Feature article
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JCCT’s ‘Philadelphia Story’ a family affair for director
By Jessica Fischer
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If October’s usual onslaught of ghosts and goblins isn’t your cup of tea, Johnson City Community Theater’s production of “The Philadelphia Story” might just be the light-hearted theatrical fare you’re craving.
“In a time of year when everybody else is going to be doing thrillers and horror shows, it’s a nice sort of light, breath of fresh air, a romantic comedy,” said director John Beard. “Not everybody goes in for zombies.”
“The Philadelphia Story” opened on Broadway in 1938 starring Katherine Hepburn, who later joined Cary Grant and Jimmy Stewart in the film production. Beard grew up watching the movie version at home — “It was just something around our house,” he said. “In our house there were no old movies, just movies.” — so when the folks at JCCT found out he was interested in directing one of their productions and asked him to make a list of some of his favorite plays, “The Philadelphia Story” found its way into his top five.
“I started writing things down without even really analyzing how difficult they may be to produce,” Beard said, “and this is one they picked. I thought, OK, can I cast this or not? But we held auditions, people came out and we wound up with a great cast.”
The cast and crew includes some folks near and dear to Beard’s heart, including his mother, Pat, who is props coordinator, and his father, Michael, a cast member. Beard took special precautions, however, when his wife, Rachel, expressed interest in auditioning for the role of the play’s leading lady.
“I didn’t want to be accused of nepotism, so when I found out she wanted to audition, I asked several other people if they would sit in on the auditions with me so we could talk it over and I could see if they agreed with me,” Beard said. “Probably no one cared if I was going to cast my dad, but I can’t look at my wife with the same objective eyes everyone else does.”
In the end, Rachel, who recently appeared in JCCT’s production of “The Hollow” and in “Lying in State” as the sassy stripper/wannabe senator Buttons, landed the role of beautiful socialite Tracy Lord, who is preparing to embark on her second marriage.
On the day prior to the ceremony, Tracy is suddenly beset by a team of reporters there to cover her wedding for a story, appropriately being called “The Philadelphia Story.” In addition to the stress of the two reporters — one of whom appears to have an eye for Tracy — the bride-to-be must deal with family troubles, problems with her fiancé and her unpredictable ex-husband, who shows up after being invited by Tracy’s mischievous younger sister, Dinah.
Suddenly, a situation Tracy thinks is well-settled is thrown up into the air with barely any time to set things right before she is scheduled to walk down the aisle with the man of her dreams. But the question of the hour becomes: Which one of three guys will it be?
While “The Philadelphia Story” is indeed a light-hearted romantic comedy suitable for the whole family, it does touch on some pretty serious subjects — themes that are as relevant today as they were in the early 20th century.
“We still have people who are kind of lost and are not really in touch with reality,” Beard said. “There’s nothing really heavy, heavy in this show in terms of people really messing up their lives, but the basic themes of the show have to do with growing up, getting in touch with reality, chasing some fantasy in their head and what people are running from in terms of their own inner life,” Beard said. “I think we’ll have that as long as we have people.
“It’s a very complicated script, the characters are very complicated, so the real challenge has been to squeeze as much meaning out of the script as we can, to just put so much of it out there that at least some of it will stick on the audience. You never really know how much somebody coming in is going to walk away with. ... If you can really make the actors understand what they’re doing on stage, it’ll come across better to any kind of audience.”
Rounding out the cast are Steve Bashor, Andy Cobble, Colleen Dunne, Walker Godfrey, Katy Libby, Kyle Mason, Adrian Dean, Kristina Twitty, Linda Wakely and Daniel Wallen. April Gardner is stage manager, Kaeli Gardner is technical director and Kathy Davenport is set painter.
Tickets to the show are $12 for adults and $10 for seniors (55 and up) and students.
For reservations, call 423-926-2542 or visit jcct.us. Tickets may also be purchased at the door 45 minutes prior to the start of each show.
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“The Philadelphia Story”
WHEN: 8 p.m., Oct. 2, 3, 9, 10, 16, 17; 2 p.m., Oct. 11
WHERE: Johnson City Community Theatre, corner of Maple and Afton streets
COST: $12, adults; $10, students/seniors
CONTACT: 423-926-2542 or jcct.us
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