GAY PEOPLE'S CHRONICLE March 14, 2003

After the war comes to an end, the battle begins

An unlikely trio have a far more difficult fight in this new show

by Anthony Glassman

Cincinnati-In times of war, ordinary men and women do extraordinary things. The crisis and strife, not to mention the giddy relief afterwards, seem to make anything possible.

Back at the end of World War II, when segregation was accepted and racism expected, the nation goes crazy celebrating the victory of the United States over Japan. A black man and a white woman meet and fall

in love, a love for which society would gladly destroy them both.

This is premise for Tony Award-winning playwright Warren Leight's James and Annie, playing through March 30 at Ensemble Theatre of Cincinnati.

A familiar face is returning in James and Annie, one well known to Cincinnati's gay community. Todd Almond, 1999 graduate of the University of Cincinnati's Conservatory of Music, returns to the city of his alma mater to play Edward, a third misfit in the play.

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Almond was last seen in Cincinnati playing Hedwig in Hedwig and the Angry Inch, also at Ensemble, which seems to be his home away from home since he moved to New York.

Todd Almond

Almond's role is similar to Katharine Hepburn's best friend in any movie she starred in with Spencer Tracy. He is Edward, a medic in the war whose only real training is in fabric and design. It's now 1945, and he's living in New York on a full military disability pension for his war wounds.

He befriends the eponymous Annie, who he finds in her basement apartment. James, who goes off to fight a different war, one for equality and civil rights, might be a little jealous. After all, while he is the one in the relationship with Annie, society at large would see Edward as her paramour.

While the couple struggle and fight for their love, Edward does his best to protect them, Annie especially, in a society that would like nothing more than to tear them

apart.

"This character is actually based on Warren's real-life uncle," Almond said of the playwright. "Warren's uncle Edward was this elegant gay man in New York who danced that invisible line in those days of being gay and charming and sophisticated, yet some-

how in the closet. And not in the closet in his own life, just to the outside world."

"He thought his brothers didn't like him because he was gay, but when told that Edward was, his brother, by then in his 60s, said he had no idea," he noted. "I think it was just something not discussed."

"Edward is young but broken," Almond opined. "He happens upon Annie and immediately befriends her, maybe because he sees that she's someone who need to be taken care of, but maybe also because he needs someone in his life."

"Edward's a designer, for Christ's sake! This poor girl has a hideous couch from Gimbels and suitcases as end tables," he said. "This is a project. She's a sweet Midwestern girl who is in trouble."

The strange dynamics of the trio are at the very heart of the play.

"Throughout the play Edward is trying to help James come home to Annie, all the while becoming James' replacement as the man of the house," Almond said. "It's an odd situation that you believe in and sympathize with."

"Warren has brilliantly shown us the world of World War II America through the lives of three people who were not allowed to be a part of it," he concluded. "It's a play about trying to make life work, against incredible odds, and believing that things change, that things will get better."

Ensemble Theatre of Cincinnati's production of Warren Leight's James and Annie runs through March 30 at 1127 Vine Street. For tickets or more information, call 513421-3555 or go to www.cincyetc.com.

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