Red, White And Act

Linda Burton posting from Topeka, Kansas – “Acting is standing up naked and turning around very slowly.” That statement is attributed to Rosalind Russell; I found it on page 34 of my Sunday theater playbill. The actors I saw today were anything but naked – two men playing nineteen different roles with complete costume changes every few minutes. But it was “no holds barred” on the acting front as they switched back and forth between being old men and young, spiteful women and loving; women totin’ guns and men wearing tiaras; adding sagging breasts or bulging bellies or curly wigs and or ten-gallon hats as the role required. Was it a laugh-a-minute as Amber Windchime and Star Birdfeather paraded around? Did the audience roar when Arles Struvie or Thurston Wheelis took the stage? I was sharing a table; three lovely ladies who had season tickets were missing their fourth friend today, so I sat with Madelyn and Joy and Betty as we enjoyed cheese-scrambled eggs and apricot-topped sweet rolls before the house lights went down. Our seats were grand; the third tier up and pretty much centered; the house was packed. The two men who carried the production onstage were Dan Decker, acting in his 11^th show, and Thomas Hughes Jr, who has been performing here for the last 17 years. Backstage, the costume crew of eight stood on point, ready for the split-second costume changes; the sound and lighting and stage crew were on their toes; all volunteers. The play was Red, White & Tuna; the setting was the 4th of July in Tuna, Texas; and the reality was the Sunday brunch matinee at the oldest community dinner theater in the country. Its proper name is Topeka Civic Theatre & Academy, and its mission statement begins “Bringing our diverse community together…” » read more