Saginaw Art Museum closed and facing unknown future

The Saginaw Art Museum as seen from the back and its gardens

story and photo by Janet I. Martineau

Closed and for sale.

Those dreaded four words have plagued numerous businesses in Saginaw with the current nationwide economic downturn.

Now they may (MAY) claim one of its cultural gems -- the Saginaw Art Museum, 1126 N. Michigan.

“We’re caught in what I call a perfect storm,” says Sharill McNally, who became the board president last October. By this October, the historic structure which added two wings in 2002 will remain closed, as it now, and possibly even up for sale.

“We still want to be an entity in the town, just maybe in a different place, a smaller place,” says McNally, an associate with TSSF Architects Inc. of Saginaw. “The building is a drag and we want to sell it or rent it, lease it. We’ve already closed the doors due to our financial status, laid off all the staff except for our director, and in the next couple of months we are evaluating and looking at our options.

“I want to stress we are open to ideas, innovative ideas, on how to deal with this problem.” Now is the time, she says, for the community to step up to the plate if it sees the importance of an art museum in its midst. 

That perfect storm leading to the closed doors? 

Maintaing a stable board, paperwork not filed in time to apply for some grants, electric bills so high (upwards of $10,000 a month in the summer) and behind in payments that Consumers has sometimes cut off the power, an air conditioning unit that is kaput and has a projected $80,000 repair bill, a boiler needing upwards of $60,000 in maintenance and repairs, a leaking roof, money borrowed against an endowment, mortgage payments still due to the bank from its addition construction .. and the list goes on with some “hornet’s nest” issues McNally is not at liberty to discuss.

Close off the expansive windows, the board has been advised. Put in more refined zoned heating and cooling. But, McNally points out, that costs money; “money we do not have.”

“We are in a $4 million home we cannot afford,” says McNally, “especially in a community that is downsizing, endowments being hit (by the struggling economy), donations to us lagging.”

McNally says the museum needs $20,000 a month, “and that is the bare minimum,” to stay open; or $250,000 to $400,000 a year to really do the job right. Currently the endowment, she said fetches only $60,000 to $80,000 of that. 

She had hoped, in her presidency, to gradually build a sustainability with unusual programs and exhibits that would appeal to a wider audience, but time ran out with the overwhelming operational issues (which grants in general do not fund). McNally has a long history of community and board involvement.

One thing the board wants to preserve at all costs its the museum’s permanent collection, valued as high as the building itself. “We may have to sell it but that is a terrible road to go down. We are in talks with a couple of entities where we would be under their umbrella and retain control of the collection. Our goal is to save the collection; find a new location for it somewhere in Saginaw.”

One of its permanent collection pieces

The museum holds a collection of art and artifacts in excess of 2,500 pieces, spanning 4,500 years of art history -- and which require a consistent heating and cooling atmosphere. The oldest works in the collection include Etruscan artifacts and ceramics from Indonesia and the ancient Near East.

American and European pieces comprise the majority of the collection --  decorative arts, drawings, manuscripts, paintings, prints, sculpture and textiles from the 15th through 20th centuries. It also owns Asian, African, native American and Mexican folk art.

The museum also houses one of the major art reference libraries in the Great Lakes Bay Region -- more than 1,200 books, catalogues, and periodicals dealing with American, European, and Asian painting and sculpture; furniture and decorative arts; costume and textiles; prints, drawings, and photographs; and modern and contemporary art. 

A selection of subjects includes antiquities, architecture, art appreciation and criticism, art history and movements, arts and crafts, design and décor, drawing, graphic design, monographs, museum collections, oriental art, photography, sacred art, sculpture, and art from cultures and regions throughout the United States and the world.

The museum has a long history of financial struggles and has played brinksmanship many times. But, says McNally, “we can’t keep kicking it down the road.” 

The two-story center section of the complex was built in 1903 as a family home for lumber baron Clark Lombard Ring. It and its formal garden out back were designed by renowned New York City architect Charles Adams Platt in a Georgian Revival style.

 In 1946, Ring’s two grown daughters purchased the home and donated it to the  citizens of Saginaw for use as a museum. One of the daughters even donated money, artwork and leadership to the fledgling museum until her death in 1957.

In 1948, it opened it doors as the Saginaw Museum, housing both art and historical artifacts. When the Historical Society of Saginaw established the History Museum in 1967, the Saginaw Museum deaccessioned its historical items to them. Henceforth, the Saginaw Museum was called the Saginaw Art Museum.

