FOLIO
by DICK KEREKES & LEISLA SANSOM
Players by the Sea School of the Arts presented a World Premier of an original script by the school’s director, Barbara Colaciello, titled NO-I-TAN-I-GAM-I. It was performed over 4 days, February 10 to February 13 on the Players main stage in Jacksonville Beach.
If you’ve looked at the title with a curious eye but didn’t see the show, you’re probably wondering “Was it in English?” Let us say yes, indeed, the play was in English, in an American setting, with the title an intriguing puzzle that kept the audience guessing what it meant until very late in the second act, where at one point, the cast chants the syllables together in a catchy rhythm. Dual Critics is still debating whether we should reveal what it meant and we will keep you guessing if we will tell or not until later in this review.
The play was set in the Beach Community, at the present time. It could be any suburban community. It is summer time, and the cast of twenty-four represents segments of the community, with parents, young adults, and kids of all ages. It shows multiple slices of life over a brief period, with various things going on, as subplots emerge.
Many of the children are bored with the unstructured time of summer and spend time just hanging around. Conversations with friends frequently include the question “What do you want to do?” with the response being “I don’t know; what do you want to do?” Some children play games with an imaginary basketball and others hunt frogs at night, along with other interesting pursuits.
One young boy has lost the cell phone he affectionately calls ‘Ralph.’ His world seems shattered by its loss and many turn out to help him find it. This was a lesson, at least to the Dual Critics, who did not realize how obsessed children are with owning cell phones, even when in fourth and fifth grades.
One older lady, Ann Accardi (played with gray hair in a bun and all the right gestures by the young Grace Velez), is upset because the kids are hanging their wet towels on a backyard fence. In her view, it’s unsightly. She puts up big signs on the dock: No Sitting. No Standing. No Wet Towels. An Architectural Review Committee is formed to improve the community’s physical environment.
The set, by Ms. Colaciello and Joe Schwarz, had three areas, with the Bungalow Café on the left, a dock in the center, and an elevated second-story bedroom on the right. The designers used warm, cheerful colors of coral, blue and yellow to enliven the set.
About a third of the action took place around the outdoor seating of the Bungalow Café, owned by Richard Bungalow (played by Max Richie with a delightful English accent), and Lupe Bungalow (played by the only adult in the play, Kasi Walters). I found it an interesting café since they sold coffee, but not to go, encouraging their patrons to stay and enjoy the setting.
Two of the characters I found very interesting were budding entrepreneurs Evelyn (Mary Allison Kane) and Judy (Bridget Harvey). The two girls were always thinking up ways to make money.
The play had twenty-four cast members, all of whom seemed to be focused on their lines and characters while enjoying working together in the spotlight. Groups of various sizes enter and exit for vignettes, with the full cast on stage only once near the end of the play, as the show concludes with a happy ending.
The children in this show got the full Players treatment that they do for all Main Stage productions. Jim Wiggins was technical director and created an interesting light scheme as lighting designer. Erik DiCicco, was the assistant director to Ms. Colaciello and also performed the duties of stage manager and stage crew. The costumes were designed and coordinated by Kasi Walters and the Director. They consisted of informal clothes appropriate to the ages of the characters, with lots of sweaters, shorts, jeans and sneakers, and a number of costume changes between scenes.
The cast also learned about the wonderful world of makeup, applied by Monica Mia. It’s a tough job to make a fifth-grader look like a senior citizen.
Except for one adult, the cast (divided into Cast 1 and Cast 2) was comprised of students from grades four to eleven. We saw Cast 1, which included: Taylor Nadeau, Kelvy Alter, Adam Alesch, Kilty Barker, Amelia McCollum, Zai Pennington, Shawna Melby, Aya Kusumoto, Elizabeth Reeger, Emma Mitchell, Jacob Parkulo, Ian Ramos, Fallon Forrestal, Danny Parkulo, Isabel Hiday, Carmen Burbridge, Bridget Arnel, Noelle Mattiace, and Jon-Michael Gyland.
It was an interesting evening of theatre, seeing many of the actors that will be the stars of the future. We saw a lot of potential on that stage and under the guidance and teaching of people like Barbara Colaciello, they have developed the confidence and self esteem that is one of the gifts of preparing and performing on the live stage.
Ok, you have been patient and waited long enough. Spoiler! The title of the play provides an approach to answering “What do you want to do?” as you will see if you read the letters backwards – IMAGINATION.
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