The Toledo Village Players provide quality theater entertainment for the Toledo area; now they’re busier than ever with the opening of their new series, The Village After Dark. This series, featuring concert readings, will premiere Wednesday, October 1 with the comedy, “As Bees in Honey Drown.”
“As Bees in Honey Drown” is the witty story of Evan Wyler (played by Landon Tavernier), a young, up-and-coming writer who has just found his first hint of success as an author. However, with that hint comes the mysterious and fame-hungry Alexa Vere de Vere (played by Kate Abu-Absi) who hires Evan to write the screenplay of her life. Alexa’s charm and industry knowledge captivates Evan, who, despite being gay, falls in love with her. Then, as suddenly as she arrived, Alexa vanishes, creating a sticky situation when Evan finds out she left him a mound of bills. Out of revenge, or perhaps out of love, Evan vows to find Alexa. In his journey he discovers many other victims of the con-woman’s schemes, and realizes it is up to him to end her tricks.
“As Bees in Honey Drown” was written by Douglas Carter Beane and first premiered in 1997 at the Drama Department in New York City. After four weeks of success, it was moved to the West Village where it ran for a year at the Lucille Lortel Theatre. Despite high praise during its run, it has not often been performed in the Toledo area, making it perfect for The Village After Dark series.
Up to the imagination
According to director Jake Gordy, the intent of the Village After Dark program is to “showcase scripts and productions that might not make it into our regular mainstage season, whether they’re out of our comfort zone, avant-garde, not widely known, or perhaps not what we could consider geared toward our season subscribers.”
As a concert reading, this production will be slightly different from a typical season show. The actors will be performing with scripts in hand, but unlike a ‘staged reading,’ they will still have the use of technical elements, such as lights and sound, as well as costumes, props, and performer interaction.
“We hope that it will give the audience a taste of what a full mounting for the production may look like, yet still leave much to their imaginations,” Gordy said.
Since scripts are in-hand during this production, a challenge for Gordy is to make sure the actors are not fixating on or simply reading the scripts. Gordy stated, “My focus is to help the actors feel natural and in-character.” The play entails four actors (Evan James Copeland, Derek Hansen, Laura Crawford, and Luna Knight) taking on multiple roles. This also required Gordy’s focus to be on “transitions between multiple personalities.”
The Village After Dark series
For the first season of The Village After Dark, two productions will be presented. The second show will be David Ives’ comedy “Venus in Fur,” which will be performed at the beginning of February.
In future seasons, Gordy said that The Village Players are hoping to showcase Toledo talent by performing plays from local playwrights. This new series has a strong potential for much success in performances, but also in further developing the theater scene in Toledo.
“As Bees in Honey Drown” runs Friday, October 3 and Saturday, October 4 at 8pm.
Tickets are $10 and will be sold at the door.
Experience Toledo Village Players performances at 2740 Upton Ave, Toledo.
419-472-6827 for details.