Cramped for space as the years progressed, in 2000 the museum began an Art for All campaign to raise $7 million for the addition of an educational wing on the left side of the Ring Mansion and a large exhibition wing on the right side. At the same time a donor provided a $2 million endowment.

Both wings were downscaled in scope from plans when the Art for All campaign lagged and were built despite the fact the full funding for them was not raised, thus the remaining mortgage payments.

Should the Saginaw Art Museum indeed close, it would leave the Great Lakes Bay region devoid of what is considered a true art museum and one focused on fine art.

Chippewa Nature Center's Dennis Pilaske cuts a CD with three other nature folks

Dennis Pilaske in Concert

-- 2 pm Sunday, Aug. 19, Picking at the Pavilion at the Chippewa Nature Center, 400 S. Badour in Midland. In the Bus Pavilion at the east end of the main parking lot. Free. Bring your own seating.

-- 7pm Saturday, Aug. 25, Message from the Marsh series at Bay City State Recreation Area, 3582 State Park Drive in Bay City, Free but $10 state park pass required of all vehicles. Bring your ow seating (moves indoors in case of bad weather).

Dennis Pilaske at the Chippewa Nature Center River Overlook

story and photo by Janet I. Martineau

Nature “troubadour” Dennis Pilaske says he wrote his first song at age 5.

“Now I have about 20 or 25 I would play in front of people” -- which he often does in connection with his job as director of interpretation at Midland’s Chippewa Nature Center (see above Aug. 19 gig). 

Earlier this year, the Port Hope native broadened his scope when he and three other nature center guys released a CD titled “Good Four-tunes: Songs of Land, Wildlife and People from the Great Lakes.”

Joining Pilaske on it are Foster Brown, a historical/naturalist at Cleveland Metropark; Dan Best, a senior naturalist at Geauga Park District in Ohio, and Mark Szabo, a park interpreter at the Stony Creek Metropark Nature Center in southeast Michigan.

The CD contains 14 songs, all written and performed by the foursome. Pilaske will touch more than a few chords with mid-Michigan residents in his “Rivers Are Highways,” which mentions the Saginaw River and Green Point, and his “Forty to One” dealing with the making of maple syrup, which Chippewa does.

The other three men serve up such ditties as “Hoot Owl Blues,” “Gettin’ Ready (for the Winter),” “Where’s the Groundhog,” “Cloud Song,” “It Went the Otter Way” and “Leave ‘Em Alone.” And scat (yes that, in whimsical fashion).

On his three selections on it, Pilaske accompanies himself on acoustic guitars, bass and mandolin.

“Rivers,” he says, has a  nice waltz feel to it and he notes that the French Voyageur fur traders used big-haul canoes to navigate the river system as a way to build business like businesses  today use the semis on the interstate highway system. Its lyrics note the Frenchmen often traveled 50 miles a day, 60 strokes to a minute.

“A couple of the (14) songs deal with cultural history but most are about the natural world,” says Pilaske. “They’re also educational since they have what we call interpretation” -- like his “Forty to One,” how many gallons of gathered maple sap it takes to boil down and generate one gallon to pour on pancakes.

“And all the creatures that are sung about call the Great Lakes region home.”

The four men are members of Region 4 of the National Association for Interpretation, which encompasses Michigan, Ohio, Indian and Ontario. And while the CD is a first for  Region 4,  Pilaske says music always is a part of their conferences.

“The other three are friends, really good musicians,” he says. “Foster even has number of CDs out. When we had a regional workshop in Midland a couple of years ago the four of us did a session on using music in programs and came up with the idea of a joint CD.”

Thankfully, the Region 4 leaders said yes and paid for the making of the CD. The four performers donated their time and each submitted finished tracks recorded in their own locals. “Fortunately we all like the same genre of music, blues and folk, and like I said we were all familiar with each other’s stuff.”

Pilaske, who celebrated his 15th year at Chippewa in July, has two hopes for the album.

“We want people to use the songs and/or the CD  in their programs -- other nature centers, schools. It is with our blessing that the songs be shared (for free) for non-profit uses and giving us credit. 

“And I hope youngsters out there who play guitar, write songs, sing  take a listen and think ‘I never thought about writing a song or singing about that.’ Well, I  did and they can too.”

Pilaske also has written  about life on a farm, lumbering. “My way is to find a topic that I think  would be neat to have a song about. I tend to write the music first and then the lyrics."

