Curtain call

Williamston finds eerie magic in ‘Frankenstein’ supplement

The relationship between Williamston Theatre and playwright Joseph Zettelmaier is so pleasantly symbiotic that it must have been created in a laboratory. Zettelmaier writes audience-pleasing plays that are enhanced by the quality of production and casting at which Williamston excels.

This tradition continues with is current production, the world premiere of “The Gravedigger: A Frankenstein Story.” While the script fails to dig deeply into the original novel’s darker themes, it is a sweet Halloween treat. “The Gravedigger” is Zettelmaier’s imagined “Chapter 23” of Mary Shelley’s classic, “Frankenstein.” It takes place during a gap of time in the original novel, after the monster has killed all of Victor Frankenstein’s friends and family, but before the two embark on their epic chase to the North Pole.

In Zettelmaier’s vision, during this time the monster (Alex Leydenfrost) returns to Ingolstadt, the place of his “birth,” with the intention of dying. Instead, he finds friendship with isolated gravedigger Kurt (Mark Colson). He also takes the name Anton and experiences the stirrings of love with the self-sufficient Gypsy woman, Nadya (Alysia Kolascz). Peace is short-lived as Victor (Joe Seibert) has tracked the creature in his quest for vengeance.

Williamston presented a reading of “The Gravedigger” at the 2013 Renegade Theatre Festival. That version felt more engaging and perhaps a bit edgier, but without seeing the draft script versus this current iteration, it’s hard to put a finger on what’s different. Victor and the monster both seemed to be more volatile, however.

The play presents a whole new cast, which in one case is a shame. Blake Bowen, who played Anton in the reading, had a more refined cadence appropriate to a man-child who lacks human affectation. Leydenfrost’s delivery is reminiscent of non-human characters in the “Star Trek” franchise (think Spock, Data or Seven of Nine) whose contrived roles were to try to understand humanity to reinforce to the audience how special we are.

Scholars of the source material will be particularly irritated by this affectation, because at this point in the novel the monster has mastered language and has a deeper understanding of human nature. Another key plot point in the novel, into which Zettelmaier should have dug, was the monster’s motivation for killing Victor’s family. He had done so partially out of revenge because Victor would not create for him a female companion. This could have been part of the discussions he has with Kurt regarding love and women.

John Lepard transitioned from the role of Kurt in the reading to the role of director in this production. He replaced himself with Colson, who brings a deeper sense of worldweariness and gristle to the role. When he hugs the monster, it is obvious that he is not simply propping the monster up, but clinging to him as the anchor for Kurt’s own redemption.

Overall, “The Gravedigger” is an inventive story and a seasonally appropriate theatrical experience. It’s just a shame that the story is a shallow grave.

-Mary Cusack

“The Gravedigger: A Frankenstein Story”

Williamston Theatre Through Nov. 2 8 p.m. Thursdays-Saturdays 3 p.m. Saturdays; 2 p.m. Sundays $22 Thursdays/$27 Friday- Saturday evenings/$24 matinees/$10 students/ seniors & military $2 discount 122 S. Putnam St., Williamston (517) 655-SHOW, williamstontheatre.com

 Between the folds

Powerful drama a victory with stylized movement, volatile chemistry

For some of us growing up, the art of origami was nothing more than the creation of a simple paper airplane. In “Animals Out of Paper,” origami is far more complex, way beyond the creation of a miniscule crane.

While characters here create many fine pieces of origami — a T. Rex, a three-dimensional model of the human heart — it is writer Rajiv Joseph who folds together three lives to form a profoundly moving play.

The powerful performances of the polished young actors are built upon his poignant writing. Their three characters weave a complicated tapestry as they struggle to find true intimacy in relationships with one another. Social awkwardness is overcome, brittle defenses melt, intuition meets intellectual rigor, and emotional vulnerability is revealed. A softness of hearts emerges and  sufferings are resolved. We learn that origami has mysterious healing powers, that all life experiences can be counted as blessings.

Deborah Keller’s direction of the three equally talented actors, all students in the LCC Studio Theater Program, is sharp and focused. Stage movement is stylized, and there is a deliberate formality throughout the play. Each actor, in turn, demonstrates an ability to be self-contained, in character at all times.

