William Missouri Downs Reviews of Plays

Reviews

Orlando Sentinel

Seagulls in a Cherry Tree

You don't have to be a Chekhov fan to adore Seagulls in a Cherry Tree, a workshop production at PlayFest by a Wyoming writer by the melodious name of William Missouri Downs. All you have to do is like to laugh.

But Downs' smart, comical script, which has been given a thoroughly entertaining staging by director Thomas Joyner, does raise an interesting question: How much can you assume that an audience knows?

Seagulls in a Cherry Tree, after all, is a loving parody of at least three of Anton Chekhov's classic plays: The Seagull, Uncle Vanya and The Cherry Orchard. And of the audience who saw the show's first performance at PlayFest, all but one of us were at least a little familiar with Chekhov's work.

That didn't keep that one young man in the audience who had never seen a Chekhov play from enjoying the heck out of it, or so he said. And it didn't keep the folks who don't know every Chekhovian reference from understanding what was going on, anymore than it kept audiences from understanding that the early Woody Allen was lampooning Bergman in A Midsummer Night's Sex Comedy or Tolstoy in Love and Death.

It's funny enough to think of an adaptation of The Cherry Orchard for Walt Disney Prductions, which is what the show's inept screenwriter-hero is trying to produce. There's an estate that's going down the tubes, a would-be actress named Nina, an intoxicated podiatrist named Dr. Anton, a philosophizing deadbeat and a bumbler named Bob, whom the philosopher calls "one potato short of a pancake."

Sure enough, they're all ensconced somewhere near Moscow, Idaho, and one character gets to deliver the memorables lines: "Writers are like geese. They eventually forget what they're honking about."

DENVER POST

INNOCENT THOUGHTS

What most people hesitate to say out loud, is said loud and often in this highly observant comedy drama that involves a black lawyer and a Jewish expert witness.

Political correctness is abandoned as the two move from politeconvention to mind games, open insults and, finally, bare-knuckle brawling.

In what proves to be an auspicious debut for the Shadow TheatreCompany, Jeffrey Nickelson and Matt Cohen are excellent in a piecethat is thought-provoking, challenging and unfailingly honest.Williams Missouri Downs' play, "Innocent Thoughts,'' directed for maximum impact by Michael Duran, introduces us to two men who areas different bc from each other ec as night and day bc or, as soonbecomes clear, as black and white ec .

Frowning from beneath heavy brows, bc his moments quick and economical, ec Nickelson makes sharply dressed black lawyer IraAldridge a complex mix of impatience, intensity, preoccupation andcynicism.

In contrast, Cohen's rumpled Jewish anthropologist, Arlen Weinberg,who shows up in a silly little knit cap, is jumpy and apologetic. Trying to break the tension, he reponds to Aldridge's question abouthow he wants his coffee, "Make it the color of Lena Horne.''

And the battle is on. Aldridge has supposedly "made it'' ?_ with a job in an important law firm, not to mention the requisite white wife, but he's an angry man. He seethes with the memory of past insults and present injustices. His firm has assigned him to defend a white cop suspected of long agomurdering a black man who had an affair with his wife.

Some 21-year-old bones, bc that may or may not be the dead man's, have turned up, and the cop is on trial. It's up to Aldridge to get him off, although he doubts the policeman's innocence, "My client is a racist son-of-a-----,'' he admits.

Although he knows he's window dressing, "I don't get the big cases, just the ones where race is involved'' Aldridge still wants to succeed. But successfully complete his task. ec To "prove'' his client'sinnocence, Aldridge needs Weinberg, who knows bones, but lacks a grasp of polished courtroom conduct.

"This is a court of law. You don't have to be honest, just authoritative,'' Aldridge says, as he prepares the inexperienced "expert witness.''

As his attempts at friendliness and rapport are rebuffed, Weinberg soon tires of trying to appease Aldridge, and in a crackling scene, his own hidden resentments burst. Weinberg accuses Aldridge of being a racist, of judging people before he knows them because of the (white) color of their skin.

He makes it clear that he's often weary of never knowing "what innocuous phrase you blacks will take as an insult.'' Another twist: It turns out Aldridge and Weinberg knew each other as kids.

Aldridge talks of how Weinberg's landlord father always would show up right on time to collect the rent, and suspiciously count and recount the hard-earned bills.

