pink swim cap, and a no-nonsense woman’s suit with ever so sensible shoes.

There are a number of items that could use the playwright’s tightening. First, the play wraps up rather quickly. Then something akin to an afterword to the main action is tacked on to further explain things from the long-lived Mortimer Mortimer’s critical perspective. The early part of the script takes its time creating a back story for the Fail Family that doesn’t add much juice to the production’s energy. Nelly, the first sister’s death, takes a bit of time to appear. Jenny June, the second sister to pass away, takes a shorter amount of time, while Gerty’s passing happens in a flash. It is a trajectory like snow moving downhill into an avalanche picking up speed along the way.

When attending a Hub production, a DC-area audience can reliably know it will witness a smart, literate production of a rarely known playwright or play. As Hub Artistic Director Pafumi told your reviewer, “I adore plays that leave you with a pang of joy and pain, that are bittersweet to the core.”

Failure: A Love Story is ultimately a reflective, stylish production on the randomness of life and death. “I don’t know why anything happens the way it does” is how one characters puts it. But, it is a reflection not of despair or failure but of life as “a big success” using John N’s view of the happenings.

As the play reaches its conclusion, Mortimer Mortimer asks himself and us, “How do you go on?” when something bad happens. Do you just wish to hide under the covers or try to go back in time to relog to make a different stop point? Then there is the Fail family approach of acceptance of what “is.” Tell everyone you ever loved this: “Tell them I’m on my way.”

Photo Gallery

Michael Kevin Darnall, Tia Shearer and Carolyn Kashner	Maggie Erwin
Maggie Erwin, Tia Shearer, and Chris Stinson	Michael Kevin Darnall, Tia Shearer
Tia Shearer and Maggie Erwin	Carolyn Kashner, Tia Shearer, Michael Kevin Darnall, and Maggie Erwin

Photos by C. Stanley Photography

Cast

• Mortimer: Michael Kevin Darnall
• Gerty: Carolyn Kasner
• Jenny June: Tia Shearer
• Nelly: Maggie Erwin
• John N.: Chris Stinson
• Gramaphone: Rose McConnell

Artistic and Design Team

• Director: Matt Bassett
• Scenic Designer: Betsy Muller
• Lighting Designer: Catherine Girardi
• Sound Design and Composition: Patrick Calhoun
• Costume Design: Maria Vetsch
• Props Design: Suzanne Maloney
• Stage Manager: Keta Newborn
• Technical Designer: Christian Sullivan

Disclaimer: Hub Theatre provided two complimentary media tickets to ShowBizRadio for this review.

Nature is showing such wrath to humanity; and playwright David Yee brings the personal losses, costs and hopes into a stark, somber play; carried away on the crest of a wave [sic]. The play, now at the Hub Theatre in its U.S. première, investigates what happens to the survivors of a calamity; the massive 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami. Last week’s Typhoon Haiyan that struck the Philippines was certainly on your reviewer’s mind as well.

carried away on the crest of a wave is based upon Yee’s interviews with survivors of the Indian Ocean tsunami. He distilled the interviews into a 100 minute, no intermission drama composed of separate stories entwined with quick interludes as the scenes change. Yee is an actor and currently the artistic director of the fu-Gen Theatre Company, Canada’s only professional Asian Canadian Theatre company, which he also co-founded.

carried away is a most ambitious work. As directed by Helen Pafumi, the show is poignant and unrelenting. You cannot turn-away as it unfolds. This is no undemanding evening that lightly glosses over pain or the aftermath debates, both secular and faith-based, about responsibility for nature’s unexpected fury. It aims to be, and is, a deep immersion into wounded people dealing with their vexing issues of survival. That the production comes just a week after Typhoon Haiyan’s massive destruction gives it just that more universal relevance.

The scenic design (Robbie Hayes) brings the audience into the center of a beaten down world. As the audience sits down, there are objects floating from the high ceiling like so much flotsam and jetsam and debris piles on the floor. The soundscape (Matthew Nielson) has NPR news voices crackling like so many walkie-talkies and the constant sounds of waves. A sea-foam green lighting (Jimmy Lawlor) comes through a large shattered glass wall. It is the impact of the tsunami that the audience feels.

The cast of six throw themselves into the multiple roles they perform over the eight or so vignettes. Each actor has a moment in the spotlight. The cast includes professional acting veterans; Nora Achrati, Edward Christian, Andrew Ferlo, Rafael Sebastian Medina, and Ryan Sellers as well as Hedy Hosford, a nine-year old who has studied at the Academy of Fine Arts (Gaithersburg) and the Synetic Theatre.

