A quick apology for an omission (or two)

No review of the Golden Boys’ show with guest star Tatah Dujour is complete without appreciative mention of the charm, talent (and legs) of Tatah’s sidekick and pick up gal (as I think the character’s called in the strip tease biz), Frenchie, aka Shawna Lacy Wynd. She is a superb mime, doesn’t look bad with a moustache, and when she bends over straight-legged back-to-audience . . . well, you can see for yourself when Red Rooster Review returns to Kelly’s. Stay tuned.

Also, although the use of the term ”kids” is probably minimally appropriate here, H2S2 (Home School High School) deserves substantial praise for accomplishments displayed in the recent photography show at the Florida Keys Community College library. Hooray for Daisy Murtha for color, Lena Wray for a good eye, Joe Merrit – damn, it would be helpful if I could read my notes, but since I arrived only to return a book due and was surprised and delighted by the exhibit but unprepared to do a review the notes are scribbled on a crumpled paper napkin. Suffice to say congratulations for fine work to Cecily Symington, Julie Hi, Kent Cooke, Robert Fowler (in collaboration with Lynne Bentley-Kemp, FKCC’s gifted former professor of photography), Kyle Galvez, Daniel Andrews, Andrew Lujan, Josh Bryant, Jason Washington and Zyssa Morales.

The creative and intellectual potential of an alternative high school based on a college campus are mind-blowing. Keep up the good work!

Wild Memories of a Recent One Night Stand

It takes courage – or maybe just insanity – to attempt to produce five high-quality, fully-realized (set, costume, props, make-up, full tech, etc.) short plays in 24 hours, from announcement of the obligatory first and last lines to the assembled playwrights, actors, sponsors, et. al., to the first curtain up, but Studios of Key West damn near managed – again.

The range of quality was narrower this year, I think, benefiting from previous experience: best realized were “High Times” by Nan Klingener and Mark Heddon, winner of the Spirit Award (?) and “Toast-o-matic” -- Jolly Benson and Nick Vagnoni’s trailer-trash-gay-zombie hoot that won “the trifecta” – best script, direction/acting and set (director Chris Schultz, actors Mark Crow, Robin Deck, Quincy Perkins and Shawna Wynd, set by TSKW’s current artist-in-residence Michael Hawkins). “High Times” featured Carolyn Cooper, Cricket Desmarais (due to give birth any minute – for her sake, I hope she has, by now),Tony Konrath and Mike Mongo, with a great cargo airplane interior set by Rick Worth and Paul Stanford. The co-pilot was a blow-up doll. Loved that. But Konrath was an unlikely rogue impregnator; the casting went wrong there.

Michael McCabe’s Pirandello homage “There’s Got to Be a Play Here Somewhere, or Waiting for Terrence McNally” was beyond the pale – rather than Six Characters in Search of an Author it was one critic in search of a ladies’ room. (And what was with actors reading from the script?) McCabe is a wonderful singer and actor and a good columnist. He should quit while he’s ahead.

In addition, only one show, George Murphy’s noir drama, “The Moose Says We’re Even,” served up a disappointing ending– but probably because the prescribed final line (“That’s not what I had in mind”) lent itself to disappointment, even if it seemed against Pearl’s character. Oh, well. Acting (Kristi Davis, Richard Hatch, Bonnie Ripin), set (Anja Marais and Rudy Repenning) and direction (Rebecca Tomlinson) were fine, although I totally failed to obtain the bar the set required, and thank heaven for Rebecca’s memory and the Red Barn. (The obligatory first line, by the way, was “Reginald! They told me you were dead!” Uncle George Fontana, my colleague critic, won the prize for that one, although at this writing he didn’t know what the prize was: maybe the satisfaction of hearing it at least five times Saturday night.)

Full disclosure: as an admirer of the project, when I stopped by to get a ticket last week and was kindly awarded a press pass by the winsome TSKW projects and marketing coordinator Elena Devers (no slouch actor herself), Devers said they needed someone to run around Saturday collecting costumes and props. Thinking it sounded like a fun scavanger hunt, I impulsively volunteered. Having recovered from the exhaustion and (even semi-conscious) enjoyed the show immensely, I won’t say it was a totally insane effort. For one thing, I was pretty successful, even after set pieces were added to the mix – you have no idea how difficult it can be to find a kiddy pool for sale in August. But it is simply not a one-person job.

Thank goodness I know a lot of people, among them Joyce Stahl, a judge of the event -- others were the Citizen’s Terry Schmida and actor-director-fitness guru Mike Mulligan. Stahl’s home is repository not only of her supply of ballet costumes (the Key West Nutcracker plus) but the old Founders collection as well. Thanks and blessings to Joyce! I also have honorary kids in their childrearing years, hence the kiddy pool: Rachel Martinez, I love you – you saved my ass, and did it all the way from your belly-dancing workshop in Miami!

Up and Coming

Next up (maybe) will be a round-up of walks, strolls, howls, et al drawing locals and visitors alike to once-a-month evenings of fine and decorative and occasionally culinary arts. Or maybe it will be a critique of the art of politics.

Final notes

Catch the red-headed fox and me and most of the local usual suspects, poetry-wise, at La te da the early evening of September 3 (starting 5:30 p.m., I think) for the Womenfest/Robert Frost reading and open mic . . . . The delightful, often hilarious Sunday night movies at the Oldest House have been suspended till season heats up – with the future mix including all-time hit musicals (Bye Bye Birdie, Hair, Cabaret, West Side Story), classic science fiction (Dune, Star Trek, Close Encounters of the Third Kind, Mad Max), plus foreign film genius and holiday classics.