Nittany Lions wary of Gardner

Cracking the code on dry-hand relief

First Posted: 6/27/2014 Gaslight Theatre already has taken audiences to the kitchen and bathroom.
And future installments of the PlayRoom series could be set just about anywhere.
During a recent rehearsal break, directors Matthew S. Hinton and Brandi George bandied the possibilities back and forth: &#8220;Laundry room?&#8221; &#8220;Hallway?&#8221; Pool room?&#8221; &#8220;Cabana?&#8221; &#8220;Man cave?&#8221;
&#8220;I&#8217;m always, always pressing for fallout shelter,&#8221; George said.
But this year, the third installment of the series has placed seven one-act plays, all crafted by local playwrights, in an &#8220;attic&#8221; constructed by set designer Dave Reynolds on the first floor of a Kingston warehouse.
Here you&#8217;ll find a mysteriously aging boy who operates a pirate radio station and somehow encounters the ghost of his grandfather; a couple sorting through the belongings of a relative who had a hoarding habit; and even a pair of avatars in a video game who gain empathy and knowledge as they face all sorts of challenges.
&#8220;I really piss him off at age 8,&#8221; actor Kimmie Leff of Olyphant said, describing her character, &#8220;Player A&#8221; as the more active half of the duo while &#8220;Player B,&#8221; portrayed by Jonathan Vojtko of Wyoming, is more cerebral.
The two actors don&#8217;t speak in that play, &#8220;World of Wonderment&#8221; by Jennifer Hill, but use action and pantomime to carry the characters from childhood all the way through old age.
&#8220;It&#8217;s all about what you experience in life &#8212; love and loss, exploration and learning,&#8221; said Hinton, who is directing that play.
Hinton also wrote &#8220;Talk the Night,&#8221; the one-act about the pirate radio station, and is grateful to George for directing it.
&#8220;It&#8217;s great to see how someone else interprets your work, how they draw things out of it that you didn&#8217;t even know were there,&#8221; the playwright said.
&#8220;Talk the Night&#8221; deals with the same family Hinton introduced in Gaslight Theatre&#8217;s earlier productions that were set in the kitchen and the bathroom and reminds him a little of his youthful broadcasting efforts.
&#8220;It was more like a CB,&#8221; he said. &#8220;I actually thought I was doing something for all the truckers out there.&#8221;
During a recent rehearsal, George told Hinton she had arranged for a radio caller named &#8220;Darlene&#8221; to be voiced by a real-life radio personality.
&#8220;Sue Henry (of WILK-FM) did it,&#8221; George said. &#8220;She nailed it.&#8221;
&#8220;Best news I&#8217;ve had all day,&#8221; Hinton said with a smile.
In addition to Hinton and Hill, contributing playwrights are Paul Hood, Lukas R. Tomasacci, B. Garret Rogan, Rachel Luann Strayer, Lori M. Myers and Robert Andrew Anderson. The show is designed for mature audiences.

What’s in the attic? All sorts of stories