Weinberg responds with tales of intimidation, of how when the black boys would show up at the baseball field, the Jewish boys would quietly leave.

As the encounter continues, the black and the Jew circle each other verbally and finally physically, erupting into a pitched battle.

Although Downs' script is somewhat repetitive, bc especially in the first act, ec it's clear that he considered all the arguments of the often tenuous relationship between blacks and Jews.

Downs writes with wit and understanding, bc and brings his play to a satisfactory conclusion. ec but he makes it clear that there are no easy answers.

By Sandra Brooks-Dillard Denver Post Theater Critic

BOOK REVIEWS

Screenplay: Writing the Picture

Reviewed by Dave Trueman

by Robin U. Russin and William Missouri Downs

"Must-have" is a term usually restricted to glossy women’s magazines in reference to a designer handbag or a new shade of lipstick, so I hesitate to use it to describe a screenwriting book. Yet "Screenplay: Writing the Picture" deserves just this adjective, because it is a must-have new book for all beginner and intermediate screenwriters. And perhaps even some pros looking to refresh their knowledge.

A glance at the table of contents reveals that "Writing the Picture" is perhaps the most comprehensive screenwriting how-to guide currently available. The topics include not only standard screenwriting book fodder – format, theme, character, structure, dialogue, rewriting, and marketing – but also chapters on pitching, television writing, and playwriting. Each topic is thoroughly examined. The reader is guided through informal yet detailed explanations that employ well-known and modern film examples ("The Terminator" and "Field of Dreams", for instance) to elucidate concepts.

The topic of story structure, typically either ignored or paid scant attention by other authors, receives thorough treatment by Russin and Downs. Spanning roughly a hundred fifty pages, there are several chapters relating to structure: historical approaches; power and conflict; beats, scenes, and sequences; scene cards; "Entering the Story", a chapter that studies, minute-by-minute, the first ten minutes of an action film and a drama; and, finally, an excellent examination of the structure of the key genres.

Some may question the need for the chapters on television writing and playwriting. Admittedly, many readers will not be interested in writing for either the box or the stage; yet both chapters will still prove useful to the aspiring screenwriter. The chapter on TV writing, for instance, includes a step outline and a story outline for a sold pitch for "The Fresh Prince of Bel Air". These outlines are exceedingly practical learning tools of which few other books can boast.

For those who have already read a few books on screenwriting, there are parts of this volume that can be skimmed or skipped, such as the chapter on format. There are also observations (the eminent truism ‘write visually’, for example) that can be found in most half-decent how-to guides. That said, the book is still a worthy, if not necessary, addition to your shelf, because of the trove of information that is either new or better stated.

The list price is reasonable at just over two tenners; even less at Amazon. The section on structure is so valuable that the price of the book would be justified for it alone. "Writing the Picture" is destined to become a seminal text; time to shove aside those tattered McKee and Seger editions and make some room for Russin and Downs.

Orange County Register

'Dead White Males' shows the dangerous chinks in America's public education system.

Billed as "a year in the trenches of teaching," "Dead White Males" is a very dark comedy that uses satire to put America's public education system in its crosshairs. Sometimes it hits the bull's eye, with trenchant observations about the hypocrisy of administrators and school board members with little or no background in education trying to steer those in the trenches the teachers.

The play seems a natural for its writer, William Missouri Downs, who has not only spent part of his career as a playwright and an author on the subject of playwriting but also as a teacher in the so-called trenches of the system. That system, judging by a new production of Downs' play at The Chance Theater, is a brutal one in which politics is the endgame and the supposed goal of helping students to learn is chewed up and spit out as a byproduct, along with many a teacher.

At first glance, "Dead White Males" has much in common with another seriocomic play on a similar subject, John Twomey's "Teachers' Lounge." Like that play, this one introduces us to the public school system through the person of a first-year teacher. Like Twomey's protagonist, Janet Greenberg is a starry-eyed idealist who loves the idea of teaching, is enthusiastic about her work and genuinely hopes to help her students. And like "Teacher's Lounge," there are those jaded teachers who know the ropes and who try to steer Janet from what they perceive as a foolhardy course.

