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Nighttime closure on I-80 West in Butler Township postponed again

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Plymouth’s Shawnee Cemetery full of history, open for Oct. 8 tour

<p>WILKES-BARRE TWP. &#8212; In character as a woman who lives in an electricity-free home, Jennifer McClinton-Temple, of Kingston, slumps dejectedly in a chair and explains how the gutted toaster she can use on top of a wood stove isn&#8217;t as shiny as it used to be.</p><p>One look at her careworn demeanor, and you can guess her off-the-grid lifestyle also has begun to lose its luster.</p><p>&#8220;You can just hear the regret in her voice,&#8221; said local playwright David Parmelee, who is directing his new play, &#8220;Toast!,&#8221; for Gaslight Theatre. &#8220;She probably lives in a yurt, and being a pioneer woman is harder than she thought it would be.&#8221;</p><p>From another woman who seems to be in love with her coffee maker to a man indignant with the way a mousetrap failed to live up to his expectations, Parmelee has developed dozens of characters for the show. Their opinions &#8212; and his raw material &#8212; came straight from real-life, online reviews of appliances.</p><p>&#8220;It&#8217;s amazing, the &#8216;gold&#8217; that was in the very good reviews and the very bad reviews,&#8221; he said during a recent rehearsal in Gaslight Theatre&#8217;s space in the East End Centre.</p><p>Demonstrating some of that &#8220;gold,&#8221; Eric Lutz, of Scranton, adopted a Brooklyn accent as he held a metal mousetrap that allegedly had given up its peanut butter cracker but failed to nab its quarry.</p><p>&#8220;This mousetrap might be good for a country bumpkin mouse,&#8221; he said. &#8220;But it&#8217;s not effective for a New York mouse.&#8221;</p><p>&#8220;People revealed so much of their lives&#8221; in the online reviews, Parmelee said, pointing out how a character portrayed by Rick Kramer, of Edwardsville, hints at loneliness and disappointment when he explains why he and his wife don&#8217;t really need a four-slice toaster.</p><p>Their grandchildren would rather go out to eat &#8212; Kramer fairly spits out a pancake place&#8217;s name &#8212; than have breakfast with their grandparents.</p><p>Other characters are quite happy with their purchase of a toaster. One consumer, portrayed by Dane Bower, of West Wyoming, for example, admits in a conspiratorial whisper his mom said it was the best present ever, while another, portrayed by John Bubel, of West Pittston, explains he loves the way the toaster doesn&#8217;t &#8220;pop&#8221; the toast but allows it to elevate quietly, &#8220;like a Sith lord rising from the abyss.&#8221;</p><p>&#8220;You couldn&#8217;t make this stuff up,&#8221; Parmelee said, explaining the idea for the play started to germinate when he was considering buying a toaster.</p><p>He read a review aloud to his daughter Andrea and she pointed out how much it sounded like a monologue.</p><p>The playwright gathered more than 100 reviews, arranged them so one would lead neatly to the next, and decided what kind of character should speak the lines. Characters range from long-married couples to conspiracy theorists to a &#8220;Stepford Wife.&#8221;</p><p>That last character, portrayed by Mollie Dooley, of Kingston, seems ready for a breakdown, as she talks about how fussy her husband is about his toast and how many things have gone wrong with previous toasters. &#8220;I have no regrets,&#8221; she said shrilly.</p><p>&#8220;She mentions the word &#8216;perfect&#8217; six times,&#8221; Parmelee said with sympathy. &#8220;Don&#8217;t you just want to give her a hug?&#8221;</p><p>&#8220;Toast!&#8221; opens Oct. 6 at Gaslight Theatre&#8217;s performance space in the East End Centre in Wilkes-Barre Township. A condensed version also will be presented Oct. 1-2 as part of the Scranton Fringe Festival.</p><style>
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<div class="neCaption">Cast member Emily Thomas, of West Pittston, portrays a character who loves her coffee maker in &#8216;Toast,&#8217; an original play by David Parmelee. </div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo0>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/09/web1_TTL093016toast1-1-.jpg</photo0><caption0>Cast member Emily Thomas, of West Pittston, portrays a character who loves her coffee maker in &#8216;Toast,&#8217; an original play by David Parmelee. </caption0><photoCredit0>Clark Van Orden | Times Leader </photoCredit0></div><div class="neFile"><img class="neImage" src="https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/09/web1_TTL093016toast2.jpg">
<div class="neCaption">Katie Mihailoff, of Kingston, and Dane Bower, of West Wyoming, portray some of the many characters in &#8216;Toast&#8217; who either love or hate their toasters and just had to let the retailers know how they felt. </div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo1>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/09/web1_TTL093016toast2.jpg</photo1><caption1>Katie Mihailoff, of Kingston, and Dane Bower, of West Wyoming, portray some of the many characters in &#8216;Toast&#8217; who either love or hate their toasters and just had to let the retailers know how they felt. </caption1><photoCredit1>Clark Van Orden | Times Leader </photoCredit1></div><div class="neFile"><img class="neImage" src="https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/09/web1_TTL093016toast3.jpg">
<div class="neCaption">Jennifer McClinton-Temple, of Kingston, portrays a woman whose disenchantment with her simple, rustic lifestyle comes through in her description of her toaster. </div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo2>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/09/web1_TTL093016toast3.jpg</photo2><caption2>Jennifer McClinton-Temple, of Kingston, portrays a woman whose disenchantment with her simple, rustic lifestyle comes through in her description of her toaster. </caption2><photoCredit2>Clark Van Orden | Times Leader </photoCredit2></div></div>
<div class="metaInfo"><subheadMeta>Playwright gleaned Gaslight Theatre show &#8216;Toast!&#8217; from product reviews</subheadMeta></div><div class="metaInfo"><bylineMeta><p><strong>By Mary Therese Biebel</strong></p><p>mbiebel@www.timesleader.com</p></bylineMeta></div><div class="metaInfo"><factboxMeta><p><strong>IF YOU GO</p><p><strong>What: </strong>&#8216;Toast!&#8217;</p><p><strong>When: </strong>7:30 p.m. Oct. 6 to 8; 2 p.m. Oct. 9</p><p><strong>Where:</strong> Gaslight Theatre, 200 East End Centre, Wilkes-Barre Township</p><p><strong>Tickets: </strong>$15; $12 students and seniors</p><p><strong> Info: </strong>gaslight-theatre.org</p><p><strong>NOTE: </strong>Gaslight Theatre will also produce a condensed version of &#8216;Toast!&#8217; during the Scranton Fringe Festival, at The Leonard Downstairs, 335 Adams Ave., Scranton. 1 and 9 p.m. Oct. 1; 6 p.m. Oct. 2. 570-591-1282 or scrantonfringe.org.</p></factboxMeta></div><div class="metaInfo"><shirttailMeta><p>Reach Mary Therese Biebel at 570-991-6109 or on Twitter @BiebelMT</p></shirttailMeta></div>

Gaslight Theatre to produce ‘Toast!’ in Scranton, then Wilkes-Barre Township