News Releases

USM Stages Student-Written Plays That Look at Mismatched Roommates and Supernatural Help for Romantic Diner Employees

February 5, 2007

Two one-act comedies, “Human at Heart” and “Heavenly? Match,” produced by USM’s Department of Theatre from Thursday, February 15 to Sunday, February 18. Performances take place 7:30 p.m., Thursday through Saturday, and at 5 p.m. on Sunday.  Tickets are $5 students, $8 seniors and USM faculty/staff, $12 public. PG-13. PHOTOS available at http://www.usm.maine.edu/theater/, select “MEDIA” from the left hand menu. Box office: 207-780-5151, Russell Hall, Gorham campus.

Ever fantasize about the private life of that cute waiter or arty barista?  Two fresh new comedies dish out the inside scoop on their friendships and rivalries, love and desires. 

Comic Actors Jack Fossett and Stacy Ann Strang Take Up the Pen!

Stacy Ann Strang of Livermore, local improv comic, has most recently appeared as Smeraldina in USM’s “A Servant of Two Masters,” and as both scriptwriter and lead actress in the soap opera pilot, “Criehaven,” that just made the final rounds in the Soapnet competition to fund a new series.        

You may already know Jack Fossett of Hollis as a member of the New England band, Tables Up, and as a comic actor (at USM: Cpt. Bluntschli in “Arms and the Man” and the Nathan in ‘06 SOAPs).  Now Jack is deeply engaged in writing a Civil War-period play and, based on watching his characters come to life in rehearsal, he has already begun extending “Heavenly? Match” into a full-length play. 

In Strang’s Human at Heart, follow the misadventures of our wildly optimistic heroine, Pinky (Jess Dummich of Winthrop), who claims to be from the planet Glan.  Because Pinky fears that she may stick out like . . . well, an alien, she never leaves her efficiency apartment.  She either mail orders or sews her own clothes.  Her groceries and even her work (toys to be tested) are delivered.  So it’s no wonder, that after a year and a half, we find Pinky, very lonely and bored with channel surfing—until a commercial for a late-night hotline offers companionship over the phone.  So, of course, Pinky innocently dials the number at the bottom of the screen.  When she reaches the burnt out phone worker (Michol Lynne Merrill), both their assumptions lead to a very funny interchange.  As you may imagine, the result is hardly satisfying for either party, but Pinky does get the idea to advertise for a roommate.

Impatient to have a “new best friend,” Pinky accepts the very first applicant, Georgia (Casey Turner of Buckfield)—an anti-corporate Goth girl who rationalizes working at Starbucks as “infiltrating from the inside.”  On Georgia’s move-in day, Pinky is beside herself with excitement!  She dons her newly designed “stuffed animal vest” and straightens her tinfoil hat.  When Georgia drags in, shields up, her few belonging in a black trash bag, looking for a minimum of chat and a place to crash, we have all the makings for an off-kilter 21st century “Odd Couple.” 

Anyone who’s ever shared a room or apartment or been “befriended against their will” can recognize and laugh at the well-meaning misunderstandings and ridiculous interactions of these mismatched roomies.

As an actress, Strang has evenly divided her time between working in improv and in scripted plays.  She laments that there are “so few comedic roles for women,” and improv has given her the freedom to create “my own characters and to make them as funny and outlandish as I want.”  So, now that she’s begun playwriting, she wrote “silly roles for strange characters that she would want to play.”

In “Heavenly? Match,” Fossett welcomes us to Eve’s Diner— where love, courtship, and confusion are on the menu.  Two of the weekend wait staff, Guy (Joe Bearor) and Jenny (Autumn Rose) have a mutual crush.  But Guy just can’t seem to ask Jenny out, and she insists that he must make the first move.  When Guy pleads, “If there's anyone up there, would you please help me out?” supernatural Help (and Hindrance) are dispatched in the form of Magdalene, a seductive, ornery angel (Nadia Soliman) and Judas, a wannabe super-smooth demon (Travis Curran).  These two have been rivals, friends (and maybe more) for centuries and, just to sweeten the pot, the Big Cheese and the Prince of Darkness  have a wager on the outcome.  Jude and Maggie deploy several hilarious methods to influence this faltering romance.  Chief among them is the ability to put words in Guy’s mouth—alternatively tender and crass—with a snap of their fingers. And they also embed encouragement and taunts into their orders: “I’ll take some Ask Her Out pancakes.”   Or, “I’ll have some You’re a Pansy toast.”  To round out the action, Jenny and Guy are each inexpertly coached by the Hostess (Michol Lynne Merrill of Winslow) and the Cook (Nate Speckman of Cape Elizabeth), respectively.  By the time the “customer from hell” (Gary Thayer of Newcastle) becomes even more impossible than usual, all the chips are in— and, after some surprising twists and turns, someone will play the winning hand.

Warm Up Your Winter with a double helping of comedy-- filled with love, laughter, and surprises!

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