But thankfully, "Dead White Males" has a lot more to say about the educational system - and, by reflection, our society as a whole - than "Teachers' Lounge," which simply tells us that teachers come in eager and hopeful and are gradually ground into cynical burnouts. Maybe it's Downs' own insights into the system he's mocking that inform "Males" and give it the edge it needs to get its points across. The play rewards us with more than one main character, each with a story arc that proceeds logically from start to finish: Janet, of course; and Doris Franklin, an old burnout certified to teach history but assigned as a science teacher.

In Marla Gam-Hudson's staging, the play's West Coast premiere, things hum along at an agreeably jumpy pace. We're thrown smack into the Thomas Paine school, a supposedly typical Midwestern (Kansas) grade school and middle school.

Downs draws the battle lines right off the bat. The administrators are the school board's head, the officious Dr. Ozy Mandias (Robert Davis); the autocratic Master Teacher Burns (Autumn Browne); and the school's bumbling principal, Mr. Pettlogg (Bob May). The teachers are Janet (Abby Forbes), Doris (Kar?_n Benton), and Doris' fellow burn out, Ms. Woods (Grace Lynne) If "Dead White Males" teaches us anything, it's that, as Doris succinctly and sadly informs Janet, "You can't separate teaching from politics."

Indeed, the play trumpets that fact, time and again. When teachers are assigned to put together a particularly dry lesson plan, they're advised to "make it a game" to keep students interested. When the subject of homosexuality arises in the classroom, the board hurriedly passes a "Prohibition of Alternative Lifestyles Act" to quell the discussion. Throughout the play, the board is a rabidly anti-religious, homophobic force whose stifling presence is felt at every level.

It's the characters of Janet and Doris that affect us the most, though, putting the message of "Males" in relatable terms. By play's end, Janet has learned how to play the game and cover her rear, while her presence has awakened Doris' long-dormant idealism.

As the protagonists, Forbes and Benton play off each other well, pulling off the script's most surprising twist: the development of their genuine friendship. Forbes invests Janet with genuine kindness and altruism. Benton's performance is even more of a revelation. Initially tough and jaded, she makes Doris' journey a credible one, showing the board's unceasing monitoring of every move as a cruel, dehumanizing force.

...overall Gam-Hudson's supporting cast does the job - especially May's quivering Principal Pettlogg, whose latent fears come to the fore in private psychiatric sessions.

It all proves Downs' thesis that the human spirit must not be squelched if education is to be allowed to fulfill its true promise.

--Eric Marchese, Orange County Register, March 31, 2002

COLORADO BACKSTAGE

Dead White Males Best New Play

Would that Dead White Males was another slap-stick comedic mind wanting to cut more fringe away from the absurd notion that comedy can be funny no matter how inconsiderate it might be. No matter how much we try, Dead White Males is truth bolstered by a comedic feel. Even Mary Poppins had to remind us ___a little bit of sugar makes the medicine go down.___ Without the comedic flair, the truth of Dead White Males would cut to the quick, making it impossible to stomach, much less tolerate.

In spite of it all, you still want to hear Downs say, ___Of course, most of it I made up to exercise the creative spirit.___ He doesn___t, he won___t. He can___t. Every scenario is true. Every scenario demands attention. Even though every scene is given a little bit of sugar coated comedic treatment, he leaves the ending deliberately hanging in the air. Bummer. Dead White Males confronts education with sharpened horns, blaring nostrils and big brown flirting eyes to off set the deadly truth pawing the earth with powerful hooves.

Education plowed head first into logistic games of upside down semantics, political war games of political correct diatribe hiding behind obscure wording of administrative barriers. Miners Alley Playhouse took a gigantic risk producing Dead White Males. It deserves magnanimous credit for the insightful visionary eye of director Rick Bernstein.

L. Corwin Christie wraps herself snugly in the heart and soul of Janet Greenberg, an idealistic, energetic, bright-eyed and bushy-tailed new teacher beginning her career at Rocky Rye Grad and Middle School, District 179 in Pinnacle, Colorado. A relatively innocuous teaching evaluation turns into a confusing blockade for Janet. While teaching her sixth grade American History class, Janet contends with three pompous self-righteous administrators sitting behind her: Master Teacher Burns, sharply chiseled by Suzanne Mayer, Principal Jerome Pettlogg, with stunning rigidity played by Pete Nelson, and school board member Dr. Ozy Mandias smugly portrayed by Jake Mechling. They instruct Janet to continue as though they weren___t there, blatantly interrupting her every few seconds. When she calls their obvious presence to the attention of the students, the politically authoritative trio demands she must not refer to them. She must pretend they just aren___t there.

