Church Hill Theatre opens season with dark comedy

By PETER HECK pheckchespub.com
Published: Thursday, March 4, 2010 5:12 AM CST

CHURCH HILL Church Hill Theatre takes on the look and feel of New York's Central Park in "I'm Not Rappaport!" A dark comedy by Herb Gardner, "Rappaport!" is the story of two old men fighting to retain some dignity in a world that no longer values them.

Directed by Michael Whitehill, the play is set in a small section of the park, featuring a stone bridge, a trio of benches and a couple of lamp posts. While very simple, the set beautifully captures the ambience of the city in early October 1982.

Before the play Saturday, Feb. 27, Whitehill said he likes to direct works "with some blood in them," and despite its comic atmosphere, this one certainly qualifies. It's not a play for very young audiences: there is some onstage violence, as well as some rough language.
And yet it milks its characters' depressing situations for good-natured laughter a hearty celebration of the "human comedy," with the help of two outstanding lead actors. The audience Saturday was clearly enjoying itself, despite the serious subject matter, and it looked as if the actors were having fun, as well.

Midge (played by Ray Randall) is the superintendent of an apartment building that is about to go coop. He has been hanging out in the park, doing his best to dodge the head of the tenants' association, knowing that the new regime intends to fire him. His strategy for dealing with the inevitable is to become invisible an ironic comment on the fact that he himself is losing his sight.

There he meets Nat (played by Charles Patterson), a retiree who, when we meet him, is spinning a fabulous tale about being an undercover agent. Midge is skeptical of Nat's story. The two trade words until Nat admits that maybe an 80-year-old secret agent with a bad hip is somewhat implausible.

Meanwhile, Nat tries to infuse Midge with the spirit of resistance to the forces trying to grind him down, telling him stories of the labor struggles he took part in as a young man. As the play goes on, we come to recognize these stories as another version of the romantic self-aggrandizement that is his way of restoring purpose to a life without meaningful direction.

The plot takes off as two threats appear: Danforth, the head of the tenants' association, finally tracks down Midge, and a predatory street punk named Gilley decides to extort protection money from Nat she has already been hitting up Midge for $3 a day to "walk him home." In both cases, Nat takes the offensive with mixed results.

With Danforth, Nat represents himself as the agent of a powerful workers' rights group, drawing on the rhetoric of the left-wing labor union activists he grew up admiring. Where Midge was prepared to accept a bit of extra severance pay, Nat raises the ante to creating a permanent position of "superintendent emeritus" for him. Nonplussed, Danforth backs down.

With Gilley, Nat tries an equally aggressive approach, refusing to pay and defending himself with his cane. But while he manages to chase her off, he ends up taking a beating. At the start of the second act, he shows up with a walker and a bandaged head.

Another plot line appears in the form of Laurie, a young art student who was seen drawing at the top of the bridge in the first act. Now we learn she's in trouble with a drug dealer, known only as the Cowboy, whom she owes $2,000. She tries to give him a partial payment, but he knocks her down and says he will be back for the full amount the next day.

More complications arise as Nat's daughter, Clara, makes an appearance. A long conversation, going over much of their earlier life together, ensues. We learn some of Nat's history, including his raising her to share his radical values, which she has to some degree abandoned. In the end, Clara has an ultimatum that threatens to end what's left of his independence. Nat improvises a plan to forestall her clearly built on nothing but words. The end has crept closer for both Nat and Midge.

The tension between the radical dreamer Nat and the earthy would-be invisible man Midge is the backbone of the play. Nat's fighting spirit keeps him alive as he blusters his way through a series of encounters with more powerful foes not always successfully. Patterson captures the character's admirable side as he spins pathetic plans that the audience knows are bound to fail even though he leads them to hope otherwise.

Randall, who played the chauffeur in CHT's "Driving Miss Daisy," is also strong as Midge. More beaten down than Nat by life's vicissitudes, he can still be stirred to attempt heroics as when he tries to attack Cowboy, whom he can barely see, after Nat's verbal tactics have failed. Patterson uses body language as effectively as words to convey the character's moods and thoughts.

The minor roles are all well-played. Rena Cherry Brown, whose roles include Queen Eleanor in "The Lion in Winter" and the title character in "Driving Miss Daisy," does a sympathetic job with Clara, the grown-up '60s radical who now brings her father's life to a crisis by trying to "do the right thing."

Jay Hodgson is a menacing presence as Cowboy, conveying the real danger of the drug dealer. His victim Laurie is played by 16-year-old Natalie Page Clemens, who effectively projects the vulnerability of a young woman over her head in a cruel world. And Christian Rogers nicely captures the ironies in his character, Danforth, a communications professor who flubs the job of delivering a message to Midge and is outtalked by Nat.

The character of Gilley is played by Kat Kaufmann, who took the role after the original actor was forced to withdraw from the show due to a conflict with work. It was hard to believe that Kaufman was performing the role for the first time Saturday. She handled herself very well in the bad-guy role.

The set deserves special praise recycled from the stonework of "Lion in Winter," it is a convincing Central Park bridge, covering the whole back side of the stage some 7 feet high, and strong enough to walk on. Doug Kaufmann, the lighting and sound director, said the stones are due for still another outing later in the season, as a set for "Rocky Horror."

"I'm Not Rappaport!" runs through March 14, with performances at 8 p.m. Friday and Saturday, and Sunday matinees at 2 p.m. Tickets are $18 for adults, $10 for students. For reservations or other information, call 410-758-1331.