Mysteries both dark and comic lurk in “Birnham Woods”
Wendy MacLeod’s new play showcased at Key City Playhouse
How much would you risk for a chance at excitement? Restless
college professor Janice and her husband Malcolm find themselves
slipping down a dangerous slope in Wendy MacLeod’s play
Birnham Woods, the second
mainstage show of Key City Public Theatre’s 2009 season. The
production opens Friday, April 10 at Key City Playhouse and is
generously sponsored by Sport Townsend.
Set in a small Indiana town, “Birnham Woods” finds the bored
intellectual Janice waiting for something—anything—to happen.
When handsome colleague Kevin invites her husband to do some
lucrative consulting for a mysterious organization, Janice urges
the reluctant Malcolm to seize the chance. “It is no mean feat
to have achieved a comfortable life,” objects Malcolm, “and you
want to throw it all away!”
While the play explores dark adult themes, the dialogue is
peppered with wit. “Do we even like these people?”
Malcolm asks Janice, referring to their dinner guests. Janice
replies, “It doesn’t matter whether we like them or not. They’re
our friends.” Later, the mysterious Kevin warns Malcolm
that “The woman you married is not necessarily the woman you’re
married to.”
Two couples (from left, Heather Poulsen, David Wayne Johnson, Beth McHugh, and Mark Cherniak)
attend a dinner party which spawns an Orwellian web of temptation and deceit in “Birnham Woods,”
a new play by Wendy MacLeod running April 10-May 2 at Key City Playhouse.
Photo by Eligius Wolodkewitsch.
Playwright Wendy MacLeod, who will attend the play’s opening
weekend, has seen her works premiered at The Seattle Rep, The
Goodman Theater in Chicago, and Playwrights Horizons in New
York. MacLeod’s “The Water Children” was called “the most
challenging political play of 1998” by L.A. Weekly. Her play
“The House of Yes” became an award-winning Miramax film starring
Parker Posey and earned a Special Jury Award at Sundance.
While in Port Townsend, MacLeod will also conduct
playwriting workshops on Saturday and Sunday, April 11 and
12. (Read
more about the workshops...)
The ensemble cast features Mark Cherniak, Beth McHugh, David
Wayne Johnson, Heather Poulsen and nine-year old Iain Coates. Cherniak has appeared at the Key City Playhouse in “Crimes of
the Heart.” McHugh’s most recent Port Townsend role was in “The
Hot L Baltimore” at the Oracle Theater. Johnson has just
completed his run in “Shining City” at The Paradise Theatre
School. Poulsen directed last season’s musical “Working” for
KCPT. Young Coates has studied improvisation with Joey Pipia and
will appear next in “Charlotte’s Web” at Mountain View School.
Can Janice balance her own ambitions
with the safety of her family?
Janice is played by Beth McHugh
and The Boy by Ian Coates
in “Birnham Woods."
Photo by Eligius Wolodkewitsch.
Director Denise Winter comments, “Wendy MacLeod has skillfully created a world in which everyday people are lured to their darker instincts. The play makes allusions to “Macbeth” and, like Shakespeare’s classic, dramatizes how ambition can seduce people into a deepening cycle of evil.”
“I am in blood stepped in so far that should I wade no more,
Returning were as tedious as to go o’er.” - Macbeth 3.4
Performances run April 10-May 2, Thursdays at 7 p.m., Fridays
and Saturdays at 8 p.m., and Sundays at 2:30 p.m. General
admission is $15; $10 for students.
For the pay-what-you-wish performance on Thurs., April 16,
advance tickets are available at full price and donations are
accepted at the door for the remaining seats on a first-come,
first-serve basis. This evening is sponsored by the Port
Townsend Arts Commission to encourage accessibility to quality
live theatre for and by the community.
Informal “AfterWords” discussions with members of the cast and
artistic staff will follow all Thursday and Sunday performances.
The playwright will attend a post-performance Q&A on Friday and
Sunday of opening weekend.
Advance ticket sales are handled by Quimper Sound Music and
Media, 230 Taylor St., Port Townsend; 360-385-2454. FLEXpass
vouchers and gift passes may be exchanged for tickets at Quimper
Sound.
Key City Playhouse is located
at 419 Washington St., Port Townsend. For more information, call
the KCPT show info line at 360-385-7396 or visit the
Birnham Woods show page.