The scenes range in impact and execution. Not all hit the mark. An opening vignette has a man and a woman trying to save their house from sinking by throwing all manner of personal possessions into the surrounding sea. It soon becomes a mythology tale about the sea turtle that supports the world that must be placated. There is a heated faith debate between on a Catholic priest and a Muslim scientist sent by the Vatican to investigate a possible miracle. A handshake ends the scene, but it is not one of real resolution.

There is an arresting scene about a father in a 4 1/2 year black hole of depression after the loss of his daughter. The black hole is a physical thing. He is simply unwilling and unready to come back up into the light of day even when offered a helping hand from his daughter’s boyfriend who came to rescue him.

There were several scenes that had more resonance to your reviewer. A woman (Nora Achrati) has abducted an orphan to “replace” the son she lost to the tsunami. It has taken the FBI (Edward Christian) four years to discover what she has done. What will the agent do with the information? Will he let her go? And whose side would you be on?

A young orphan girl (Hedy Hosford) has been rescued by a grumpy, hardboiled man (Andrew Ferlo) who is not in-tune with children. But when she gives him a hug of thanks, he slowly melts in a most understated manner, without making a sound. Hope is alive.

Radio shock jock (Edward Christian) wants to wake up his audience with a comic song about the tsunami. Is it too soon? Radio management thinks so. Others (Andrew Ferlo and Ryan Sellers) are not so sure. You hear the ironic song which brings back memories of the sharp tongues of Lenny Bruce, Louis C.K. or Howard Stern to name a few. You can decide for yourself its appropriateness.

And, there is a most poignant scene from which the play title comes, carried away on the crest of a wave. It is just such a totally heartbreaking piece of theater both in concept and acting. How does a middle-aged man (Edward Christian) deal with the loss of his wife to the tsunami? What does he most remember of her? And why does he open up with the most intimate of details to Jasmine, an escort (Nora Achrati) of all people. It builds from nothing into a scene of unexpected tenderness in a final action to bring the man the relief he seeks.

carried away on the crest of a wave is most certainly not a light evening out. It is very earnest in its depiction of darkness and despair. With its understandable unrelenting nature, pruning the “talkiness” of several scenes to make them more compact short stories will bring a greater impact; so audiences do that tune-out from the real pain they witness.

The Hub Theatre deserves kudos for its continuing flair in finding overlooked new theater works and playwrights. The workmanship and care of Hub productions along with its willingness to take risks is a wonder. The Hub, a small budget theater company, is building a well-deserved reputation for both quality and consistency.

Finally, Yee may want his audience to believe that even in tragedy and at the saddest moments, no one has to be alone; there can be someone around for them. That we are all connected. He suggests that in the last story that closes the play. As a line from the carried away production goes “maybe you are right, but not today.”

Photo Gallery

Rafael Sebastian Medina and Nora Achrati as Swimmer and Runner	Ryan Sellers and Nora Achrati as Amal and Virgin Mary
Ed Christian, Andrew Ferlo and Rafael Sebastian Medina as Rick, Chili and Sanjay	Hedy Hosford and Andrew Ferlo as Orphan Girl and Hardboiled Man
Andrew Ferlo and Ryan Sellers as Vermin and Diego	Ed Christian, Hedy Hosford, Andrew Ferlo, Ryan Sellers, Nora Achrati, and Rafael Sebastian Medina

Photos by Melissa Blackall

Cast

• Nora Achrati: Beckett, Runner, Jasmine, Lenore
• Rafael Sebastian Medina: Swimmer, Sanjay, Makoto
• Ryan Sellers: Amal, Uncle, Makoto, Diego
• Andrew Ferlo: Ma’mar, Harboiled Man, Vermin
• Ed Christian: Crumb, Rick, Agent Nyguen
• Hedy Hosford: Orphan Girl

Technical Artisans

• Director: Helen Pafumi
• Scenic Design: Robbie Hayes
• Lighting Design: Jimmy Lawlor
• Sound Design: Matthew Nielson
• Costume Design: Madeline Bowden
• Prop Design: Suzanne Maloney
• Stage Manager: Will Pommerening
• Technical Designer: Jason Krznarich
• Master Electrician: Tom Epps

Disclaimer: Hub Theatre provided two complimentary media tickets to ShowBizRadio for this review.

Helen Pafumi, Hub Artistic Director

Q. How did you find David Yee’s Carried Away on the Crest of a Wave

I have a great affinity for Canadian writers and the incredible Tarragon Theatre in Toronto produced the world premier of carried away. I had actually reached out to Tarragon’s literary director about a completely different play, but she was so certain I would love David Yee’s work that she sent his play too, along with a note insisting I take a look. I am so very glad she did.

