Mar
Theatre Review: “Apartment 3A” presented by Our Town Players
Friday night I returned to Franklin, just southeast of Indy, to see the Our Town Players’ presentation of ”Apartment 3A,” by Jeff Daniels. It was directed by Jim Lamonte and produced by Kathy Stokes. This time I arrived in plenty of time to see the whole show.
I felt so relaxed! I already knew that I would admire the show and because of that, I already knew that it would be relatively easy to write about. I didn’t even take any notes until I was back in my car afterwards. Hmm. Maybe I should handle all of my review assignments this way: see the second half first and then go back another night to see the whole thing. (Hah! Who has the time?!)
Anyway, this show, seen in its entirety, is sweeter than I expected. Yet it is not candy, after all. It is meat. Or bread, or rice, or whatever you think of as a staple food. It is about love and spirituality as well as sex and laughs.
Annie (Molly Bellner) has just left her boyfriend and needs a new place to live in a hurry. She agrees to rent apartment 3A even though it is very plain and its window overlooks a slum. As soon as the building super (Dennis Forkel) leaves, she slumps to the floor in tears.
Her neighbor across the hall, Donald (Doug Powers), lets himself in “because the door was unlocked” and ignores Annie’s requests to be left alone. He offers to cook her dinner. He does not take “no” for an answer.
As Annie and Donald are getting to know each other, the scene changes to Annie’s job at the public radio station. Annie and her co-worker, Elliot (Jeremy Tuterow) are in the middle of a fundraising drive. You have to be passionate if you’re in public television, and Annie is. This is what Elliot loves about her. Unfortunately, Annie is not interested in him beyond friendship.
Annie gets an idea in the middle of a broadcast and runs with it. Soon the phones are ringing off the hook because Annie said that Big Bird would die if people didn’t call in to pledge. When it looks as if Annie will lose her job over this, Elliot shows his love for her by saying that the snafu was his idea.
Donald is firmly married, and warns Annie not to fall in love with him. She laughs at the very idea (so you know, of course, that she will.) Meanwhile, Annie goes out with Elliot just to be nice. They end up discovering that they are worlds apart spiritually but perfectly suited for each other in bed.
In fact, Elliot calls their sex “miraculous.” Not only do they…you know…at the same time, which is almost unheard of for a first time, but Annie says she stopped counting her orgasms after she got to ten.
When I heard about the double-digit orgasms, I checked my program: yup, this play was written by a man. Ten orgasms in a row? Please. But so what? A miracle is a miracle. I agree with Eliot: it is worth thanking God.
Annie is not so sure. She wasn’t thinking about Elliot at the time.
All of this sounds like your basic love triangle, I know, but the twist ending is just marvelous. I was a little disturbed by the fact that neither man respects Annie when she asks them to back off. I know a lot of women who have worked hard to establish that “no” means “no.” But I loved the two men anyway, and I loved the ending anyway.
Bellner is delicious as the strong yet vulnerable Annie. Powers is angelic as the strong and very kind Donald. Tuterow just made me melt as the geeky, easily-overlooked “nice guy” who ends up being strongest of all and who is willing to growl like a polar bear if that is what it takes because he knows very clearly whom he loves. The three of them together have wonderfully believable chemistry, and their control over the fast-paced conversations is excellent.
Tim Latimer plays Tony, the producer at the television station. The scene where he is yelling at Annie for “killing Big Bird” and she is yelling back in her own defense is hilarious and exhausting.
Dennis Forkel skillfully rounds out the cast as Dal, the amiable building super.
The bi-level set, designed by Mike Jones and lit by Jim Lamonte, is very simple but lovely: French’s mustard yellow walls bookend a brick wall. There is a versatile window. A plain chest of drawers. A “log” table and chairs. I loved that the scenes and settings flow in and out of each other seamlessly, aided by Molly’s scarf (worn at the TV station) or her sweater (worn at the apartment.) The program does not list a costume designer, so I assume the actors dressed themselves with the director’s help.
Some of the light cues seemed abruptly executed, but I think that might have been a characteristic of the venue rather than the fault of the lights operator.
This show closed this afternoon, but the next OTP show will be Shakespeare’s “Taming of the Shrew,” directed by Joe Cook, May 9-18. Please visit the Our Town Players website (www.ourtownplayers.net) for more info.
Hope Baugh – www.indytheatrehabit.com
