A bit of diversion: Funny play about being lost in a daydream.Byline: Fred Crafts The Register-Guard When the going gets rough, New York New York, state, United States New York, Middle Atlantic state of the United States. It is bordered by Vermont, Massachusetts, Connecticut, and the Atlantic Ocean (E), New Jersey and Pennsylvania (S), Lakes Erie and Ontario and the Canadian province of shopkeeper Mildred Wild goes to the movies - in her head. Wild leads a wild life inside her noggin nog·gin n. 1. A small mug or cup. 2. A unit of liquid measure equal to one quarter of a pint. 3. Slang The human head. [Origin unknown. . Things are pretty crazy on the outside, too, which is why Wild retreats into a fantasy world where she can be the star of her own movie, so to speak. In three days, Wild and her husband, Roy, will be evicted from their longtime home behind their candy store. The idea of moving is so painful that she cannot face it. To get her off the dime, her family and friends offer alternatives, many of them extremely far-fetched. To cope, Wild slips into her imagination, adopting the personages of heroines such as Scarlett O'Hara or Sheena Queen of the Jungle. "It's a charming, funny play," says director Melina Neal, who is directing Paul Zindel's "The Secret Affairs of Mildred Wild" for the Very Little Theatre. Opening Friday, the comedy is the latest in a seasonlong VLT VLT Valletta (postal locality, Malta) VLT Very Large Telescope VLT Video Lottery Terminal VLT Vermont Land Trust VLT Visible Light Transmittance VLT Variable List Table VLT Very Long-Term series titled "The Hollywood Connection Hollywood Connection was a game show hosted by Jim Lange, announced by Jay Stewart (Johnny Gilbert in earlier episodes), and produced by Barry & Enright Productions. It aired from September 5, 1977 - April 1978. ." Neal describes the character Mildred Wild, originally played on Broadway by Maureen Stapleton, as a total "Hollywood buff" who has seen some 3,000 movies. "She has every movie magazine back to 1929. She listens to all the game shows, enters all the contests, trying desperately to win her way to Hollywood. Every time life gets too difficult for Mildred, she disappears into a fantasy," Neal says. For example, deep in an argument with her husband, the stage lights go into fantasy mode and Wild suddenly appears as Scarlett O'Hara, ready to bid that nasty Rhett Butler Rhett Butler is the handsome, dashing hero of Gone with the Wind by Margaret Mitchell. The novel introduces him as the problem-solving pragmatist who is sure that the South cannot win a protracted war with the North. farewell. Although "The Secret Affairs of Mildred Wild" is a relatively brief comedy, Neal says, "It's like directing two plays: There's the real, and then there's the fantasy." Christine Cody will play Mildred Wild, with Lawrence Larson as her husband, Roy; Martha Greaney is her sister, Helen; Phillip Hudspeth is butcher Carroll; Eileen Peterson is landlady landlady n. female of landlord or owner of real property from whom one rents or leases. (See: landlord) Bertha Gale; Laurie deGonzalez is a nun, Sister Cecelia; Debra Marquess marquess or marquis European title of nobility, ranking in modern times immediately below a duke and above a count or earl. The wife of a marquess is a marchioness or marquise. The term originally denoted a count holding a march, or mark (frontier district). is TV reporter Miss Manley; and Anthony O'Keefe is TV cameraman Rex Bulby. Backstage, Neal has a crew of some 40 people creating the play's special effects special effects, in motion pictures, cinematographic techniques that create illusions in the audience's minds as well as the illusions created using these techniques. . Neal designed the set, painted with cartoons by Jerry Williams
"This is an unknown play, which surprises me because it's so clever," Neal says. "It's a wonderful evening of diversion from what we're going through right now in the world." THEATER PREVIEW The Secret Affairs of Mildred Wild When: 8:15 p.m. Friday and Saturday, March 27-29 and April 3-5; matinees 2 p.m. March 23 and 30 Where: Very Little Theatre, 2350 Hilyard St. How much: $12 ($9 for senior citizens on March 23 and 30 and for students on March 27 and April 3), at the VLT box office (344-7751) CAPTION(S): Christine Cody plays Mildred Wild, who escapes into fantasy to avoid trauma. Lawrence Larson plays her husband. Please turn to BOLDWORD, Page ?? Wayne Eastburn / The Register-Guard |
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