Amelia Community Theatre
Press Release
May 22, 2019 4:00 p.m.
Studio 209 at the Amelia Community Theatre is presenting “Clever Little Lies,” written by Joe DiPIetro and first staged in 2013. The play is a comedy that addresses a moral point – fidelity or lack of same. It’s a play that leaves you asking whether it tells the truth or it spins a lie that is made to look like the truth. Two couples – parents and their son and daughter-in-law, explore the truths and lies we design for each other. The son has been unfaithful. The mother wants to help. The father is uncertain what to do. The daughter-in-law is oblivious, perhaps by design.
The play begins with a lot of laughter as the son confesses his transgressions to his father after a tennis match. The action shifts to the parents’ house. There, more clever little lies are added to the story. Or are they lies? As you watch, you’re not sure whether this is a made-up story to assist in getting the son back to his senses or something else.
When the play has tied up loose ends and the dilemma seems to have been resolved, you feel sure you know what is going to happen to the characters next. But the last scene left me wondering about one of the characters. You begin to wonder whether there are “little lies” and what the potential is for destruction in those lies.
As the parents, Diana Herman (Alice) and Gil Johnston (Bill, Senior) were a good match. Each one is a strong actor and the teamwork was good. Joseph Stearman and Rachel Tyler as Billy and Jane were also well matched and, key for this play, believable.
Jennifer Webber and her support staff kept the action going while allowing for the laughs the play generates. Sets were flexible and worked to enhance the performances. You have read that it takes a village. Well, about 16 people are listed as the Crew. All volunteers, bless them.
Studio 209 has staged a number of plays that provoke laughs while delivering underlying messages. The choices have been interesting and entertaining. The troupe does wonders with a small space. I hope they keep on giving us that level of interest and entertainment.
The play continues this weekend. For ticket information, call the Box Office (904) 261-6749 or go on-line to ameliacommunitytheatre.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.