“Good Four-tunes” is on sale the Chippewa Nature Center, priced at $15.95. And is also is available at http://nairegion4.weebly.com/good-four-tunes-cd.html for $15 plus $2 shipping (that site also includes a downloadable  mp3 of Pilaske’s “Rivers.”

Saginaw's First Congregational Church delves into live dramas, films and You Tube productions

story and photos by Janet I. Martineau

Coming soon in the city of Saginaw: a new community theater company, a new film series and a new recording studio.

All in the most unlikely of places.

First Congregational Church, 403 S. Jefferson -- founded 155 years ago and now in  what is called the Historic Cathedral District.

Rev. Todd Farley behind the Bradley House stage curtain

“We’re calling it The Phoenix Project,” says senior minister Todd Farley, noting that the struggling church hopes both it and the struggling city will “rise from the ashes” in the process.

Mainstream churches, he says, especially those in cities, are witnessing a decline in attendance so it is it time to find other ways to serve not only their parishioners but also their cities, in particular youths.

Thus First Congregational’s Bradley House fellowship hall will become the home for live theater productions, open mic performance nights and and the showing of films as well as a recording studio where youths can create performances to post on You Tube -- “a place for the celebration of the arts and music; a place to encourage the younger generation toward self-expression; a place for people of all faiths, all orientations, all economic levels.”

Farley comes well certified to lead such a transformation. He is a mime, trained in part by the famed Marcel Marceau himself, and founded and for 23 years toured the world with a mime and ministry program called Mimeistry International. He also has directed numerous plays, receiving a best director award in Grand Rapids. And he has taught theater at the college level.

The Phoenix Project carries a $700,000 price tag, Farley says. The majority of it, $500,000, is paying for a restoration/enhancement of the church’s  1929 Skinner pipe organ in the sanctuary. Another $120,000 is aimed at the Bradley House transformation, although it already has a stage and room to seat 150.

First up is a Sept. 22 celebration of the arts night, open to high school and college age poets, dancers, musicians, actors, “as diverse as possible -- maybe even a school band or choir.”

In November, the drama series kicks off with “Big Love,” a series of vignettes dealing with women’s rights issues. “We’ll have a two-weekend run, and it will be directed by Angie Noah, our Christian education director.

“We plan to stage a drama quarterly -- and  on any and every topic; avant garde, social awareness issues, no holds barred; allowing a safe place to see such plays and then have conversations about them.

And on Nov. 3 the film series will debut “although we have no films selected yet. We want to show one the first Saturday of every month. Documentaries or narratives; dealing with social issues like ‘Schindler’s List’ did, or ‘Amistad.’ We will find an expert on the topic of each film so a discussion, NOT argument,  can follow them too; maybe bring in its director or an actor if possible.”

Exterior of First Congregational Church in Saginaw

The films will show on a theater-size screen, he said. And the new lighting in Bradley, for the plays and You Tube productions, will feature LED lights which are low energy, he said, with 20 of them the equivalent of 200 old-style theater lights.

Farley hopes the recording studio end will be up and running in October, a place where youths can record their own songs, music, dance numbers, poetry readings on video  or CD, “dealing with their own issues.” 

At first the church will only provide one camera and a sound system for those recordings, he said. A switchboard for post production and more cameras to capture various angles  will hopefully get funded later.

Farley hopes the sanctuary also will be overhauled eventually  so it  can serve as an sanctuary/auditorium  for more classical style concerts and recordings “because the acoustics in there are phenomenal.”

“I want to stress the point that we feel we are not in any way competing with what the Temple or Pit and Balcony does. We’re small. Avant garde and dealing with social issues. Heavily aimed at high school age and college age youths.”

Needless to say, the church cannot afford a paid staff to tend to all the adult support needed on the plays, films, recordings and performance nights so Farley is looking for volunteers from the church and the community, and maybe even tapping into Delta College or Saginaw Valley State University students to serve as mentors.

A gift from a foundation, personal donations and the church’s own savings are footing the $700,000 bill, although all the funding is not yet complete, says Farley.

“Churches need to change the way they do church,” sums up Farley, “more post-Christian, if I dare say that; more service to the community. Kids are less religious these days. They are more about spirituality. At First Congregational we welcome that.

“God speaks from the pulpit yes, but also to people on the street, kids in classrooms. In mime, dance, drama and music we hear the voice of God in real, authentic and meaningful ways. We can, I believe, deliver meaning and ministry behind entertainment.”