While calculus teacher Andy (Michael Boxleitner) cavorts, exuberantly nerdy, gushing out all over the stage, Ilana (Monica Tanner) the professional origami instructor, is restrained, wired tight, stiff-upper-lip, chillingly cool yet quietly seething with anger.

Enter Suresh (Boris Nikolovski), Andy’s 17-year-old student, a math prodigy. He is the wild card in the mix, all hip-speak and street attitude with a natural flair for origami.

This is a volatile chemistry worth mixing, and Keller has assembled her ingredients exactly right. “Animals Out of Paper” begins and ends with an explosive array of wildly emotional dynamics.

The set design by Bob Fernholz features abstract birds floating above a studio paired with lighting by Tyler Rick that streams through the wire mesh of these exotic creatures to create a sensuous splash of color across the floor. A wide range of incidental music selected by sound designer Devin Faught and Keller soothes and warms the audience before the play even begins. This is a production where attention has been given to every detail, where every aspect enhances the overall effect.

Philosopher John Locke said we are born into the world a “tabula rasa” — a blank slate. Oragami teaches us that life experiences bend, fold and shape our characters, transforming us into the people we eventually become.

-Tom Helma

“Animals Out of Paper”

Lansing Community Theater Performing Arts 8 p.m. Friday, Oct. 10 & Saturday, Oct. 11 $10/$5 students LCC Black Box Theatre, 168 Gannon Building, Lansing. (517) 483-1488, lcc.edu/ showinfo

Father's day

Riverwalk drama triumphs with three powerful performances

Things are changing at St. Charles School. Winter has settled over the campus, but something more pernicious than cold seems to be affecting the student body. Previously a peaceful, predictable lot, the boys of St. Charles are becoming increasingly unstable and violent.

Amidst these newly surfaced troubles, the teachers of St. Charles — young and impressionable Paul Reese, affable and popular 30-year veteran Joseph Dobbs and the stern and feared Jerome Malley — navigate a dense web of personal relation ships and obstacles that threaten to boil over and consume the school. If the kids don’t get to it first.

Originally staged on Broadway in 1970, the Tony award-winning “Child’s Play” is considered an actor’s play, and the performances elicited by firsttime director Amy Rickett from her cast leave no doubt about that. Even the child actors, who normally leave this reviewer cold, are effectively sinister in their limited appearances.

As the priests of the school, Joseph Mull, Bob Robinson and Mike Stewart all give superior supporting turns, with Mull’s drunk and defeated Friar Penny a standout. But “Child’s Play” is effectively a three-man show, and we’re treated to a trio of powerful performances.

As Reese, the former-student-turnedteacher who finds his loyalties divided between Dobbs and Malley, Matt Eldred brings an innocence and vulnerability that occasionally teeters on the edge of histrionics, but that only reinforces the youth and inexperience of the character, and his portrayal succeeds absolutely through that balancing act.

Doak Bloss easily inhabits the emotional center in the tenured Joseph Dobbs, a man who has tied his entire identity to the school, and with pitiable stoicism, refuses to accept it could be in decline. Bloss carries himself with an air of detached pride, like something out of a British drama, and it is enthralling to watch the lacquer slowly strip away.

Jeff Magnuson is Malley. The actor disappears completely, and the harsh, stubborn and increasingly paranoid Malley emerges as a fully formed person. As Malley’s personal affairs are revealed and his demeanor slowly softens, Magnuson finds nuances in his voice, posture and delivery to convey how this man is, at best, misunderstood but possibly being actively, maliciously, driven insane. By turns nearloathsome then sympathetic, it is a singularly commanding performance.

With Rickett’s hands-off direction allowing the cast to breathe, and effectively unadorned sets, “Child’s Play” is left to the actors, and they do not disappoint. You may not see a more arresting 90 minutes of theater this year.

-Shawn Parker

“Child’s Play”

Riverwalk Theatre 8 p.m. Friday, Oct. 10; Saturday, Oct. 11; 2 p.m. Sunday, Oct. 12 $12/$10 students, seniors and military 228 Museum Drive, Lansing (517) 482-5700, riverwalktheatre.com