A Fascinating Performance of Ghost Light

Christopher Liam Moore and Bill Geisslinger

This is a drama about the psychological impact the assassination had on Moscone's then 14-year-old son and the man he would become. This is a fascinating piece of theatre that bequeaths the audience with the gift of a knowledgeable and carefully written script. The dialogue is full of sardonic wit through the character playing Jonathan Moscone (Christopher Liam Moore), since he doesn't take himself seriously. The production is attractively staged.

Jonathan is a theatre director and acting teacher (in several scenes the house lights are turned on as the audience becomes his classroom of students). He is struggling with how to stage the appearance of the ghost of Hamlet's father and he grapples with emergent ghosts as some kind of celestial soldier called Mister (Peter Macon), a maniacal appearance of Jon's grandfather who was a guard at San Quentin prison (Bill Geisslinger). The apparition attempts to haul Jon out by the scruff of his subconscious into cognizance and recognition of the pain of his past. He finally gets Jon to acknowledge, "I am the son of the father."

The two and a half hour drama opens with Jon as a 14-year-old ((Tyler James Myers) hearing the news of the assassination. We witness his emotional flattening by the bombastic broadcast news. The young lad's performance is critical to appreciating Jon as an adult who is properly unemotional. He is one troubled adult who tries to find love. The only thing standing between Jon and the void is his best friend Louise (Robynn Rodriquez) and the theatre, which is his whole realistic life. However, Jon's increasingly agitated dream life is starting to get the better of his real life.

There are many awesome scenes, where the young man clings desperately to his father's casket or wrestles against the will and wishes of the manifested spirit guide. There are talks about dramaturgy, booze, dreams, politics, gay culture and "ugga-bugga" (Jon's word for theatrical cant). There is a wonderful scene in the second act where the adult Jon meets for the first time a man he has been "talking" to on an Internet gay site.

Tony Taccone directs, and he has assembled a superb cast of actors mostly from the Oregon Shakespeare Company. Christopher Liam Moore gives an exceedingly good performance as the adult Jon. His wittiness, intelligence and compassion create a multifaceted and compelling character. The supporting cast is equally excellent. Tyler James Myers does a satisfactory job as the emotionally adrift 14-year-old Jon. Bill Geisslinger and Peter Macon are commanding in their roles of the prison guard and Mister. Danforth Comins gives a sensual portrayal of Jon's (possibly imaginary) boyfriend Lover Boy. Robynn Rodriguez brings humor and lucidity to Louise. Peter Frechette is properly fey as the film director, and Ted Deasy gives a terrific performance as the Internet date in the bar scene. Isaac Kosydar and Sarita Ocon are first rate in various roles.

Set designer Todd Rosenthal provides a marvelous flat set with the whole back wall of the three-sided stage a ghostly image of the San Francisco City Hall and the Civic Center neighborhood of San Francisco. The video projections of the assassination by Maya Ciarrocchi on several small TV sets and a wooden coffin directly in front of the ghost-like flat set add to the eerie feeling. Taccone keeps the production smart and avoids schmaltziness, even with all the emotion.

I have been told that the drama ran longer at the Oregon Shakespeare Festival and that changes have been made. However, Ghost Light still could use trimming in the first act since the ethereal aspects do not connect as well as the realistic part. However, the second act does clear up some of the problems of the overly long first act. This is a sharp and consistent second act with a powerful ending.

Ghost Light runs through February 19th at Berkeley Rep Trust Stage, 2025 Addison Street, Berkeley. For tickets call 510-647-2949 or toll free at 888-4BRT-Tix or visit www.berkeleyrep.org. Berkeley Repertory Company next production will be Moliere's A Doctor In Spite of Himself opening in previews on February 10 and running through February 25th.

