Productions from 2017
It’s A Wonderful Life- A Live Radio Play
Playwright- Joe Landry
Winter 2017
Directed by Elizabeth Mazur Levin
Stage Manager- Savannah Clements
Actors:
Nick Bryant as Jake Laurents
Jared Isaac as Harry “Jazzbo” Heywood
Carmen Risi as Lana Sherwood
Chelsea Rolfes as Sally Appelwhite
JT Nagle as Freddie Filmore
Steve Smith as Bud Collyer
Andrew Clancey as Sound Effects Specialist
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.
Par for the Corpse
Playwright- Jack Sharkey
Fall 2017
Directed by Keith Gerth
Stage Manager- Savannah Clements
Actors:
RJ Cecott as Mark
Jeff Smith as Rick
Elena Tubridy as Bettina
Rachel Silvert as Andy
Rachel Whyte as Hazel
Mary O’Sullivan as Daniella
Nick Dorado as Lionell
Rob Weinstein as Jed
Laura MacGregor as Thelma
Kirsty Collins as Gert
Plot Summary
When novelist Alexandra Ellis throws a party at her Catskills retreat, no one expects a blizzard to strand everybody nor do they suspect there’s a killer amongst them until one guest is poisoned at the party! Desperately, the others try to figure out not only who did it but more mystifying how it was done. They’re baffled by a seemingly impossible crime till one guest thinks of a ruse to reveal the killer, but is stabbed before the unmasking. Everyone even the hostess is a suspect, and a number of murky motives emerge during the night’s strange events. And just when another guest thinks he knows the culprit, there’s another murder the suspected killer couldn’t possibly be responsible for! There are plenty of laughs but the main thrust is for the audience’s nerve-endings with more shrieks of terror than of hilarity especially in the surprise-filled final act with its series of convulsive plot-twists. No one will ever be able to guess the shocker of a surprise-ending!
A Love Affair
Playwright- Jerry Mayer
Fall 2017
Directed by Keith Gerth
Stage Manager- Taylor Hobart
Actors:
Michael Lomenick as Jimmy II
Beth Goldberg as Alice II
Reed Willard as Jimmy
Katie Mancuso as Alice
Traci Cidlik as others
Plot Summary
This award winning romantic comedy is brimming with hilarious as well as moving moments captured from a 38 year marriage. As Jimmy and Alice Diamond clear out the attic of their Malibu home because a turn of finances is forcing them to move into a cramped condo, they find themselves reliving the flawed masterpiece that is their marriage. A subtitle, with a smile, might be, “Till Debt do us Part.” Two pairs of actors play the Diamonds, (early and now, in their marriage) one young and one mature. Throughout, they observe and comment on each other. In one delightful scene, the four confront each other to negotiate the transition into middle age. The fifth cast member plays six different women who influence the Diamond marriage, offering a tour de force for an actress. “A Love Affair” is both a timeless and a timely play, because its story is about financial reverses and how they can either weaken or reinforce relationships, depending on how the difficult times are handled. It’s a moving, identifiable story that rings true, while offering a multiplicity of laughs.
The Faculty Lounge
Playwright- Teri Foltz
Summer 2017
Directed by Keith Gerth
Assistant Director – Steve Smith
Stage Manager- Lara Caprini
Actors:
Nicki Howard as Becky
Steve Smith as Dylan
Blake Holen as Nick
Takesha Kizart as Megan
Jayson Lee as Student One
Elizabeth Wigley as Student Two
Emmaline Skillikorn as Student Three
Emily Dyer as Student Four
Miles Andrew Weimer as Student Five
Morgan Dixon as Emily
Plot Summary
“Why did you become a high school teacher?” This question, posed by a journalism class to the faculty of a typical American high school, sets the scene for The Faculty Lounge, a hilarious and touching play by Kentucky playwright Teri Foltz. Foltz, herself a former secondary school teacher, takes audiences into the private inner sanctum of a high school faculty lounge where teachers relax, vent their frustrations and share their hopes, both for themselves and for their students.
Motherhood Out Loud
Playwrights- Leslie Ayvazian, Brooke Berman, David Cale, Jessica Goldberg, Beth Henley, Lameece Issaq, Claire LaZebnik, Lisa Loomer, Michele Lowe, Marco Pennette, Theresa Rebeck, Luanne Rice, Annie Weisman and Cheryl L. West
Spring 2017
Directed by Elizabeth Mazur Levin
Stage Manager- Traci Cidlik
Actors:
Andrew Clancey
Michelle Jasso
Nicole Laurenzi
Megan Storti
Plot Summary
When entrusting the subject of motherhood to such a dazzling collection of celebrated American writers, what results is a joyous, moving, hilarious, and altogether thrilling theatrical event. Utterly unpredictable, MOTHERHOOD OUT LOUD shatters traditional notions about parenthood, unveils its inherent comedy and celebrates the deeply personal truths that span and unite generations.
The People’s Republic of Edward Snowden
Playwright- WC Turck
Winter 2017
Directed by Keith Gerth
Stage Manager- Ben Harvey
Actors:
Nick Bryant as Edward Snowden
Lara Dohner as Natasha (FSB Agent)
JT Nagle as Agent Flenkins
Katie Schwaber as Gate Agent
Rob Weinstein as Hapless American Passenger
Plot Summary
The Peoples Republic of Edward Snowden is a thought-provoking satire that tackles important questions of freedom and privacy. As the play opens, a press conference is scheduled in Terminal F of Moscows Sheremetyevo International Airport. Audiences are introduced to Edward Snowden (Nick Bryant) by his alluring Russian minder, Natasha (Lara Dohner). She tells us that Snowden, the infamous former CIA employee who revealed details about classified U.S. government surveillance programs in 2013, is making himself available for questions. So begins an evening of immersive theater that takes audiences on a thought-provoking journey into the chilling world of global data-gathering and surveillance.
The Dining Room
Playwright- AR Gurney
Winter 2017
Directed by Keith Gerth
Stage Manager- Nicole Szontagh
Actors:
Actor #1 Stephen Smith
Actor #2 Eric Bays
Actor #3 Michael Ermel
Actress #1 Daniella Rukin
Actress #2 Lara Dohner
Actress #3 Amanda Meyer
Plot Summary
The Dining Room is a warm and poignant comedy of manners set in the dining room of a typical upscale household somewhere in the Northeastern United States. One of Gurneys most eloquent plays, it skillfully weaves together the stories of multiple generations in eighteen overlapping scenes, each offering a snapshot of a moment in time. The play considers the erosion of American upper-class traditions and values through the lens of dining rituals that play out in a homes traditional gathering place for breakfast, dinner and special occasions.