• The Eight: Reindeer Monologues (2004)

• The Glass Menagerie (2004)

• Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? (2004)

• The Taming of the Shrew (2004)

Other years' shows......

The Glass Menagerie
by Tennessee Williams

presented July 22-August 15, 2004

Director: Fred Franklin
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Laura: Jacqueline Reid
Amanda : Laurie Thomas
Tom: Vic Browder
Jim/Father: Ross Kelly

Reviews

"...this FUSION version succeeds in communicating the play's impressive balance of dizzying comedy and bleak, soul-smashing tragedy.... Since this play takes place in the great stormy state of Tennessee Williams,... everything must end badly, and it does -- so, so badly. Thankfully, the play's hilarity keeps it from sinking into a lightless pit, and the cast, especially Thomas and Kelly, know how to milk this teat for laughs. Whenever Thomas is on the stage, she owns it. As the woman seated behind me said, 'She's so good I felt like slapping her.' Amen, sister. Thomas creates such a stylized, exotic Amanda, the character almost seems like a caricature. Yet Amanda is in many ways the most mysterious and intriguing personality in the play. Thomas paints a masterful portrait of a desperate, abandoned middle-aged woman who is simultaneously sympathetic to the audience and intolerable to everyone around her. As the overly enthusiastic, hyper-ambitious gentleman caller, Kelly is uproariously funny. He nails some of the best physical gags in the show.... Browder [is] one of the undeniable stars of Albuquerque theater... Reid... seems so breakable here, a fragile soul demanding protection. As she opens herself to Jim, you can almost see her flesh and bones transforming to glass in front of you then shattering to a thousand pieces during the inevitable unhappy ending. Reid's vulnerability is excruciating to watch, but during these later scenes it's impossible to tear your eyes away from her.... {A] truly ingenious aspect of the staging is the living portrait of Amanda's slimy ex-husband positioned in the middle of the set. Played with smarmy poise by Kelly, this winking, grinning photograph provides some of the play's funniest moments. It also serves as a smart thematic bridge between the man who abandoned the family and the gentleman caller Amanda hopes will replace him. I'm personally grateful that FUSION continues to present polished, professional stagings of Tennessee Williams' plays each season.... the fantastic stretches in the performance are long and dazzling enough to make this production will worth the price of admission."--Steven Robert Allen, Weekly Alibi

Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?
by Edward Albee

presented April 15-May 9, 2004

Director: Jacqueline Reid
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George: William Sterchi
Martha : Richard Move
Nick: Ross Kelly
Honey: Rebecca Gibel

Reviews

"FUSION Theatre Company's second show of the 2004 season is a gender-bending, exciting new staging of Edward Albee's Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? The play, expertly directed by FUSION founding member Jacqueline Reid, examines the brutality that spouses visit upon each other and the search for intimacy and understanding. .. The set, crafted by Charles Clute, an Emmy Award winner and veteran Santa Fe Opera designer, is a snapshot of the bourgeois trappings of a disappointed life.... The best two compliments I can give to Move's charismatic, boiling Martha is that I forgot Elizabeth Taylor's iconic movie portrayal and I forgot that Move is a man playing a woman's role. His physical and speech mannerisms convey only a bitterly disappointed, angry middle-aged woman whose only joy comes from belittling her long-suffering but equally angry husband. Sterchi's verbal facility and vulnerability enlivens George's polyester-clad whipping boy.... This production is another triumph for Albuquerque's best theater group."--Kelly Koepke, ABQArts

"When Edward Albee's Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? exploded on Broadway in 1962, it shocked and confused some audiences and critics while capturing the New York Drama Critics Circle and Tony Awards. The FUSION Theatre Company production directed by Jacqueline Reid at The Cell demonstrates that the play has not lost any of its impact. It remains a powerful and painful American classic... Unexpectedly, Martha is played by Richard Move, who is too young (20 years his character's junior), too tall (reportedly 6 feet 4 inches), and, well, male (with pancake makeup struggling to cover a five o'clock shadow). Move, however, has Martha's voice, from the vulgar bray to the dusky smoothness of 12-year-old scotch. Moreover, he understands and conveys Martha's coarseness, anger, cruelty, and vulnerability. The other actors have the advantage of being the same age and gender as the characters they play. They are excellent. Ross Kelly is ideal as the handsome, hunky Nick... Kelly successfully conveys bewilderment as well as academic ambition. As his wife Honey, Rebecca Gibel is delightfully dim. Her character strains to make sense of the carnage swirling around her. Gibel's performance is a joy to watch. The strongest achievement is William Sterchi's portrayal of George. Sterchi's ruddy, round face and cherubic grin belie the cruelty his character inflicts. Sterchi embodies decades of disappointment and belittlement twisted to viciousness."--Barry Gaines, ABQ Journal