Doris Franklin, strikingly portrayed with strength, power and a touch of renegade rebellion by Boni McIntyre, is assigned to Janet as her mentor. Gloria Elizabeth Woods, Doris___ best teacher friend and an art teacher certified to teach science is captured and captivated by Priscilla Young. Jeffrey Haas tears the heart to pieces surrounded by gentle laughter with his portrayal of Johnny Chapman a special needs student who is big for his age.

Written in epic style, the characters move from one scenario to another. First glance reveals unrelated themes, until one realizes they are not only related but also tightly woven together.

It is the stodgy, stuffy Master Teacher Burns who points out to Janet she spends a lot of time on Dead While Males such as Thomas Jefferson and George Washington, when she could emphasize a Revolutionary War Hero ___with a diverse ethnic background.___ Janet was certified in teaching art. Revolutionary War Heroes do not stand out in her memory. Christie___s expressions are classic, nudging a giggle dipped in poignant school glue.

With a brilliant combination of humor graciously surrounded by very funny tightly woven lines, this dark comedy digs for truthful enlightenment floating throughout public education. Delving with double-edged swords, it asks ___what happens when: individuals seek power to further their personal agenda rather than serve the better good; old convention supplants reasonable wisdom; saving face take precedence over shepherding the safety and well being of the children placed in our care; children in need are cast off as someone else___s problem, teachers who care are railroaded to maintain the status quo, and self-interest dominates common sense.___

Throughout the numerous scenes, humor incessantly slaps you on the knee then socks you between the eyeballs with unmitigated revelatory truth.

The play ties elements together the media reports to us all the time, in one form or another. Dead White Males shoulders the courage to thrust onto the stage a subject everyone shudders under its very weight: the pedophile corralled inside authority.

Nelson traveled to a faraway dark, ugly place to construct his character, taking a journey many actors would skittishly create excuses to hide behind. Nelson walks through the tunnel emerging with a perfected character. This gifted actor gives an astonishing performance, even when sitting in the center of the stage without his trousers.

Daniel Lowenstein grasped the meaning behind the Dead While Males, designing a set highly influenced by school trappings. The set allows room for scenes to flow smoothly from classrooms, to offices, to hallways, to rehearsal rooms. Lowenstein created a striking three-dimensional framed picture on the back wall featuring Mount Rushmore splashed with a touch of artistic flair.

When a catastrophic episode rips through the school system, Janet leaves teaching to wait on tables at Red Lobster. She loves teaching. In spite of her inability to fit into a cut and dried archaic mentality, she___s good. There is the wanting for something to happen to inspire her to return to the classroom. She could do it. She could take care of things. She could make everything ___all better.___ She doesn___t. She can___t. She won___t. Her frustration becomes the audience___s frustration. Her mandate becomes the audience___s mandate. We have seen the needed response, and ___it is us.___

Would that every school administrator, every teacher, every parent, and, yes, every student within earshot of Golden could experience Dead White Males. The very reason some might think children shouldn___t be subjected to this play is the very reason they should be. Ignorance is no longer bliss. Ignorance is ___deadly.___

This is an extremely important play; executed by a highly energetic, dedicated, artistic talented cast, crew.

Astonishing how a play could be written with such tenderness, sympathy, humor, understanding and still drive the nail into the heart of the matter with exceeding force. It is creative verbal genius.

This is one production that should not be missed by anyone for any reason, under any circumstance.

Reviewed by Holly Bartges

NEVADA Review-Journal

Play Pen Series opens strong with 'White Males'

Art should entertain. It should elevate the heart and the mind. It should poke holes in the blinders of society. Yet, even after it has done these three things, art should offer one more important feature. And that is to promote discussion which will act as a catalyst for change. "Dead White Males," the play featured in last week's Play Pen Series, fills all these requirements. It is at first a delightful comedy about a novice teacher's first forays into the real world of public education.

Playwright William Missouri Downs writes with candor and loving insight about the exuberance, nerves and inane requirements of Janet's first evaluation as a new teacher. April Holliday gives her character such a charming exuberance that we all wish she would have been our junior high history teacher. And we forgive her idealism as the innocence of youth.

