Here's something you might be interested in.
Ask a Hipster — Advice you didn't know you needed
Big Screen — Movie commentary
Blurt — Music's inside track
Booze News — San Diego spirits
Classical Music — Immortal beauty
Classifieds — Free and easy
Cover Stories — Front-page features
Drinks All Around — Bartenders' drink recipes
Excerpts — Literary and spiritual excerpts
Feast! — Food & drink reviews
Feature Stories — Local news & stories
Fishing Report — What’s getting hooked from ship and shore
From the Archives — Spotlight on the past
Golden Dreams — Talk of the town
The Gonzo Report — Making the musical scene, or at least reporting from it
Letters — Our inbox
Movies@Home — Local movie buffs share favorites
Movie Reviews — Our critics' picks and pans
Musician Interviews — Up close with local artists
Neighborhood News from Stringers — Hyperlocal news
News Ticker — News & politics
Obermeyer — San Diego politics illustrated
Outdoors — Weekly changes in flora and fauna
Overheard in San Diego — Eavesdropping illustrated
Poetry — The old and the new
Reader Travel — Travel section built by travelers
Reading — The hunt for intellectuals
Roam-O-Rama — SoCal's best hiking/biking trails
San Diego Beer — Inside San Diego suds
SD on the QT — Almost factual news
Sheep and Goats — Places of worship
Special Issues — The best of
Street Style — San Diego streets have style
Surf Diego — Real stories from those braving the waves
Theater — On stage in San Diego this week
Tin Fork — Silver spoon alternative
Under the Radar — Matt Potter's undercover work
Unforgettable — Long-ago San Diego
Unreal Estate — San Diego's priciest pads
Your Week — Daily event picks
Lottie the knockout
The Dark at the Top of the Stairs — raw realism
A play whose framework is used to explore sexual problems, economic depression, family violence, anti-Semitism, and class prejudice is now the current production at the Scripps Ranch Theatre.
The Dark at the Top of the Stairs
- Scripps Ranch Theatre, 9783 Avenue of Nations, Scripps Ranch
- $28 - $31
William Inge’s 1957 play is probably an examination of his own childhood memories. The drama, set in Oklahoma in 1923, centers on Rubin Flood, a recently unemployed harness salesman. He must deal with his wife, Cora, who shuns intimacy, with his shy daughter who prepares for her first dance, and with his pre-teen son, who runs to his mother instead of dealing with bullies.
Susan Stratton and Laura Bohlin
This wonderfully written theater piece takes two marriages apart — one seemingly good on the surface and one bad. Director Ted Leib’s great sensitivity allows the play do do what it does best, which is to take a look at the conflicts, both spoken and unspoken, that can tear human relationships apart. His production is superb, with every period and character detail honed to perfection.
The set, by Bob Shuttleworth, is highly believable of a small town home of the early 1920s on the Oklahoma plains. It works on its own simple terms without relying on clever innovations or modern design techniques.
This mounting of Inge’s intense drama is greatly enhanced by a cast that truly works in ensemble fashion, even though many of the scenes are just between two people. Everyone plays with a sense of raw realism that captures attention and rivets throughout.
Alex Guzman, as Rubin Flood, is dynamic and forceful; he shows his conflicting emotions in a bold, graphic light.
Laura Bohlin, as Cora, his wife, is marvelous in her many-layered portrayal of a woman trapped by circumstances, but who desperately wants to be a good wife and mother.
Bohlin’s character seems to hold the play together and move it forward. Hers is a quiet portrayal, but it tears at your heart with precision.
As the young son and the troubled teenage daughter, Ryan Singer and Gabi Leibowitz are perfectly cast and bring a refreshing realism to roles you don’t often see with performers of these ages.
Fine support is given by Janey Hurley as the energetic Flirt, Fred Harlow as a bored husband, Gabe Krut as another troubled youth, and Alex Apodaca, as a tipsy teen.
But the one actor who gives a knockout performance that holds you spellbound is Susan Stratton as the loud and boisterous Lottie, Cora’s sister. Her frustrations with her marriage and her station in life are pathetically highlighted in her highly nuanced portrayal. Also, her genuine affection for her sister is poignant and touching.
This performance will stay in your mind for a long time.
Inge, whose portraits of small-town life and settings planted in the American heartland have earned him the unofficial title of “Playwright of the Midwest,” is extremely well-represented here.
Here's something you might be interested in.
Lottie the knockout
The Dark at the Top of the Stairs — raw realism
Lottie the knockout
The Dark at the Top of the Stairs — raw realism
A play whose framework is used to explore sexual problems, economic depression, family violence, anti-Semitism, and class prejudice is now the current production at the Scripps Ranch Theatre.
The Dark at the Top of the Stairs
- Scripps Ranch Theatre, 9783 Avenue of Nations, Scripps Ranch
- $28 - $31
William Inge’s 1957 play is probably an examination of his own childhood memories. The drama, set in Oklahoma in 1923, centers on Rubin Flood, a recently unemployed harness salesman. He must deal with his wife, Cora, who shuns intimacy, with his shy daughter who prepares for her first dance, and with his pre-teen son, who runs to his mother instead of dealing with bullies.
Susan Stratton and Laura Bohlin
This wonderfully written theater piece takes two marriages apart — one seemingly good on the surface and one bad. Director Ted Leib’s great sensitivity allows the play do do what it does best, which is to take a look at the conflicts, both spoken and unspoken, that can tear human relationships apart. His production is superb, with every period and character detail honed to perfection.
The set, by Bob Shuttleworth, is highly believable of a small town home of the early 1920s on the Oklahoma plains. It works on its own simple terms without relying on clever innovations or modern design techniques.
This mounting of Inge’s intense drama is greatly enhanced by a cast that truly works in ensemble fashion, even though many of the scenes are just between two people. Everyone plays with a sense of raw realism that captures attention and rivets throughout.
Alex Guzman, as Rubin Flood, is dynamic and forceful; he shows his conflicting emotions in a bold, graphic light.
Laura Bohlin, as Cora, his wife, is marvelous in her many-layered portrayal of a woman trapped by circumstances, but who desperately wants to be a good wife and mother.
Bohlin’s character seems to hold the play together and move it forward. Hers is a quiet portrayal, but it tears at your heart with precision.
As the young son and the troubled teenage daughter, Ryan Singer and Gabi Leibowitz are perfectly cast and bring a refreshing realism to roles you don’t often see with performers of these ages.
Fine support is given by Janey Hurley as the energetic Flirt, Fred Harlow as a bored husband, Gabe Krut as another troubled youth, and Alex Apodaca, as a tipsy teen.
But the one actor who gives a knockout performance that holds you spellbound is Susan Stratton as the loud and boisterous Lottie, Cora’s sister. Her frustrations with her marriage and her station in life are pathetically highlighted in her highly nuanced portrayal. Also, her genuine affection for her sister is poignant and touching.
This performance will stay in your mind for a long time.
Inge, whose portraits of small-town life and settings planted in the American heartland have earned him the unofficial title of “Playwright of the Midwest,” is extremely well-represented here.
Comments