PAGE 16 HIGH GEAR
Killing Sister George
by R. Woodward
"The Killing of Sister George". probably the most well-known lesbian play to date, is a study of power and role playing in interpersonal relationships. Ohio City Players will stage the play beginning Feb 29. at their 2600 Church Ave theater.
Refreshingly absent in the Frank Marcus comedy is any psychoanalytic jargon, there are no explanations of how the main characters became lesbians. Their sexual orientation is treated by the playwrite as something that simply exists, as an unremarkable fact of life about which he won't presume to comment.
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At the beginning of the play June Buckridge storms into her apartment and announces to her lover, Alice, that she is going to be murdered.
What she means is that the character she has been playing for six years in a popular radio serial may be written out of the
series.
Sister George, the character she has been playing. is the vigorous and tough minded district nurse, who ably serves the fictional English village of Applehurst (Sister" is what a nurse is called in England)
Jurie has become so involved in playing this character, who much of the listening public regards as a British institution, and has become so identified with her, that for years friends and associates have not called her anything but George.
Shortly after June's entrance. Mrs Mercy Croft arrives to reprimand June for having recently caused a scandal and chides her for just having left rehearsals in a huff Mrs. Croft, a big shot producer at the B.B.C.. is a widow with an apparently sweet and kind manner. She gives motherly advice on a popufar radio show called "Ask Mrs. Mercy".
While never stepping out of her role as a kind, maternal type. glowing with integrity, Mrs. Croft eventually informs June that George will be hit by a large truck and offers her the lead role in a new series for children called "The World of Clarabelle Cow."
Mrs. Mercy also manages to take Alice home to live with her. Randy Seligman, who is directing the Ohio City Players produc-
tion, says the most interesting thing he discovered in studying the play and in working with the actors is that there are so many different ways to play the roles. He discovered this, he says, as soon as the casting began. The actor he originally had in mind for the part of Alice is now cast as Mrs Mercy: Alice, June's lover, a passive character who lives by drifting with the moods of those around her, will be played less as a child-woman than Seligman originally expected
Seligman says that in developing interpretations of their own. the actors have shown themselves to be intelligent and
expert.
Seligman's cast consists of Katharine Wasil as June-George. Wendy Manfredi as Alice, Linda Berger as Mrs. Mercy, and Millie Stein as Madame Xenia, the professional spiritualist and card
reader who lives downstairs from June and Alice and always seems to have a young male "lodger."
"It's the most talented cast I've seen working in this theater for a long time." Seligman said.
"The Killing of Sister George" March 1 and Thursday through will be playing on Feb. 29 and Sunday of the two following weeks. Showtime is 8 p.m. For information and reservations call 621-4600..
Quicklime: From left to right, in the front row are John Well and Maggie Kole, in the
center row Gerry Keatingand Larry Bucklin, and in the back row Scott Martin and Helene Weinberg.
Quick comedy
by R. Woodward "Drumsticks," the latest show of the Cleveland comedy te am Quicklime (performing at the Elegant Hog Saloon) is a must see especially for those who want to see the stars of tomorrow
before they hit it big.
Quicklime's first show "Live. Chicken, Live" (reviewed in the August 1979 issue of HIGH GEAR) was a forerunner to this faster, more consistently funny show. The comedy talents of individual members of the group have grown stronger and more impressive.
Gay theatre encouraged in writing competition Larry Bucklin, master of many
The Glines and the Gay Theaphotocopy accompanied by a selftre Alliance are co-sponsoring addressed stamped envelope before National Gay Playwriting Conthe Mar 21 deadline to the Gar tes! The Glines, a non-profit organization for gay arts, which has been producing gay theatre in New York since 1976, and the Gay Theatre Alliance, an international organization founded in June 1978 to foster and promote gay theatre, have begun the contest to locate and encourage the writing of gay plays
To qualify for the competition. a play may be either full length or one act and must have a major gay character or major gay theme, it must not have been published or previously produced (excepting staged readings or workshop productions). The sponsors emphasize that they are particularly interested in receiving women's material.