SVSU's "Absurd Person Singular" a hilarious night at the theater

review by Janet I. Martineau
photo by Katrina Robinson

A capacity audience nearly laughed itself to death Tuesday night when Saginaw Valley State University opened its four-night run of “Absurd Person Singular.”

Quite an accomplishment given the fact it deals with such dark issues as infidelity, attempted suicide, depression, alcoholism, economic downturn, bullying, gossiping, and the ups and downs of friendship.

Jordan Stafford and Mykaela Hopps in an Act II scene

But guffaw we did...often with deep belly laughs in one of the funniest plays SVSU has produced. Probably because, as the woman next to me said, “It’s so real.”

Quite an accomplishment there too, given the fact “Absurd” is of the farce genre. It hovers delicately and beautifully  between the stark reality of our lives and being too broad in making light of it.

The 2 1/2 hours simply flew by as director Tommy Wedge and his six cast members totally delivered the goods in portraying three English couples suffering through through three Christmas parties (last, this and next). 

Act II, dealing with attempted suicide, was  one of the funniest farcical acts I’ve ever seen and the cast’s timing of it was impeccable. 

Presented in the snug Black Box Theater, every nuance and inflection is “in your face” from the actors ...  as well as the acrid smell of bug spray and even a drop of water from a kitchen sink encounter.

Mykaela Hopps delivers stony stares and chilling looks that could kill, and her silence and physicality in Act II gets funnier and funnier the longer it continues. Jordan Stafford’s  double takes are hilarious. Rustin Myers squints his eyes as if nearly blind when trying to read something and pushes his head backward when intimidating his wife.

Jessica Rockwell is a riot donning her rain gear, emptying her oversized galoshes of rain water, cleaning the oven, cowering when her hubby bellows. With Erica Tatum it is a bored and sarcastic roll of the eyes. And when David Ryan gets an electric jolt, his shakes never stop.

Part of the fun is to divert the eyes from the person or persons speaking, the focus of the action, and watch instead the silent actors reacting -- always in total character. Fun, too, is watching the audience members watching -- since this thrust stage puts them right across from you with the actors in between.

Simply put, there is more than the eye can often take in with this show since there are bits of business everywhere.

Physical antics and body English aside, the Alan Ayckbourn script also sports more than a few hilarious lines. “Sexual flying Dutchman” is one. A few others are  politically incorrect so we won’t repeat them. And when the Hopps character finally finds her “voice,” yikes!

A piece of advice if you go see the show -- DO NOT leave the theater during the two short intermissions. Watching the crew, director Wedge himself among them, is every bit as entertaining as they quickly transform the set since the three-scene show takes place in three dwellings. Washing machines are shoved out and ovens in. A huge dog crate replaces a storage cabinet. Christmas trees change. A huge kitchen island is shoved to the other end to serve as a work island.

And what is that set-changing crew wearing for this dark comedy....black stocking caps with Bah Humbug!  written on them.

A fun time at the theater, with a little bite to it for good measure, does not come come much better than this production.

SVSU opens challenging play "Absurd Person Singular" on July 10

“Absurd Person Singular”

SVSU Black Box Theatre

7:30pm Tuesday-Friday (July 10-13)

$10, ($7 seniors and students)

989-964-4261

by Janet I. Martineau

Three couples, three kitchens, three Christmas Eve parties...and as the plot thickens, the lower class duo of the trio rises to the top of an ever-evolving social status roster.

That, in a nutshell, is the plotline of “Absurd Person Singular,” a 1972 British play opening a four-night run Tuesday at Saginaw Valley State University.

“It has lots of layers,” says director Tommy Wedge of the Alan Ayckbourn play. “It is a farcical tragic comedy. I hope people who come and see it laugh hard and have a good time....but then have something to think about when they go home because a lot just doesn’t sit right.

“I think this is one of the hardest comedies (to stage) out there. And it is an ensemble work. There are six characters in this play and all six are lead roles. All the parts are equally challenging as the play explores their relationships to each other.”

From left,  Rustin Myers, Erica Tatum, David Ryan, Jessica Rockwell

Including the second act during which one of the characters speaks not a single word AND tries to end her life seven times “but the rest of the characters are so self-absorbed they don’t realize what she is doing.

"The second act is the most farcical act but the characters all take it  seriously. They are so busy trying to look happy that they forget to be happy.”

What the audience witnesses is “behind the scenes” dialogue. The actual Christmas parties are taking place offstage; the action is set is the kitchen, where the real dirt is dished up in “private.” 