"The FUSION Theatre Company is currently staging a production of Albee's iconic American masterpiece at The Cell Theatre. Directed by Jacqueline Reid, this version, I'm happy to report, is as hilarious as it is terrifying .... Engines fueled by a couple gallons of gin, bourbon and brandy, the unpleasant situation quickly degenerates into a scene of pure domestic hell. Don't let this description repel you. This play is very funny, even if its humor is mostly mean-spirited and cynical. The best thing about FUSION's production is the peculiar but brilliant casting. Reid brought in New York actor Richard Move to play the role of the domineering, back-biting Martha. You should know that Move is a burly man who towers at least seven feet tall. With his stubbled chin, horrid bleached hair, fake tits and slurry, drunken swagger, Move brings a perfect funky eroticism to the mix. heightening and highlighting the hilarious surreality of Albee's caustic dialogue. In an inspired application of one of the golden rules of comedy, Move's gargantuan stature makes William Sterchi seem all the tinier... One of the things that makes this production so enjoyable is that the two performers are utterly unconvincing as a realistic married couple, but the unbelievability of their pairing just makes this production even funnier... A long-time veteran of local theater and film, Sterchi is always reliably good, and in FUSION's Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? I've never seen him perform better. Time after time, he brings an ingenious, unexpected, idiosyncratic twist to Albee's lines. Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? is a loud play -- meaning there's an awful lot of yelling. Thankfully, these players don't yell merely to cover up a lack of acting skills. All four actors are sharp and effective. This polished professional production is also aided greatly by a simple, frumpy scenic design created by Emmy Award winner Charles Clute... No sharper black wit can be found in American theater, and this cast and crew wield that wit with the precision of brain surgeons. "--Steven Robert Allen, Weekly Alibi

The Taming of the Shrew
by William Shakespeare

presented February 12-March 7, 2004

Director: Fred Franklin
------------------------------
Lucentio: Matt Andrade
Bianca : Rebecca Gibel
Baptista: John Hardman
Katherina: Jacqueline Reid
Petruccio: Vic Browder
Tranio: Keith Richard Chamberlain
Grumio: Angela Littleton
Hortensio: Ed Dean

Reviews

"...A new production of William Shakespeare's classic play on the subject is currently being staged by the FUSION Theatre Company at The Cell Theatre. Director Fred Franklin has ingeniously set the play in the '50s during the tail end of the Golden Age of Shrew Taming. The results are a doo-woppin', bobby sockin', poodle skirtin' laugh riot that will amaze and amuse even those weirdoes who claim indifference to Shakespeare... In Franklin's version, a bunch of frat boys find a drunk passed out on the sidewalk and decide to play a prank on him.... Bizarrely, the frat boys then stage a play for him. That play within a play serves as the main story in The Taming of the Shrew.... As they've proven over and over again in the past, the FUSION Theatre Company knows how to put on a great show, and this is one of their best. The fingerprints of a great director are smeared over every inch of it. Kudos to Fred Franklin for combining an innovative set with a black and white slide show, killer music and truly inspired choreography into one of the best Shakespeare stagings I've seen in years. Radical innovation is integrated into almost every scene.... This cast is fantastic. Browder injects enormous bombast, style and intelligence into the role of Petruccio. Keith Richard Chamberlain turns in a hilarious performance as Tranio, Lucentio's versatile servant. John Hardman is equally hilarious as the stuffy patriarch Baptista. Angela Littleton does some great bits as Petruccio's servant Grumio. The toughest role, of course, is Katherina, and Jacqueline Reid really does some sensational shrewing here. She brings all the necessary wit and bite to the character, showing exactly why she's had to wait so long to find her intellectual equal in Petruccio.... Reid's Katherina makes it clear, though, that she may be willing to change her behavior for the sake of a happy marriage, but she will never be a sniveling submissive. She's no longer a shrew, but she won't be a doormat either."--Steven Robert Allen, Weekly Alibi

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