Productions from 2013

It’s a Wonderful Life: A Live Radio Play

Playwright- Joe Landry
Holidays 2013

Directed by Keith Gerth
Stage Manager- Dustin Peek

Actors:
Zach Bloomfield as Freddie Filmore
Steve Silver as Jake Laurents
Megan Skord Campbell as Sally Applewhite
Emily Berman as Lana Sherwood
Stephen Smith as Bud Collyer
James Dauphin as Harry Heywood

Plot Summary
Oil Lamp Theater invites you to kick off the holiday season with their presentation of Joe Landry’s It’s a Wonderful Life — A Live Radio Play. This heartwarming classic is a show within a show. It’s December 24, 1946 in Studio A at WBFR Radio, and a cast of six actors is preparing to present It’s a Wonderful Life live to the listening audience. With the help of only a sound-effects artist, the ensemble re-enacts the story of George Bailey, a young man whose dreams of traveling the world are thwarted by his sense of responsibility to the family business. Down on his luck, Bailey, compassionate yet disheartened, is at the end of his rope. He questions his purpose in life and considers ending it all. Just then, an angel arrives to show Bailey how the lives of those he loves would be affected if he were not around. The story’s message is profound and remains relevant for today’s audiences.

Crimes of the Heart

Playwright- Beth Henley
Fall 2013

Directed by Elizabeth Lovelady
Stage Manager- Dustin Peek

Actors:
Cristiana Barbatelli as Meg
Sam Hicks as Barnette
Jaclyn Holtzman as Chick
Laura Coleman as Lenny
C. Jaye Miller as Babe
Evan Johnson as Doc

Plot Summary
The Magrath sisters face a day of reckoning in the darkly hilarious Crimes of the Heart, the Pulitzer Prize-winning portrait of a dysfunctional Southern family by Beth Henley. Holed up in their grandaddy’s house in Mississippi, the quirky trio finds themselves in the midst of yet another of their signature family dramas — it seems that the youngest, Babe (C. Jaye Miller), has gone and shot her abusive husband. Meanwhile, the eldest — unmarried sister Lenny (Laura Coleman) — is becoming an older maid all the time and Meg (Cristiana Barbatelli) has just seen her dreams of a singing career dashed.

Circle Mirror Transformation

Playwright- Annie Baker
Summer 2013

Directed by Keith Gerth
Stage Manager- Rebecca Cagney

Actors:
Bill Chamberlain as Schultz
June Miller as Marty
Anna Schutz as Lauren
Stephen Smith as James
Hallie Peterson as Theresa

Plot Summary
Set in the small town of Shirley, Vermont, Circle Mirror Transformation explores what happens when five people come together to take a six-week adult acting class. Prodded by dramatic exercises and ice-breaking games, these small town “non-actors” discover their own talents … and those of the people around them. This tender and sharply observed play by Annie Baker (The Aliens, The Flick) won the Obie Award for Best New American Play in 2010.

Par for the Corpse

Playwright- Jack Sharkey
Spring 2013

Directed by Keith Gerth
Stage Manager- Grant Terzakis

Actors:
Eleanor Katz as Andy
Rob Weinstein as Lionel
Joe Schmitt as Jed
June Miller as Gert
Martin Hughes as Mark
Mike Shields as Rick
Dana Parker as Bettina
Jasmine Ryan as Hazel
Elizabeth Klinge Peterson as Daniella
Beth Goldberg as Thelma

Plot Summary
Writer Alexandra Ellis lives in an isolated Catskill retreat with Gert, her housekeeper and factotum. When Alexandra invites a group of friends to her home for dinner one wintry evening, a blizzard unexpectedly strands the group — but the blizzard soon proves to be the least of their problems. The dinner party takes a dark and murderous turn when one of the guests is poisoned and the group quickly realizes they have a killer in their midst. Soon everyone, even the hostess, becomes a suspect. Murky motives are revealed and unexpected plot twists play out as the hostess and her guests examine clues and make deductions in an effort to solve the crime.

Alone Together

Playwright- Lawrence Roman
Spring 2013

Directed by Keith Gerth
Stage Manager- Jasmine Ryan

Actors:
Andy Clifton as George
June Miller as Helene
Ryan Dooley as Keith
Megan Captaine as Janie
Martin Hughes as Michael
Christopher Lysy as Elliott

Plot Summary
When George and Helene Butler send their youngest son off to college, they are looking forward to a quiet home and time with each after years of faithful parentage. But in the hilarious comedy Alone Together, that’s easier said than done. The couple’s eldest son sneaks back into his old room, the middle child returns after being kicked out by his wife and a homeless coed shows up looking for temporary housing. This witty and wise comedy deals with boomerang kids from the perspective of parents who both want their freedom and their children to be happy, well-adjusted adults.

Beau Jest

Playwright- James Sherman
Spring 2013

Directed by Ron Ben-Joseph
Stage Manager- Bridget Lachowsky

Actors:
Andrea Rappaport as Sarah
Rick March as Abe
Laura Coleman as Joey
Josh Greiveldinger as Chris
Judi Schindler as Miriam
Shaun Nathan Baer as Bob

Plot Summary
James Sherman’s warmhearted comedy Beau Jest tells the story of Sarah Goldman, who doesn’t think her traditional Jewish parents will respond favorably to her boyfriend, a gentile guy named Chris Cringle. So what’s a nice girl to do but create a fictional Jewish doctor as her imaginary beau and hire a male escort to play him in front of the family? The problem is, her charade is a little too successful and Sarah starts falling for the fake! This sweet romantic comedy was an Off-Broadway success and also spawned a 2008 movie version starring Lainie Kazan.

Three Viewings

Playwright- Jeffrey Hatcher
Winter 2013

Directed by Gretchen Sonstroem
Stage Manager- Megan Captaine

Actors:
Joe Page as Emil
Jasmine Ryan as Mac
June Entwistle Miller as Virginia

Plot Summary
An infatuated man, a jewel thief with a secret, and a widow with a wheeling, dealing (and now deceased) husband each take the stage in the trio of tales that is Three Viewings. Featuring Joe Page, Jasmine Ryan and June Miller, Three Viewings comes in the form of three intertwined monologues all set in a Midwestern funeral parlor. Written by award-winning playwright and screenwriter Jeffrey Hatcher (Stage Beauty, Casanova), this comic drama reveals truths both funny and painful about love, money and loss.