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Friday, October 5, 2007
‘Colorado’ @ Dad’s Garage
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
THEATER REVIEW. Grade: C-
It should come as no surprise to anyone familiar with Dad’s Garage Theatre that those wacky playmakers over there on Elizabeth Street chose “Colorado” by Peter Sinn Nachtrieb to open their new season.
The over-the-top comedy has the requisite broadly drawn caricatures that do and say outrageous things, make light of dark topics, crack crudely about sex, and pepper the whole business with pop culture references. In other words, it’s business as usual.
Directed by Kate Warner, the dark comedy is set in the home of a family whose world revolves around 17-year-old Tracey (Elizabeth Neidel), a mean-spirited beauty pageant contestant who’s just been crowned Miss Late-Teen Colorado and is preparing to compete in the nationals in Virginia Beach. But when she mysteriously goes missing, her high-strung mom (Kathleen Wattis), browbeat dad (Doyle Reynolds) and weirdo brother (Randy Havens) each unravel in their own dysfunctional ways.
But really, who cares about the plot? It’s just a vehicle for smart-alecky humor and raunchy asides, most of which fell flat on opening night despite the back row of patrons (friends of the actors?) loudly yukking it up.
There is one moment when a spark of something below the surface is revealed. Toward the end of the second act, three characters simultaneously realize that their self-medicating habits —- overeating, inappropriate sex, self-help books —- no longer fill the void in their lives. But that revelation is quickly doused and forgotten. No time for exploring the darker sides of this black comedy. It’s on to the next joke.
Attending plays at Dad’s Garage is a theatergoing experience unlike any other in the city. The upside is that it attracts young audiences like no other theater in town. The downside is that it too often attracts them by striking the same sophomoric note onstage and cultivating a frat-party vibe.
When my companion for the evening expressed surprise that patrons were carrying in buckets of beer, I nodded knowingly and told her to wait. Sure enough, during a rare quiet moment in the production, one bucket was kicked over, sending bottles clattering down the steps.
Just another night at Dad’s Garage.
BOTTOM LINE: A dark comedy of smart-alecky humor and raunchy jokes, much of which falls flat.
THE 411: Through Oct. 20. 8 p.m. Thursdays-Saturdays. $12-$20 advance, $14-$22 at door. Dad’s Garage Theatre. 280 Elizabeth St., Atlanta. 404-523-3141. www.dadsgarage.com
‘Bat Boy’ plays North Springs this weekend, Edinburgh next year
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
This weekend and next, you can see why North Springs High School has been invited to Scotland’s Edinburgh Festival Fringe - twice. The performing arts magnet school in Sandy Springs opens “Bat Boy: The Musical” tonight, and it’s in the process of trying to raise $250,000 to take the show to the Fringe next summer.
I saw a technical rehearsal and run-through of the first act last night, and was impressed and amazed by the quality of the work and the provocative choice of material. No “Oklahoma!” or “My Fair Lady” for these edgy kids.
“Every year they try to get me fired,” Principal Vicky L. Ferguson joked of the racy selection. “Last year, they did ‘Urinetown.’ “
Ferguson said one reason the performing arts program is so successful is because her faculty members are working theater professionals. “Bat Boy” director Brian Kimmel is a founding member of Out of Hand Theatre, and technical director Marty Aikens is a founder of Jack in the Black Box. Both Out of Hand and Jack in the Black Box are relatively young intown ensembles whose adventurous programming have won them notice in recent years.
Aikens tells me that North Springs students frequently move on to such top-notch performing arts universities as Northwestern and New York University. “We have a real jewel here, hidden away in Sandy Springs, where kids can major in acting, tech theater, dance, film, orchestra, voice, etc., and receive an entire four years of training in any of those subject areas,” Aikens said via email. It’s “more intense than some college programs.”
You can catch “Bat Boy” - starring junior Greg Kamp as the fangy, blood-sucking half-bat half-boy - tonight at 7, Saturday at 2 and 7 p.m. and Sunday at 7 p.m.
Next weekend, the school will present a cut version of the show that it plans to enter in the Georgia Theatre Conference’s one-act competition. Those shows are Friday-Sunday at 7 p.m.
North Springs - now known officially as the North Springs Charter School of Arts and Sciences — is at 7447 Roswell Road, at the intersection of Roswell and Dalrymple. 770-551-2490. Tickets are $5 for students and $10 for adults.
