World Premiere at AlterTheater "Mockingbird" Still Soaring

First, let’s explain that Lauren D. Yee’s play, “A Man, His Wife, and His Hat” has nothing to do with Oliver Sachs’ book, “The Man Who Mistook his Wife for a Hat.” Yee’s work, described as “a quirky comedy,” was commissioned for San Rafael’s AlterTheater Ensemble and developed in workshops with them. It’s being presented in a different storefront on Fourth Street in San Rafael, this time at 1414.

“A Man, His Wife, and His Hat” begins with a clarinet in the klezmer style and a man who appears to be chasing his hat in the wind. Once he catches the hat and puts it on, the music becomes lively, and he dances to it. (The audience enjoys this part.)

Then the man, known only as Hetchman, sinks into a wide chair with his TV remote and a can of nuts. A screen on the wall – Wall is one of the characters -- says, “Next Day.” He’s still there. “Next Day” is repeated twice more. Then Hetchman summons his wife, “Hey, wife!” to show her the hat’s gone. They bicker about it briefly; after which Hetchman goes back to the chair. The Wall says, “Still Missing” and repeats that for an additional five days.

Now it becomes clear that Wife is also missing. Fifteen years pass, and Hetchman is still watching TV and eating nuts. The audience now understands that this is theatre of the absurd, and anything can happen.

Whatever it is, it won’t be soon. Wall notes that thirty years go by before Hetchman realizes “Wife” has gone. Meckel, an old friend and kindly neighbor, says that if Hetchman will just give her a call, she’ll come back with the hat, but Hetchman has no idea what her name is.

To this point, all the characters, Wall included, speak with middle-European accents, and the humans dress in Old World clothing. But an abrupt change into modern time brings in two modern characters, a man and a woman making wedding plans. However, the young man feels “floaty,” which means his fiancee’s love is not properly anchoring him to the ground. She admits it. Guiding messages in the form of wadded-up notes are tossed in from offstage.

Next, a large and hairy golem appears. The golem, a figure associated with Jewish folklore, does not speak, but roars and grunts a lot. (The audience enjoys the golem.) Hetchman plans to train him to clean the house in place of Wife, who is traveling on a train, searching for a hatmaker to make a copy of her husband’s beloved hat, so she can have one for herself.

AlterTheater performs in the empty storefronts, and the audience sits on folding chairs in a U around the room, close to the actors. At this close-and-personal distance, talent shows up clearly. Patricia Silver as Hetchman’s wife and Ed Holmes as Meckel seem entirely at ease with their rather static characters. Jeff Garrett as Hetchman is required to doze in a chair much of the time, but later, when he’s reciting a list of old memories found in a jar, he shows how much more he can do. Jeanette Harrison, as Voice and the fiancée, also does not have much of a part to work with, and that’s unfortunate. Hugo E. Carbajal as the unloved Gabe, does a little better with his attempts to stay “grounded” without his fiancee’s affection. The Golem, Jonathan Deline, uses his mobile facial expressions to overcome a lack of dialogue. And Wall, spoken by Nakissa Eternad, is the only one besides Golem to evoke humor. Robin Stanton directed this premiere production.

Inside “A Man, his Wife, and his Hat” is a sweet love story trying to get out, and Lauren Yee should quit messing around and make it happen. Until that happens, this show is playful, but it’s not yet a play.

“A Man, his Wife, and his Hat” will be in residence at 1414 Fourth Street in San Rafael through December 4. For complete information, call 454-2787 or see www.altertheater.org.

Large-cast stage productions that aren’t musicals are rare indeed. Casting and moving around more than a half dozen players can be daunting, but for James Dunn, it’s all in a day’s work. Dunn has been directing for fifty years and has handled the Hollywood-sized Mountain Play for twenty-nine of them. A cast of seventeen would not keep him from presenting “To Kill a Mockingbird.”

In program notes, the Director writes that he read Harper Lee’s classic while recovering from the flu in 1961, the same year Lee received a Pulitzer for this heartfelt story from her childhood in Monroeville, Alabama. “I’ll never forget how moved I was,” says Dunn.

Lee, known as Scout in the play, lives with her brother Jem and her father, Atticus in a town where neighbors – for good or ill -- keep watch on each other. Serious conversations take place in the front yard, away from the hearing of children and the household help. In tribute to Harper Lee, Christopher Sergel’s adaptation of “To Kill a Mockingbird” is revived and presented every year in Monroeville.

Sergel’s stage adaptation introduces the grownup Scout, Jean Louise Finch, who takes the audience back to the summer and fall of 1935 in the fictional Maycomb. Here a townsman brings a bag of hickory nuts in payment for Atticus’ legal services, and a visiting new kid, Dill, is warned about two of the neighbors, mean Mrs. Dubose across the street and the spooky Radleys, where Mr. Radley’s childlike grown son Boo lives, but is never seen. Odd tokens are left in the hollow tree, possibly from Boo. The children devise schemes to get him outside, but Atticus advises his children to “stand in Boo’s shoes” and leave him alone. At this point, the children, especially his adolescent son Jem, don’t have much respect for their father because Atticus doesn’t hunt, fish or play poker. This was, recalls Jean Louise, “a time of happy ignorance.”

A yard conversation changes all that. Judge Taylor asks Atticus Finch to defend a black man, Tom Robinson, who has been charged with rape of a young white woman, Mayella Ewell. This charge leads Atticus to stand guard in the jail late at night, where he quietly confronts his fellow townsmen, intent on a lynching. The children, who’ve evaded their housekeeper, Calpurnia, see all this, and their innocence plays a part in cooling the heated crowd. Mary Ann Rodgers plays Jean Louise with loving nostalgia.

“To Kill a Mockingbird” offers strong scenes for both directors and actors. Steve Price as Atticus is deliberate and solid, a country lawyer in the best tradition. (Note: Steve Price grew up in Belvedere; he attended Redwood High and is the son of Ark writer, Jeanne Price.) The role of Scout is double-cast. We saw ten-year-old Brigid O’Brien, who seemed so natural in the part, she didn’t appear to be acting. As Scout’s big brother, Jem, Gerrit deBlaauw was protective with his sister, defensive with his dad.

In smaller roles, Alex Ross as the cigar-chomping judge, Melissa W. Bailey as the bedraggled and pitiful Mayella, Sumi Narendran as no-nonsense Calpurnia brought life to the script. (But can that nasty Mrs.Dubose really be Tiburon’s gracious Ann Ripley?)

Wendell Wilson plays the earnest Tom Robinson, aware of his danger, and young Layne Ulrich portrays Dill, the summer visitor. (In Harper Lee’s childhood, Dill was Truman Capote, a lifelong friend.)

Townspeople, including the mysterious Boo, are played by Jeffrey Taylor, Mark Toepfer, Ray Martin, Tom Hudgens, and Newton Harband. In court, Wood Lockhart portrays Mr. Gilmer, the prosecutor, Ray Martin is Heck Tate, and Frederick Lein is Mayella’s brutish father, Bob Ewell.

“To Kill a Mockingbird” will play at The Barn Theatre in the Marin Art & Garden Center through December 11, Thursdays through Sundays at 2 p.m. No performance on Thanksgiving. Ticket prices range from $17 to $25.

For complete information see www.rossvalleyplayers.com , and for reservations, please call 456-9555.