The exchanges with master teacher Burns (Susan Lowe), school board member Dr. Ozy Mandias (Nate Bynum) and Principal Pettlogg (Steve Rapella) are clever and witty as the evaluators -- who are there but aren't, heard but not heard -- dramatically changing the dynamics of the classroom by their nonpresence. However, Downs is not content to write merely an entertaining piece of literature. He has a point to make. And that is to show the not-so-gradual deflation of all that propelled Janet into her chosen profession. The color-coded memos, the vacillating educational theories, the meddling of those who have more interest in politics than knowledge; all take a darker turn. And we witness the decline of all that makes a teacher effective.

This is a staged reading. Director Justy Hutchins does a superb job keeping the pace lively, the characters interesting and the play compelling, even in this bare bones presentation. But that is the point of the Asylum's Play Pen Series. It is to allow the audience to experience the creation of a new play, with discussion afterward. And the combination is a fascinating experience.

Innocent Thoughts Reviewed By Paul Birchall

Stella Adler Theatre (Hollywood) Playwright William Missouri Downs' drama, sparks fly as hotshot black defense attorney Ira (Spencer Scott) is paired with Jewish forensics expert Arlen (Matt Gould). The African-American lawyer and the white expert witness have been assigned to work on a racially charged murder case, involving a white cop who has supposedly lynched a black man. Ira is aware that he is on the defense team as a token, working to free a murderous bigot. Although Arlen considers himself a liberal, and Ira believes that he's a pragmatist, the two are at first unable to see beyond their racial differences; before they can even begin to prepare the case, they are at each other's throats. The pair's antipathy provides an engrossing springboard for a thought-provoking, if occasionally overly shrill, meditation on themes of racism and the black experience in fin de millennium America. There are also engrossing digressions, as Ira finds himself forced to defend his own self-loathing as a sellout to his own community, and Arlen is troubled to discover that he is not as open minded as he would like to think he is. Vivid, multidimensional acting by Scott and Gould elevate Downs' drama above what could have been a pedantic issue play. Here are two exceedingly likeable protagonists, trapped in the same room, fuming at each other across a nearly unbridgeable gap of mutual incomprehension. The writing is articulate and passionate; this is one of those works of politically charged interplay that is so convincing, one finds oneself agreeing with the last thing any character says. Admittedly the work also occasionally feels overwritten, some confrontations coming across as repetitious, but director Yvette Culver's intimate and tightly intense staging is energetic and intense--surprising and pleasing, as there isn't much for the characters to do but sit around a table for two and a half hours. Gould's amiable Arlen, who is gradually stripped of his geniality as his liberal value system is assaulted, is both sweetly affable and oddly pathetic. And Scott's rage-filled Ira, who turns out to be the angriest at himself, is a fascinatingly complex character of mingled wry humor and fury

Darkly droll 'Family Secrets' puts 'fun' back in dysfunctional

THEATER REVIEW

WHAT: "Little Family Secrets" by William Missouri Downs

WHERE: Willows Theatre, 1973 Diamond Blvd., Concord

By Pat Craig

TIMES STAFF WRITER

If there is network television in an evil parallel universe, it would probably look a lot like "Little Family Secrets," the wickedly funny black comedy that opened the Willows Theatre's Serendipity Season Thursday night.

Playwright William Missouri Downs and director John Shaterian have used the familiar visual language of television sitcoms to create a deceptively friendly environment for this darkly humorous and occasionally disturbing play about a dysfunctional family on the threshold of explosion.

Things have never been particularly good for the Burnand family of Flint, Mich. But as we join them, life is particularly bad and potentially ballistic. Casey (Karla E. Rosenthal), the daughter, is about to come out as a lesbian; Norman Jr. (Peter Kepler) has dropped in from school with his new and newly pregnant wife, Karoline (Kimberly Rolph); Belle (Pat Eckhoff), the wife and mother, is off at a funeral and pleased about her newfound interest in bowling,

Norman Sr. (Reges D'Emidio), a low-level executive at Buick, is about to lose his job and continues to threaten to use the suicide machine he has built in the basement. Michelle (Jerusha Blossom) is going through horrendous adolescent angst and is about to get serious about her paperboy boyfriend, the very Baptist Larry (Daniel Allen).