Q. What are the attractions of Carried Away on the Crest of a Wave that lead you to make it the opening production of the Hub season?

carried away deals with the aftermath of an incredibly huge event in a unique way. The writing is poetic, gutsy and wonderfully thoughtful. Although the enormity of the 2004 tsunami is nothing short of devastating, David has allowed us into individual’s healing, rebuilding, sadness and hope. All these stories are based on true events, interviews with survivors, and stories from a day that consumed 250,000 people. And even with that kind of loss, this is a play that embraces life. At a time of year when we give thanks, I thought it very fitting to share a production that highlights the fragility and beauty of life.

Q. Tell me a bit about the technical aspects of the production. What can the audience expect?

Because the play centers around an event and aftermath that would be impossible to replicate, I was interested in capturing the tsunami’s moment of impact in a more metaphorical way. The set is a statement piece, almost installation art, and the sound, costumes and lights will guide us into the varied locations that need to be created for these many different stories. The audience can expect a play that is at times shocking, heartbreaking and surprisingly funny as well. It is a many leveled journey that is very worth taking.

David Yee, Playwright

David Yee was born and raised in Toronto. He is currently the Artistic Director of fu-GEN Theatre Company, which he also co-founded. fu-GEN Theatre Company is Canada’s only professional Asian Canadian theatre company. A Dora Mavor Moore Award nominated actor and playwright, his work has been produced in Canada and internationally. His play, lady in the red dress, was nominated for the 2010 Governor General’s Literary Award and is published by Playwrights Canada Press.

Q. You are a playwright that many Washington, DC area audiences may not know. If you had 2-3 sentences, how would you introduce yourself and your works to a new audience?

A. First thing: I’m Canadian. So it’s okay that you’ve never heard of me. Second thing: the work will bring you somewhere unexpected. This, I think, is my job as a writer: to lead you to a place you never knew was out there.

Q. What were some of your biggest challenges in crafting carried away on the crest of a wave?

A. As you might expect, when the subject matter is considered one of the ten deadliest natural disasters in recorded history, there will always be stories which can’t be told. Some are too large, or deserve their own dedicated telling, or require too much historical context to fully appreciate the impact. I had to take everything I learned in five years about this epic event and distill it, not as an event-log of the incident, rather as an extra-narrative account of how it impacted people. I’ve always said that this disaster was like dropping a stone in still water; and my interest was not in writing about the stone, but about the ripples it created.

Another fairly unique and annoying challenge is the fact that I’m aquaphobic. I have a persistent fear of water. So even though there are a number of videos that captured the waves on that day, I can’t watch any of them. I’ve seen animated time-lapse reconstructions and read all the data, but seeing the actual water terrifies me, always has.

Q. What do you want audiences to come away with after they see carried away on the crest of a wave?

A. Hope. That’s the big thing. It’s the thing I didn’t expect to find when I set out to write the play, to begin with. But it’s there. In every interview I did, every story I was told from survivors, some people who had lost everything…their stories were stories of hope. Just not the way you’d expect to find it.

Hub Theatre performances of carried away on the crest of a wave are November 15th through December 8th at the John Swazye Theatre in Fairfax, VA.

Re-inventing a classic story is not an easy thing to do. It’s a Wonderful Life is shown over and over every Christmas season. George Bailey and the town of Bedford Falls feel like a part of America’s extended family. We look forward to seeing them and sharing in their story every year. Hub Theatre’s production of Wonderful Life attempts to tell the classic story utilizing only one performer to play the parts of the whole town. While the play is not always able to stand up to the task of giving every character a full realization it is ultimately an interesting and touching piece.

Helen Pafumi and Jason Lott adapted the story of It’s a Wonderful Life into a neat and relatively short piece. Co-adaptor Jason Lott as the sole actor performed all of the characters. Wonderful Life tells the familiar story of George Bailey and his life in Bedford Falls. It chronicles the journey of his life’s sacrifices and triumphs and how they affect the man himself, as well as the town. The play is very engaging and Lott’s energy keeps the pace moving along by utilizing some very well placed moments of silence the audience finds a chance to reflect. The story, which is so familiar to audiences, wouldn’t feel right without the inclusion of certain phrases: the mentions of angels receiving wings, charming stories of the Bailey family and mention of landmarks of Bedford Falls are well represented. But the story is told in a different order that gives this work its own life. Watching Wonderful Life feels like revisiting a childhood memory through the eyes of an adult. The script does run into a few problems. Some of the women, in particular Violet and Mary, feel like types not people. Their dialogue both in the words themselves and delivery impress them as flat caricatures, not real women. So much life and detail is breathed into the male characters of the show, whether in humorous or serious scenes. It’s disappointing to lose the sweetness and humor that Mary and Violet add to the world. George’s mother Mrs. Bailey is a more positive female character especially in her later scene.

