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Their view: Selective outrage about Kevin Spacey

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Our View: Festival is a win-win for everyone

<p>WILKES-BARRE &#8212; The last time King&#8217;s College staged a John Patrick Shanley play, it was &#8220;Doubt,&#8221; and student Allen Bonk, of Nanticoke, portrayed a priest suspected of molesting a child.</p><p>The plot was heavy, disturbing, mystifying.</p><p>Bonk, for one, is glad the theatre department&#8217;s next production, &#8220;Italian American Reconciliation,&#8221; also by Shanley, is more light-hearted.</p><p>&#8220;It&#8217;s a breath of fresh air,&#8221; Bonk said.</p><p>&#8220;It is definitely more in the style of &#8216;Moonstruck,&#8217;&#8221; said director Sheileen Godwin, naming yet another Shanley offering, the 1987 film in which Cher played a widow who falls for her fiance&#8217;s brother.</p><p>&#8220;Italian American Reconciliation,&#8221; which King&#8217;s will present Nov. 9 through 18 in the George P. Maffei II Theatre, is &#8220;a fairy tale, a folk tale,&#8221; Godwin said.</p><p>It&#8217;s told from the viewpoint of a man named Aldo, whose friend Huey wants to reunite with his ex-wife, Marge.</p><p>Aldo believes Marge is no good for his friend so, giving a heroic twist to a Cyrano de Bergerac sort of plan, he decides to woo her for himself and thus rescue Huey.</p><p>What is Huey like?</p><p>&#8220;He&#8217;s an average guy,&#8221; Bonk said. &#8220;Not a lot of pizzazz in his life.&#8221;</p><p>What is Aldo like?</p><p>&#8220;He is trying to appear very confident,&#8221; said Bruno Walkowiak, of Shickshinny, who plays that part. &#8220;He&#8217;s trying to act like he knows what&#8217;s going on.&#8221;</p><p>Will either of these gentleman prevail and win Marge&#8217;s heart?</p><p>&#8220;You won&#8217;t really root for either one,&#8221; Bonk predicted. &#8220;You&#8217;ll just watch what happens.&#8221;</p><p>Whatever unfolds, it seems both men find Marge more interesting than Teresa, Huey&#8217;s recent love interest, whom cast member Dorothy Monforte describes as &#8220;the perfect Italian girlfriend. She can cook, and everybody loves her.&#8221;</p><p>Shanley placed the action for &#8220;Italian American Reconciliation&#8221; in Little Italy, giving it a hearty serving of ethnic color and flavor, Godwin said. &#8220;Everyone gathers in the kitchen and the family dinner is god.&#8221;</p><p>The play, incidentally, came highly recommended, said Godwin, who last May was still undecided about what the November show would be.</p><p>King&#8217;s alum Santo Loquasto, just a few weeks before his work on Broadway&#8217;s &#8220;Hello, Dolly&#8221; won a 2017 Tony Award for Best Costumes in a Musical, came to his alma mater to accept a Distinguished Alumnus Award on graduation weekend.</p><p>While he was in town, he tried to help Godwin make a decision, and even on his bus trip back to New York City, he continued to text suggestions.</p><p>Loquasto kept coming back to &#8220;Italian American Reconciliation,&#8221; a show for which he had won a Drama Desk Award for set design in 1989, and Godwin decided to run with it, especially after he let her know &#8220;J.P. thinks it&#8217;s a good idea.&#8221;</p><p>The director has no expectation that the renowned designer will be in the college theater&#8217;s audience, Godwin said. &#8220;He&#8217;s busy with the next Woody Allen movie.&#8221;</p><p>It&#8217;s probably just as well, because Godwin is in awe of Loquasto, though she has known him since he was a King&#8217;s student and she was a child, daughter of the late King&#8217;s professor J. Gerald Godwin.</p><p>&#8220;If he was watching,&#8221; Godwin said, &#8220;I wouldn&#8217;t be able to speak or move.&#8221;</p><style>
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<div class="neCaption">The cast of &#8216;Italian American Reconciliation&#8217; gets in the mood for the King&#8217;s College play by sharing a meal at an Italian restaurant. </div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo0>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/11/web1_ItalRecPlay.jpg</photo0><caption0>The cast of &#8216;Italian American Reconciliation&#8217; gets in the mood for the King&#8217;s College play by sharing a meal at an Italian restaurant. </caption0><photoCredit0>Submitted photo </photoCredit0></div></div>
<div class="metaInfo"><bylineMeta><p><strong>By Mary Therese Biebel</strong></p><p>mbiebel@www.timesleader.com</p></bylineMeta></div><div class="metaInfo"><shirttailMeta><p>Reach Mary Therese Biebel at 570-991-6109 or on Twitter @BiebelMT.</p></shirttailMeta></div>

King’s College theatre department to stage ‘Italian American Reconciliation’