Seattle Sun Newspaper - Vol. 8, Issue 3, March 2004

Copyright 2004 Seattle Sun. Please feel free to use the article below in your research. Be sure to cite the Seattle Sun as your source.

GUEST WRITER

Greenstage presents 'Man Who Came to Dinner'

By JEAN CHEMNICK

Half the fringe theater venues on Capitol Hill are housed in warehouses or underground garages with columns that obscure half the stage. The sparse decor of the venues adds to the hipster charm, testifying to the theater patron that every possible cent of admission is going to art, never to remodeling.

Well, the room in the former Sand Point Naval base at Magnuson Park that a theater group called Greenstage has converted into a theater makes those venues look cushy.

Not only is it not luxurious, it isn't even urban.

(The theater was created with the help of the Parks Department and Sand Point Art and Cultural Exchange.)

You pass through obsolete guard posts and walk down lonely lanes to get to the former brig where Greenstage has performed its winter shows since 2002. Then you walk across the set to your seat in a room with exposed pipes and curtains for walls.

It's a good example of "empty space" reclaimed for art.

Greenstage has a long tradition in Seattle going back to 1989 when it was known as Shakespeare Northwest. In the summers it still performs Shakespeare plays at parks throughout the city, including Woodland Park and Magnuson Park in North Seattle.

Since 2002, Greenstage has held its American Classics Series, an annual project that artistic director Ken Holmes says is "an examination of meaningful theater written by classic American playwrights that remains relative to the American Experience."

The two previous theater productions in this series were dark, rarely produced plays by playwrights Eugene O'Neill and Tennessee Williams, respectively.

This year's production, "The Man Who Came to Dinner," is a classic light comedy by George S. Kaufman and Moss Hart, is directed by Roger Tompkins.

Greenstage does not charge admission for any of its shows out of a commitment to make theater performances available to everyone.

The story takes place in a small town in Ohio. Mr. Sheridan Whiteside (played by Rick May) having condescended to have dinner with a local couple, Mr. and Mrs. Stanley, has fallen and hurt himself on their front steps. He remains in their home to recover, while friends everywhere from Hollywood to Calcutta, India (he calls Gandhi "Bo Bo") proceed to fill the place with shipments of gifts that include cockroaches, penguins and Chinese exchange students. He sends his hosts' children off to follow their bliss while Hollywood visitors fill the Stanleys' living room.

Meanwhile, Whiteside's secretary, Maggie (played by Marie Rubin) falls in love with a local journalist. Whiteside tries to prevent her from marrying by enlisting the aid of catty, self-promoting actress Lorraine Sheldon (played by Hana Lass) to thwart Maggie's matrimonial hopes.

"The Man Who Came to Dinner" runs through March 14, with performances on Fridays and Saturdays at 8 p.m. and Sundays at 2 p.m. Donations are gladly accepted.

* * *

Jean Chemnick is a guest writer for the Sun who hopes to write on the arts on a regular basis through this summer.