This piece finds its strongest footing when Lott delivers the male characters. George, the beloved hero, is played as strong and compassionate, tinged with a rainbow of varying emotions. His George Bailey is a calmer and more measured George than audiences may be used to, and the result is a more modern man. Lott’s portrayals of both Mr. Gower and Martini are small nuggets of wonderful acting in both vocal and physical qualities. Clarence is more childlike but still focused in his mission to help George Bailey, if sometimes a bit flat. The charming and absent-minded Uncle Billy appeared much too young in voice and body. Playing Mr. Potter, the show’s villain Lott found some of his best physicality and vocal ranges. The Mr. Potter in Wonderful Life is a more utilitarian and more personal version than audiences usually see. It’s an interesting idea that doesn’t always seem to reconcile his speeches with his actions in the play. He almost seems to be governed with a 2011 “Great Recession” mindset instead of a Great Depression/World War II era frame of mind.

The visual effects of this show were very simplistic but very effective. The small stage with its bench was used to create a variety of locations. The set also contained some wonderful signs to mark Bedford Falls Landmarks. And one surprise visual element near the end is simply breathtaking. The lighting was beautiful and suggested many moods and emotions. Lott wore a wonderfully appropriate suit that did not encumber his movement and looked just like what George Bailey would own. The sound was also very well designed and used with exception of the prayers being said for George. After listening to Lott play all the characters hearing women’s voices seemed to call attention to the fact that they were missing. The show’s lack of a strong female presence sometimes made the piece feel as though it kept you at a distance.

It’s so hard to try to retell the story of George Bailey. Wonderful Life makes a valiant and often very successful try at showing something new. But, missing out on the children’s presence entirely and limiting the women to two postures deflates the story and the world in which it exists. Whereas the traditional It’s a Wonderful Life serves as a heart-swelling nod to the value of friendship, Wonderful Life takes you on a quiet journey that reflects the prize of peace within self.

From the Artistic Director

Wonderful Life is the best kind of Christmas story. It concentrates on the most sublime parts of the season, highlighting the acts of giving that happen at this time of year. When Jason and I first started adapting this work, I thought the main theme we would find was a man’s struggle to find his self-worth. But what we’ve found is more about how the sacrifice of one man can mean the world to others. What happens when a man gives up all his hopes and dreams for the happiness of others? We tend to think of that act as altruistic. But what we see with George is while he is driven by a code of morality and goodness, giving up his own goals leaves him pining for a future he can never have. This is much more human than a fairy tale where a hero seems nonplussed by relinquishing his own needs. How many of us have done what is right while wishing we didn’t have to? The important thing is that we still do it. Perhaps the act of giving is even more poignant because we know that we are giving up a part of ourselves. And perhaps making this kind of sacrifice-one that hurts- is where the true test of our grace lies.

Photo Gallery

Mary	Harry Died
George with Tree	George Full Stage
Welcome to Bedford

Photos by John Potter

Cast

• Residents of Bedford Falls: Jason Lott

Crew

• Adapted by: Helen Pafumi and Jason Lott
• Directed by: Gregg Henry
• Scenic Designer: Brooke A. Robbins
• Lighting Designer: Kyle Grant
• Costume Designer: Maria Vetsch
• Sound Designer: Thomas Sowers
• Stage Manager: Sarah Conte
• Founding Artistic Director: Helen Pafumi
• Technical Director: Jameson Shroyer
• Running Crew: John Oakes and Jude Rodriguez
• Co-Founders: Marey Oakes, Maggie Ulmer
• Company Administrator: Scarlet Rose
• Board of Directors: Mary Oakes, President. Gay Beach, Randy Carswell, Helen Pafumi, Dina Punturi, Jeffrey Stevenson, Rick Vetsch
• Company Memmbers: Matt Bassett, Kristen Egermeier, James Flanagan, Danny Gavigan, Robbie Hayes, Kristen LePine, Shirley Serotsky, Maria Vetsch, Maggie Ulmer
• Advisory Board: Randy Baker, Michael Dove, Rick Davis, Ed Eaton, Scott Fortier, Jenny McConnell-Frederick, Claudia A. Gentile, Jeremy Skidmore, David Snider

Disclaimer: Hub Theatre provided two complimentary media tickets to ShowBizRadio for this review.