And in a nod, perhaps, to Charles Dickens and “A Christmas Carol,” the time periods are Last Christmas, This Christmas and Next Christmas.

“Last Christmas” is set in the lower class home of Jane and Sidney Hopcrofts, who are anxiously giving a party for their bank manager and an architect neighbor and their wives. The Hopcrofts are played by SVSU seniors Jessica Rockwell and Rustin Myers.

“This Christmas” shifts to the kitchen of the architect and his wife, Geoffrey and Eva Jackson, in a flat menaced by their huge, psychotic dog George. The Jacksons are played by SVSU junior Jordan Stafford and sophomore Mykaela Hopps.

And in Next Christmas” the action moves to the upper class Victorian home of the  bank manager and his wife, Ronald and Marion Brewster-Wright, They are played by SVSU junior David Ryan and Erica Tatum, currently a student at Kirtland Community College but who will transfer to SVSU in the winter term. 

Each act, says Wedge, also has a huge ongoing joke in progress.

Challenges?

-- Wedge says all six actors have been strongly coached on speaking a proper British English dialect. 

-- Given the small space of SVSU’s Black Box Theater, the three very different kitchens will be more minimal than totally detailed. Since the play’s script does not assign years,  Wedge and crew are setting it in the 1990s.

-- The fine line that the show is a farce but not a farce, says Wedge. Rather than use the typical farce device of many doors opening and closing, he says, the playwright employs pauses as well as synchronizing off-stage party talk with the door that opens to the kitchen.

As for the title, Wedge advises not trying to make sense of it in light of the action. It has no connection to the play, he says, but instead was a stock title  Ayckbourn applied to it, plucked from an earlier abandoned play and before he had written a single word.

Saginaw's Castle Museum offers a summer of cultural 'trips'

by Janet I. Martineau

Travel costs and airport security issues leaving you unsettled about summer plans? 

How about the chance to visit China, Eastern Europe, Germany, Great Britain, French Canada and the Middle East -- all without leaving Saginaw and for the grand total of $14 if you include all the destinations.

Once again the Castle Museum of Saginaw County, 500 Federal, is offering a series of culture celebrations, starting Tuesday (June 19) and running through Aug. 16.

Each Tuesday and Thursday, at noon, it’s a different country. Most of the programs run an hour, for travelers who have daytime jobs. Each one, for $1 admission, includes a culturally-themed dessert and beverage (and because of that, reservations are required by calling 752-2861, ext. 315).

Following is the itinerary (with July 31/Aug. 2 TBA):

CHINA

Tuesday, June 19, tai chi instructor Jim Bush from Cloud Hands Michigan shares the history of tai chi, explains what it is and demonstrates some of the moves.

Thursday, June 21, participants of all ages will make their own dragon kite and learn about the significance of kites in Chinese culture.

Tom, Diane Bradley

EASTERN EUROPE

Tuesday, June 26,  Tom and Diane Bradley of Bannister will demonstrate Czechoslovakian polka music and dancing. The couple was recently inducted into the Michigan Polka Music Hall of Fame and has been teaching and performing for many  years.

Thursday, June 28,  Hoyt Library’s Linda Bryant will discuss the significance of Russian fairy tales and fables and introduce some of the most famous writers and stories. She will finish by reading a few of her favorite stories.

ISLAM/MIDDLE EAST

Tuesday, July 10, Dr. Waheed Akbar will  explain what Islam is in a lecture titled “Knowing Islam.” There also will be a small display of items reflecting Islamic culture.

Thursday, July 12, in an “Islam Sampler,” participants can visit “stations” and learn about Islamic art, music, food and henna tattoos.

GERMANY

Tuesday, July 17, During “Breweries in Saginaw: One Family’s Story,”  Bob Rosa will discuss his family’s history owning and operating some of the area’s breweries at the turn of the 20^th century.

Thursday, July 19 – To Be Announced.

FRENCH CANADA 

Tuesday, July 24, D.  Laurence Rogers will investigate “The Legend of Paul Bunyan.” Somewhere in the old St. Joseph Cemetery in Bay City lies the last remains of Fabian “Joe” Fournier -- a man whom many are  convinced inspired a major portion of the legendary figure Paul Bunyan. 

Rogers wrote the  book “Paul Bunyan: How a Terrible Timber Feller Became a Legend” in which he outlines his theory with enough evidence from many sources to present a convincing case.