And if those aren't enough individual soap operas unfolding beneath one roof, this is also the day Norman's boss, Jerry Swan (Jonathan Caplan), will be visiting for dinner.

Sounds like a sitcom, right? And with a series of quick scenes driving the plot, it has that well-known sitcom feel. Only as things start to unfold inside this classically '50s-style tract home, the situation becomes increasingly bizarre.

No need to adjust your set -- this one is nowhere near "Father Knows Best." In fact, the father in this case is something of a martinet. He treats his family like workers on the Buick assembly line, does his best to squash their dreams and illusions, and continues to hold power over the family with the suicide machine.

The machine -- a chair facing the barrel of a shotgun that appears to be controlled by a series of wires and pulleys -- is a centerpiece of the show, resting downstage as a mute witness to just how screwed up this family is.

As the play unfolds, though, the chair becomes much more, serving almost as a metaphor for both the potential for change (after all, suicide would be the ultimate change) and the shattering problems facing the Burnand family. Virtually all of the serious conversation takes place around the machine, making it also a grotesque sort of confessional.

"Secrets" initially lures you with its appealing but quirky humor and familiar sitcom style. But as you are comfortably worked into this odd family, you suddenly realize there is a lot of meat on these funny bones. Downs' script has plenty to say about family relationships, albeit mostly about their dark side.

Enhancing the sharply written script is an exuberant presentation of the show by a cast that, from top to bottom, went several extra miles at Thursday's opening to squeeze every drop of meaning out of the story.

Rosenthal was particularly effective in her role, playing the near surreal opening dialogue perfectly straight and setting the tone that continued throughout the show. Eckhoff was wonderful as the slightly ditzy mom, and D'Emidio was able to give a few soft and poignant moments to the ruthless disciplinarian of a dad.

But the real winner in this whole thing is the Willows Theater, which with the Serendipity Season has found an excellent way to satisfy both the artistic yearnings and financial realities of an independent theater. The group can present its season of mainstream plays, and then offer limited runs of unusual works that would never fit into a season dependent on familiar faces and large numbers of subscribers.

Producing the shows with smaller budgets allows the company to take the sort of risks that build loyal audiences and expose patrons to something other than mainstream works. There are some wonderful plays floating around the fringes of the theater community that can be produced only under programs such as the Willows' Serendipity Season.

While familiar in terms of structure and storytelling, shows like "Secrets" venture out in terms of subject matter and language -- there are some four-letter words here, the black humor is a bit out of the mainstream, and the images are occasionally bizarre. But it adds up to a surprisingly satisfying evening of theater and an opportunity to see something new.

It's a chance well worth taking.

'Innocent Thoughts' is an explosive, revealing drama

There are two explosive performances in "Innocent Thoughts," which is playing through June 7 at the Miranda Theatre at 259 W. 30th St. The riveting story, written by William Missouri Downs, is packed with racism, hatred and confusion as a Black attorney named Ira (Daniel Whitner) prepares Artie, a White Jewish anthropologist (Patrick Frederic) to testify as an expert witness to save a white cop who kills a Black man.

The slaying took place 21 years ago after Proxy Greene was having an affair with officer McDill's wife. After allegedly strangling Greene, McDill mutilates his body and buries his bones under his house. Now, 21 years later, McDill is divorced and the house is demolished, revealing the horrific deed. Ira is a junior partner of the firm defending the accused officer. As Ira and Artie talk they discover that they grew up together. They proceed to rehash unpleasant childhood memories. Artie recalls Ira beating him bloody after school when they were in the fifth-grade. Ira remembers Artie's father as his family's slumlord.

The racially charged words fly throughout this brilliantly scripted and balanced production. Ira gets in jabs at Artie, who attempts to prove that he's not racist by having a Black secretary and taking a trip to Africa. Artie tells him that Blacks commit most crimes. He explains that Ira is upset because Blacks were sold into slavery in Africa by other Blacks. When the tribes fought, those who won sold the losers, which means that an inferior Black was brought here.

Many of the "innocent thoughts" that Blacks and Jews have about each other are boldly presented in this dramatic and passionate production. Valentina Fratti's direction delivers an explosive, funny and thought-provoking production.

This play doesn't favor whites or Blacks, but the truth. Simply put, it makes for stirring theater.