The Fayette Tribune, Oak Hill, W.Va.

Local News

August 8, 2012

One-acts planned at Historic Fayette Theater

— Have you ever had a dream where you forgot to be somewhere important?

Or maybe you have made it to work or that business meeting but forgot your pants?

How about you are supposed to give a big speech and forget what you are supposed to say?

That is the basis of the play, “An Actor’s Nightmare,” written by Christopher Durang. It is inspired by the well-known dream that many people in professional and amateur theater experience in which they must perform for which they have inexplicably never rehearsed nor know the lines nor the plot.

In “An Actor’s Nightmare,” George is an accountant who wanders onto an empty stage, not certain where he is or how he got there. The stage manager informs him he is the understudy and must go on in a few minutes.

George doesn’t know his name, doesn’t think he is an actor (“I think I’m an accountant”), and has no idea what play he is supposed to do. He is pushed onstage dressed as Hamlet; George finds himself opposite a glamorous actress who seemingly is in Noel Coward’s “Private Lives.”

George does his best to guess the lines and guess appropriate behavior, but then the actress leaves and suddenly a new actor comes in spouting Shakespearean verse (from Hamlet). This is much harder to guess, and after a while George is left alone and must improvise his own Shakespearean soliloquy.

Have you ever just needed a change?

In the play “Armed Robbery for Dummies,” written by Paul R. Roman, this is exactly how Frank felt, like a dummy with a capital D. Frank had always lived the “safe” life. He has even been called “boring” by his friends.

So tonight Frank has decided to make some changes. He changes the paint of his white wall to off white, but that’s just not enough, so he decides to plan a robbery, even though he doesn’t quite know all the ins and outs of robbery. He asks the advice of a friend who also happens to be a parolee and then things change for everyone.

Come to Historic Fayette Theater to see what happens next to George and Frank as they take the stage the weekends of Aug. 10-11 and Aug. 17-18 at 8 p.m. in these wonderful one-act plays.

Tickets are available online at www.brownpapertickets.com and at the theater on Tuesdays and Thursdays from 6 to 8 p.m. You can see both shows for $5 per person.

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