Photo: Jenny Graham

A Provocative Production of Mark Jackson's God's Plot

Mark Jackson has written some remarkable plays, such as The Companion Piece and adaptations of Kafka's The Metamorphosis and Mary Stuart. His current collaboration with Berkeley's Shotgun Players is the semi-musical God's Plot playing a world premiere production at the Ashby Stage through January 29th. Its subtitle would be "Art and Politics: a Love Story," as it is a collision course between art and politics that started back in the Virginia Colony when the first theatrical performance of "Ye Bare and Ye Cubb" by William Darby was held in 1665. This was a political satire that took aim at King Charles II of England; at that time speaking against the crown could be deadly.

God's Plot is an intriguing play performed here by an impressive cast. With a little tightening in the first act and the pacing a tad quicker this could be produced at other regional theatres or Off-Broadway. The focus is on a little known chapter in American history. The Virginia farmers were being outwitted by London businessmen and they believed that they were being made penniless to enhance the few. So a farce was written by William Darby that would cause him and actors to be accused of treason. It does sound familiar today, with the Occupy Wall Street movement.

William Darby (Carl Holvick-Thomas), aka George Derby, is living in the Virginia colony under an assumed name after fleeing indentured bondage for being an actor in Cromwell's depressing England. He now is serving as a scrivener and tutor. The settlement is under a strict code of Puritanical acceptable behavior. The citizens must hew to strict moral and religious codes. Speaking one's mind is a crime and being a Quaker or any other religion is grounds for hanging. There is "devil's work" going on, like fornication or having a baby out of wedlock, in this colony. If found out, those people will be burned alive just like their Salem counterparts.

William tutors Tryal Pore (Juliana Lustenader), a questioning impertinent young lady who likes her teacher very much. He also likes the young lady, but he must keep their attraction secret since the colony officials will see "devil's work" between the two. There are other subplots going on, such as Quaker Edward Martin (John Mercer) hiding in the shadows, and tobacco farmer Cornelius Watkins (Anthony Nemirovsky) outplaying his hold with a bad loan, going bankrupt and losing his land to a hardheaded carpenter Daniel Prichard (Joe Salazar). There is the steadfast sheriff John Fawsett (David Maier) who keeps a blind eye on what would disrupt the peace like drinking on the Sabbath.

Unfair trade laws are imposed by the Crown so William decides to write a satirical play in which a mother bear greedily refuses to share honey with its cub. The play is performed in a local tavern run by Thomas Fowkes (Daniel Bruno). The skit is a hit with the locals, but the secret Quaker is offended that this secular entertainment is performed on the Sabbath. The Crown also believes that the play is a blasphemy against King Charles II, and trial is set with a judge (John Mercer) from nearby Jamestown to determine if the play is blasphemous. The local magistrate Captain Edmond Pore (Kevin Clarke) presides over the trial for treason against William and the actors of the farce. One can equate this trial as a forerunning of the infamous un-American trials of the '50s.

God's Plot is a musical with two musicians, upright bassist Travis Kindred and banjo player Josh Pollock, on stage at all times providing a series of appealing songs in an Appalachian/Weill vein by Daveen DiGiacomo. These are lustrously sung by Juliana Lustenader as internal soliloquies defining her character as the play's true provocateur and conscience.

The dialogue is a mixture of antiquated and modern language to great witty effect, and the characters alternate from extreme libidinous to abject repentance. The cast is extraordinary, with Juliana Lustenader perfectly playing the role of Tryal with enthusiasm and showing a sensual and courageous creature of a character. She has a wonderful deep voice when singing.

Carl Holvick-Thomas is excellent as William Darby and has a commanding strong voice in the winding monologues, especially in the postlogue of the play. British actor John Mercer gives a commutated performance as the Quaker Edward Martin and the High Judge from Jamestown Major Cross. Kevin Clark and Fontana Butterfield give pleasing performances as the foppish patriarch Edmond Pore and his smugly complacent wife. Anthony Nemirovsky as the mischievous tobacco farmer is the excellent comic relief of the drama. Joe Salazar gives an ingratiating portrayal of the upstanding carpenter Daniel Prichard. Will Hand as sheriff John Fawsett, David Bruno as the tavern owner Thomas Fowkes, and the insouciant Philip Howard give enticing performances.