The Saginaw Voyageurs

Thursday, July 26, The Saginaw Voyageurs is a living history re-enactment group sponsored by the Castle Museum. 

The members participate in a journey each summer tracing the routes of the original Voyageurs and fur traders of the Great Lakes as a way to promote an understanding and appreciation for the early Great Lakes fur trade, the life of the voyageurs, and the role Saginaw played as the fur trading center. 

Voyageur John Severs will talk about the group and what it does and where the group is going in early August as it prepares for its 27^th annual excursion.

GREAT BRITAIN

Tuesday, Aug. 7, the summer Olympics are in London this year, so in “The Olympics, Facts and Fun” participants will play a game related to the Olympics, hear a brief history of the Olympic Games, and test their knowledge on the flags and countries of the more than  200 nations that participate in the Olympics.

Thursday, Aug. 9, bring your own tea cup and enjoy a traditional British high tea. Great Britain native Maureen Jones, who now lives in Saginaw, will talk about tea time in Great Britain as one and all enjoys some delectable finger foods and a nice cup of tea.

CAJUN

Tuesday, Aug. 14, the owners of A Touch of Cajun in Saginaw will share some of their favorite foods and explain what Cajun cooking is all about.

Thursday, Aug. 16, a lively performance by the Saucecats, formed in the fall of 2001 by a group of seasoned musicians seeking to play New Orleans funk, zydeco, blues, Latin and Caribbean music.

Attention to details, strong acting enliven "Strange Snow" at SVSU

review by Janet I. Martineau

Details. Details. Details.

Oh my gosh they shine in SVSU’s production of “Strange Snow,” which opened Tuesday night in the Black Box Theatre.

Bloody knuckles and noses, upset stomachs,  the dirty hands and nails of a mechanic, an 1970s aura apartment filled with crap from that timeframe, soup poured from a pot and brewing coffee, a flower child dress, big eyeglass frames, cherry tomatoes...we could go on.

Rustin Myers, Cassidy Morey in a light-hearted moment

Bravo director David Rzeszutek, scenic designer Jerry Dennis and costume designer Elise Shannon for making this show live and breath with realism.

But, of course, plays are far more about their scrips and acting than about the window dressing.

And for the most part “Strange Snow,” playing through Friday night, delivers just as strongly there as well.

Written by Stephen Metcalfe, “Strange Snow” deals with two small-town, working-class buddies who served in Vietnam and lost their best buddy there. 

One lives with his school teacher sister now, and a romance is developing between her and her brother’s buddy -- much to the brother’s anger.

To be truthful this is not the strongest script in the world and reverts to one to many cliches about love and war and healing. But its three characters are despite that interesting people -- and played strongly by David Ryan as the overly enthusiastic and high energy Megs, Cassidy Morey as the shy sister, and Rustin Myers as the depressed, angry and alcohol-sodden brother.

It is such a joy to watch their emotion-filled faces in this small theater, to watch their body English, to observe them move with realism and comfort around the set with its kitchen, dining area and living room. These three are living their characters in full throttle, and we often notice our own faces are mirroring theirs as we get caught up in the humor, pathos and coming to terms progression of the play.


Their only glitch comes when the two men finally, in a heated exchange, reveal what it was that happened in Vietnam -- to them and to their buddy. The passion is rightfully intense here, but the words exchanged a little too fast and furious and less clearly enunciated for the audience to catch it all. 

Rzeszutek has set the play in Massachusetts to give his cast an exercise in a difficult accent. Morey is spot on with it  from start to finish, whether she is being coy and shy or raging at her brother in fed-up anger. She also is the one of the trio who shows the most movement in her character evolving and changing and it is delightful to watch the progression.

Myers is, frankly, rather scary. From the get go his David is like a coiled rattlesnake and we are not sure when he is going to strike, and at whom, and why. We just know that his character is oozing with something pent up and it makes us uncomfortable -- except for that one brief moment he teases his sister about her love life and she teases back. Nice performance all around although his accent comes and goes.

Ryan seems to have no accent at all, and struggles throughout with lines, but his Megs is an enjoyable high-energy yet gentle giant guy trying to bring some spark of life back into sullen David. But, we start to suspect, is that high-energy and enthusiasm hiding something as well. And when it erupts out of nowhere, we jump in our seat we are so startled.

Over the years we tend to judge the impact of a play on whether or not we give a rip about its characters beyond the ending of the play, Do we care what the next day, next year, next decade is like in their lives.

With these three characters, thanks more to the performances than the lines, we cared a lot.