ON STAGE: Theater's pains hilariously
staged in 'Show Business'

By LEO STUTZIN
Modesto Bee Arts Editor
February 12, 2002

SONORA -- Backstage comedies usually romp among the vanities, foibles, delusions and romantic entanglements of larger-than-life theater people, aiming for nothing more than giddy entertainment. Think "Noises Off," if you've seen it.

"Anton in Show Business," which opened Stage 3's season with sometimes-delirious laughter on Friday, goes further.

It contains heaps of quirky personalities, divergent and often-conflicting dreams and a dash of erotic gamesmanship, all expertly crafted by the elusive playwright known by the pseudonym Jane Martin. But its uniqueness stems from the sum of all those wacky parts: a spoof of the travails of nonprofit theater in America.

That's Stage 3 looking at itself, at its living and lamented kin in this theater-rich foothill town, and at theaters large and small across the country, and laughing wryly at what all confront in the struggle to practice the art they love.

Playwright Martin, who is widely believed to be producer-director Jon Jory, knows the territory intimately. For 23 years, before retiring to academia last year, Jory directed an esteemed regional theater, as well as the country's No. 1 launching pad for new plays. He has dealt with thousands of performers, directors, designers, playwrights, producers and -- of crucial importance -- people with money.

None escape barbs in "Anton in Show Business," which had its premiere less than two years ago at the Humana Festival of New American Plays and has since been staged from Boston to San Jose. It was voted the best new play of 2001 by the American Theatre Critics Association.

The pivotal characters are actresses chosen to play the title roles in Anton Chekhov's "Three Sisters." Set in provincial Russia at a time of rapid social change, it is considered one of the masterpieces of world theater, which makes it a natural icon for parody when the target is the urge to make art.

The actresses could hardly be more different. Lisabette (Amy Chantel) is a bubbly third-grade teacher who has been infected by the theater bug; Casey (Sarah Grimes-Emmons) is a 200-show veteran who mixes affection with sarcasm; Holly (Angie Lowe) is a rich and famous TV beauty with a craving for artistic respect.

Their quickly formed allegiances run deeper than those differences, carrying them from New York audition studio to a Texas theater to a staging disaster. Its final moments mirror those of "Three Sisters," with Casey declaring, "Our life is not ended yet. We shall live!" -- but wondering what they are living for.

Until that moment, though, "Anton in Show Business" moves far too swiftly for indulgences in Chekhovian melancholy.

With seven actresses playing about 15 characters -- six of them male -- the show crackles with bristling satire.

Sally Newstetter sizzles in three roles: as a pretentious British director who insists that auditioners emote while mouthing nonsense syllables, as a passionate Polish director who equates Chekhovian plays with life itself, and a Texas tycoon with a ferocious temper. She's persuasively masculine and show-stoppingly hilarious as all three.

Laura Dyken adds three more in comparably strong fashion: as an intellectual producer, a romantically vulnerable country singer (male) and a swishy costume designer.

Then there's Monica M. McHardy, doing multiple duty and peaking as a black director who believes in activism but not in scripts, and as a tobacco company's charitable-grant director, who believes in getting the biggest corporate bang for every buck.

And finally there's Susannah Allatt, who never sets foot on stage, but plays a crucial and very visible role, stopping the action to challenge actors and directors with tough questions. She constitutes the outer ring in a play-within-a-play-within-a-play.

Sound dense? It's not. It's a side-splitting riot.

Graham Scott Green did the exemplary direction in his first venture into Stage 3's intimate format.

"Anton in Show Business" runs through March 10 in Stage 3 Theatre, 208 S. Green St., Sonora. Shows start at 7 p.m. Thursdays, 8 p.m. Fridays and Saturdays, 2 p.m. Sundays. Tickets are $10-$14 adults, $8 students, from 536-1778.