Set designer Nina Ball has devised a simple impressive set consisting of a few chairs, a couple bales of hay and a 4 x 5 foot rolling platform to suggest everything from a barn to a courtroom to a river. There is a huge stained glass window high above the three-sided stage in shape of a cross.

God's Plot run through January 29th at the Ashby Stage, 1901 Ashby Ave. Berkeley. For tickets go to 510-841-6500 or visit www.shotgunplayers.org Their next production will be Tom Stoppard's The Coast of Utopia opening on March 14th and running through April 15.

A Hilarious Word for Word Production of Food Stories: "Pleasure is pleasure"

The Word for Word Company is one of the few theatre company that present the complete written word of stories by famous and modern authors. Their mission is to tell great stories through elegant theatrical stage performances of classic and contemporary faction, and they believe in the power of the short story. This year the company turns to food, appetite and pleasure from two great writers, satirist T.C. Boyle with Sorry Fugu and award-winning Alice McDermott with Enough.

Sorry Fugu is a wicked look at restaurants and critics. The dreaded Willia Frank (Molly Benson), a critic terrible, is coming to the restaurant of Italian chef Albert D'Angelo (Soren Oliver) in Los Angeles. The critic must come to the restaurant three separate times before she can review the food for her paper. Albert believes himself to be "potentially one of the greatest culinary artists." He is determined to win over the most feared critic out there. Disaster occurs during the first two visits by the hard nose critic.

However, on the third visit, Albert distracts her boorish boyfriend who knows nothing about food with burned steak and boiled peas—"shanty Irish food," the chef calls it—and he baits Willia into his kitchen for a supreme culinary seduction. She tumbles to his taglierini alla pizzaiola and admits that she was reflecting her boyfriend's taste. She finally admits "To like something, to really like it and come out and say so, is taking a terrible risk. I mean, what if I'm wrong? What if it's really no good?"

Sorry Fugu has wonderful comic moments and great zingers, and director John Fisher and the cast playfully enrich them with a comic flair. Soren Oliver as Albert d'Angelo the chef-owner of the restaurant gives a charismatic over the top performance. He is reminiscent of the late wonderful Zero Mostel as he bounces around the striking detailed restaurant kitchen set by Mikiko Uesugi. Delia MacDougall is wonderful playing his assistant. Molly Benson as the critic Willa Frank is entrancing with a voice like Judy Holiday. Rudy Guerrero, Patricia Silver and Gendell Hernandez zing up the action with piercing, keen cameos and kitchen sambas and Irish jigs.

The second half of the evening is a beautiful 25-minute acting piece on Alice McDermott's Enough. It's a picture of one woman's life from the 1930s to the present, the story of the indispensable value of simple desires ice cream and sex. On visits to her out of state sons' and grandsons' home she'd get up in the night, stand by the light of the refrigerator and take a few tablespoons from a gallon of ice cream or a single ice cream bar.

Delia MacDougall exemplifies the character with enthralling virtuousness as a girl and a young woman with a voracious appetite for ice cream and, later, men. The family calls it "trouble with the couch." Patricia Silver plays the role of the woman in her senior years with her elderly husband played by Soren Oliver; she has many children and grandchildren who visit her on Sundays. She plays these roles with charm, especially when she raids the refrigerator late in the night. She consumes the ice cream as if she is taking heroin, licking every drop from the bowl. The rest of the cast nicely fills the numerous family roles.

The humor in Enough is calm and less satiric. It is a lovely chamber piece.

Food Stories plays through February 5th at Z Space at Theatre Artaud, 450 Florida Street, San Francisco. Tickets at www.brownpapertickets.com or 800-838-3006.

Cheers - and be sure to Check the lineup of great shows this season in the San Francisco area

- Richard Connema