By Evelyn C. McDonald
July 23, 2019 4:00 p.m.
Sometimes it’s nice to go to a play or movie that’s just fun. Last weekend, “Epic Proportions,” ACT Studio 209 latest show, filled the bill nicely. It’s a send-up of Hollywood epics, movie stunts, and the unreal world of film.
The story follows a movie company filming an epic in the Arizona desert. Perhaps an epic of epics is a more appropriate term as there are multiple stories. We have the Red Sea, Moses and Pharaoh, the Pyramids, ancient Rome among other plots. Some of the jokes are groaners but the actors throw themselves into their roles with enthusiasm.
There are three main characters and an ensemble of seven. Audrey Antee as Louise is the film supervisor, setting up the shots and coaching the actors. Cody Dobbs and Geoffrey Moss are brothers, Benny and Phil. Benny came to the desert to seek his fortune in film. Phil came to bring him home. Both get caught up in the “magic” of film. And both woo Louise, one more successfully than the other.
The ensemble (Violet Boerescu, Jan Cote-Merow, Doug Embree, Wendy Gilvey, Jeff Goldberg, Jennifer McCarthy, and Elizabeth Sawyer) manage to portray Roman soldiers, Egyptian court nobles, narrators, reclusive producers and such.
There are historic fights, thwarted loves, narrow escapes – in short, all the stock pieces that epic movies feature. The play unfolds with challenge after challenge for the actors and scenes that run to multiple takes. Some of the humor is verbal but most is physical. Two guards locking arms as they kick one of the other actors is a prime example. It’s more dance than mayhem.
Director Linda McClane keeps the show moving and encourages audience participation. She is ably assisted by the backstage crew and stage manager Jennifer Webber. The play, written by Larry Coen and David Crane, debuted at the Manhattan Punch Line Theatre in 1986 and later ran at the Helen Hays Theatre on Broadway.
It’s late July, there’s not much on TV except the news and that can be a downer. The weather’s been almost too hot to go outside. If the summer is getting you down, I recommend letting yourself be entertained at the theatre. Laughter may not be the best medicine but it is readily available at Studio 209 through this weekend.
For information and tickets on the remaining performances of the play this weekend, call the Box Office (904) 261-6749 or go on-line to www.ameliacommnitytheatre.org
Evelyn McDonald moved to Fernandina Beach from the Maryland suburbs of Washington, D.C. in 2006. Evelyn is vice-chair on the Amelia Center for Lifelong Learning and is on the Dean’s Council for the Carpenter Library at the UNF. Ms. McDonald has MS in Technology Management from the University of Maryland’s University College and a BA in Spanish from the University of Michigan.