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"OPEN HOUSE" Press |
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Mainstage is an 'Open' book Local theater to premiere a new musical
comedy about a local theater “Open House” is an original musical comedy written by Rick Vale that will have its world premiere at 7:30 p.m. Thursday at the theater on Ninth Street between Jackson and Brown-Delaware. “It’s a play within a play within a play,” said Vale, composer-lyricist and the senior pastor at Central Christian Church in Anderson. “What I’ve been telling people is, this is the premise, not the story,” Vale said. “The story is somewhat of a surprise.” In “Open House,” a local theater in “Henderson, Indiana” runs out of money and must resort to drastic measures. “The board decides to renovate the stage as a condo and rent it out to a family,” Vale said. “In their contract, it stipulates that they must live their lives from 7:30 to 9:30 on the weekends, in front of an audience. As long as whatever they do sells tickets, then they don’t have to pay rent. “The theater helps them, hires a band to play and underscore their dialogue. There are neighbors, and there’s conflicts within the chairman of the board, whose idea this was. She happens to be a real estate agent.” Vale added that the audience watching the play becomes part of the plot, as the audience in the play. “It’s done in real time,” Vale said, “because the audience is real and there’s no ‘fourth wall.’” Then-chairman of the theater board, Julia Dotson, commissioned the work from Vale in 2006, for this year’s 50th anniversary. “Other people have said, ‘I have an idea for a play,’ but they don’t often get that far,” Dotson said. “They have the idea, but it’s bringing it to the stage that’s the accomplishment. And I had no doubts that Rick could do it. He amazes me.” Dotson also plays the maid for the family, alongside other cast members Julie Dutcher, Eddie Franklin, Rhonda Tinch-Mize, Alyssa Williams, Karen Sipes, David Whicker, Martin Stapleton, Janeen Flanigan, Butch Copeland and Denise Hummer. Hummer and Copeland come into the play in the second act, which is a Sunday morning. The family finds out, to its shock, that the theater has also been rented out on Sundays to the congregation of The Seed of Abraham Holiness Power and Life Community of Faith Church. Hummer, known as “The Singing Nurse” from Community Hospital, and Copeland play the pastor and his wife. And that band mentioned earlier? It’s called Bi-Polar Disorder, and it’s made up of Schuyler Brinson, keyboard; Cameron Vale, guitar, and Rick Vale, keyboard. Also, Indianapolis-Based 3 O’Clock Productions will record the show for a DVD, which Vale will send out to interested producers in other states, including New York and California. “(Some producers) want to see the script already,” Vale said, adding that “Open House,” being a simple production, would be perfect choice for community theaters. “I kind of designed it so that almost anybody could do it.” If companies do want to perform “Open House,” the royalties will go, not only to Vale, but also to Mainstage. “It’s a pretty easy show, and it’s outrageously comedic.” |
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Review:
‘House’ is best of Mainstage’s season If you go |
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