Entries are limited to one play per author, musicals must be accompanied by a tape of the score. Deadline for receipt of entries is May 21, 1980. Entries will be judged by a nationwide panel of gay theatre experts. including Robert Patrick. Doric Wilson, Eric Bentley, and others. and winners will be announced June 29, 1980, coinciding with the conclusion of the National Gay Arts Festival being produced by The Glines.
The first prize in the contest is a cash award of $250. second prize is $100 and both plays will be considered for production by The Glines.
Theatre Alliance regional coordina for nearest them; (Northeast) Terry Helbing. S1 West 4th Street, Room 300, New York, NY, 16012; (Midwest) Richard Rehse, 307 West 5th Street #44, Minneapolis, MN 403; (Rocky Mountain) William
Wade, P.O. Box 18728, Denver, CO 80218; (Northwest) Allan Estes. 1115 Geary Blvd.. San Francisco, CA 94109; or (Southwest) Deborah Rose 1801 N. Kingslev, #206, Hol Iswood, CA 90027.
(The Glines is funded in part by the National Endowment for the Arts and the New York State Council on the Arts.)
Directory of gay plays
JH Press, a new gay theatre the present and are from all over publishing company, has just the world. Organized alphabetipublished its first book, the Gay cally by title, each listing conTheatre Alliance Directory of tains detailed information on Gay Plays, The book contains title, author, type (drama. comprehensive listings on some comedy, etc.), number of acts, 400 plays of interest to lesbians number of male and/or female and gay men both produced characters, number of interior and unproduced, published and and exterior settings, plot synopunpublished with major 'gay sis, location and date of first procharacters or predominant gay duction (if produced), book title. themes. (Cont'd on page 17)
.
Plays listed date from 1660 10
Women Hold Variety Show
The Fifth Annual Variety Show. for women only, will be presented on February 22 and 23 by Oven Productions. The Church of the Redeemer, 2420 Taylor Road is the-site of this year's pageant.
Created by and for women, the gala affair features a ballet, a roller skating act, a stirring rendition of the Star Spangled Banner, and as usual, a surprise opening
number.
To submit a play, playwrights. A continuation of a soap opera should send one original or ur egun three years ago. "Days of
Our Dykes", will be included in the show, as well as a fifties medley, and an off-beat translation of "Fascinatin' Rhythem".
The Friday show begins at 9 P.M. and the Saturday show at 8:30 PM. Tickets, available at Coventry Books, the Free Clinic. the Rape Crisis Center. Tish's Shoe.Repair and Emporium, the Tenth Muse (in Kent), and at the door, are $5.00 per person. For free child care call 321-1587. A party will follow the close of the variety show on Saturday,
voices, shifts effortlessly from one entirely persuasive characterization to another in several memorable pieces. In one skit, he spoofs live radio melodrama. In another, he portrays Tex Bitter, a character from early morning television. Clad in a cowboy hat and silken shorts, he demonstrates buttock and breast exercises.
John Weil and Maggie Kole are alert and disciplined players who work well in ensemble. Weil, who founded Quicklime, also directs its shows.
Kole displays particularly fine timing in a routine in which she and Gerry Keating portray dancers demonstrating a new dance called "The Assault and Battery".
One of the most enjoyable pieces of the show is called "WGAR's 'Open House: August 10, 1941," a depiction of a radio variety program from the early 1940's. The "Drumsticks audience is presumed to be the audience of a live radio broadcast.
In this presentation all six Quicklime players take part, and the viewer is given the opportunity to admire the group's finetuned, cohesive playing.
The radio presentation comes to an exciting climax when the group sings "Euclid Avenue". words and music written by Scott lime who also plays the radio Martin, a new member of Quickprogram's piano accompani ment
Quicklime performs on Thursdays, Fridays, and Saturdays at 8 p.m. There have been sellout crowds on Fridays and Saturdays: call early in the week for reservations or come down to see the show ureday For reservado. 3999