Unitarian Universalist Church of Palo Alto

Thespian Archives For 2008

Contact thespians-info@uucpa.org
Philip Hodge, Chair

January 14 & 22: Inherit the Wind by Jerome Lawrence & Robert E. Lee

From the author’s introduction:
“The collision of [William Jennings] Bryan and [Clarence] Darrow at Dayton[, Tennessee in July of 1925] was dramatic, but it was not a drama. . . .  Inherit the Wind does not pretend to be journalism.  It is theatre.  It is not 1925. . . .  It might have been yesterday. . .  It could be tomorrow.” Philip's Commentary

February 11 & 26: Two one-act plays

Antigone: Seamus Heaney’s  new translation of Sophocles ancient tragedy.
God: Woody Allen’s spoof of Everything – including ancient Greek tragedies.  Philip's Commentary

March 10 & 25:Life with Father by Howard Lindsay & Russel Crouse

Based on Clarence Day’s delightful essays on growing up in Manhattan in the late 1880’s.  Father regards himself as the absolute head of the family of four boys, but when Mother sets her mind on something . . .  Watch out!.   Philip's Commentary

April 14 & 22: Suds in Your Eye by Jack Kirkland

A charming comedy starring three senior ladies whose hearts are bigger than their brains or their pocketbooks.  Also included are young love, chicanery, and innumerable bottles of beer. Philip's Commentary

May 12 &27:

The Constant Wife by W. Somerset Maugham:
This is the first time we’ve ever read a play by Maugham – and it’s about time.  An English drawing-room comedy written and set in 1926, it’s of the same genre as Noel Coward and some of George Bernard Shaw.  It won’t have the shock value that it did 80 years ago, but the wit, the humanity, and the ingenious plot twists all remain. Philip's Commentary

June 9 and 24:

Arsenic and Old Lace by Joseph Kesselring:
If you already know about Mortimer Brewster and his two maiden aunts, I don’t need to say anything more; if you don’t, I shouldn’t say anything more.  One of the top screwball comedies of all time. Philip's Commentary