The Hub Theatre is closing out their third season with the world première of Marc Acito’s Birds of a Feather, a comedy about relationships. Most of the characters in the play are birds, either penguins or hawks, but a few human relationships are explored as well.

The birds in the play are based on real-life events. The two penguins, Roy and Silo, were male penguins at the Central Park Zoo in New York City. The two penguins tried to hatch a rock, and were eventually given an egg by a zookeeper. The two hawks, Pale Male and Lola, are red-tailed hawks living in a nest located on the ledge of a swanky 5th Avenue residential building. We also hear the tale of the zookeeper’s disastrous relationships and how she is affected by the birds that she cares for and about. There are also various other people involved, such as Paula Zahn, a few innocent bystanders, a gaggle of school girls, and a chick.

All four performers (Dan Crane, Matt Dewberry, Eric Messner, and Jjana Valentiner) were wonderful. They switched characters at the drop of a hat (literally in a few scenes). Crane and Dewberry were hilarious as both avian couples. Their bickering and support were very realistic, yet each couple was quite different from the other. Messner excelled as he changed from businessman to innocent schlub. Valentiner made her characters very realistic, with exasperation and surprise, as well as frustration and anger.

Robbie Hayes’ set and projections was wonderful. A raised platform was connected to the floor level by a series of steps which were squared at the top, but jagged as you got closer to the ground. Was it a jigsaw puzzle representing life’s struggles? Was it mimicking the ice of the Antarctic? Was it a broken heart? It was a great design. And the upstage wall of the playing area was made up of a series of square panels hanging from chains. Videos were projected against the wall, with black spaces in the video so that the projection would not go through the wall backstage. I generally do not like the use of projections, but in this instance the projections definitely added to the feel of the show and weren’t a crutch. Debra Kim Sivigny’s costumes were marvelous. Actors easily and quickly changed from hawk to penguin, zookeeper to newscaster, businessman to nerd.

Marc Acito’s script flowed well, and didn’t become preachy or condescending. There were several references to 9/11 which were a bit jarring. Those scenes threatened to pull a viewer out of the play into their own memories of the horrors of that day. Is it too soon to incorporate 9/11 into a play as a plot point?

Other than the 9/11 references, Birds of a Feather was a great production.

From the Artistic Director

Marc Acito and I were meant to meet. It had to happen because we were both following the same story, and we are both in theatre, and as small as our is, it was inevitable. I read about Roy and Silo years ago, back when And Tango Makes Three was pulled from the libraries where I live. When scouting new work for Hub I ran across a description of Birds of a Feather. Because penguins, and in particular, these penguins, are near and dear to my heart I reached out to Marc immediately. And now we find ourselves here, years after these stories were news, at the theatre. What I love best about Birds of a Feather is not its controversy or its statement about nature versus nurture. I chose it because it is a love story. It is a love story that shows us the complexities of relationships that go far beyond what it is to fall in love, but rather what it takes to stay in love. It lights upon passion, familiarity, marital struggles, raising children, estrangement and reconnecting. Pale Male, Lola, Roy, Silo and Tango’s stories are true. It’s too crazy not to be-except of course, birds can’t talk.

Helen Pafumi
Artistic Director

Photo Gallery

Photos by C. Stanley Photography

Cast

• Silo, Lola, and others: Dan Crane
• Roy, Pale Male, and others: Matt Dewberry
• Birder, Richard Cohen, and others: Eric Messner
• Zookeeper and Paula Zahn: Jjana Valentiner

Crew

• Stage Manager: Eric Arnold
• Movement Coach: Izumi Ashizawa
• Lighting Designer: Andrew Cissna
• Scenic and Projections Designer: Robbie Hayes
• Associate Scenic Design, Props: Patrick Lord
• Producer: Helen Pafumi
• Director: Shirley Serotsky
• Technical Director: James Shroyer
• Costume Designer: Debra Kim Sivigny
• Sound Designer: Veronika Vorel
• Assistant Stage Manager: Devin Wein
• Light Board Operator: Jackie Reed
• Assistant to the Director: Molly Dickerson
• Ms. Valentiner’s Hair Design: David McCarthy

Disclaimer: Hub Theatre provided a complimentary media ticket to ShowBizRadio for this review.

• We Won’t Pay! We Won’t Pay!, Fall 2009
• The Boy In The Bathroom, Spring 2010
• A Thousand Cranes, April 2010
• Staged Reading Series

Schedule is subject to change due to performance rights conflicts or other issues. More information is available on The Hub Theatre’s blog.