Theater Club's first staging penned by former Czech Republic president
By MICHAEL SMITH World Entertainment Writer 10/26/00
Craig Walter and Scott Heberling aren't fools. They like money. They just don't expect to make any by starting up a theater company in Tulsa."Oh, we fully expect to lose our money," Walter said, with a wry smile growing across his face. "We just hope to do it slowly."
These founding members have formed Theater Club with several goals in mind. Chief among them: Producing published scripts that present some of what Walter describes as "a little more adventurous programming," like shows with an existentialist and/or absurdist bent.
Something like "Largo Desolato," their debut production opening Thursday night, in which the action takes place inside a character's head. Or their production planned for January, "The Vagina Monologues." Or maybe "Lonesome West," their 2001 show featuring two Irish brothers who are "just despicable but hilarious people who beat the hell out of each other," Heberling said.
"No one else seems interested in doing this kind of thing anymore," said Heberling, a veteran of several current and former theater troupes, including the more experimental Theater Works, which closed its doors a few years ago.
"We'd always have conversations about `theater that we like.' Now maybe we can do something about it. There are people out there who want to see things they've never seen before, a little more off-the-wall kind of things. (With some companies) you can get bogged down with the administration of the whole thing, those kind of `Oh, the public may not like it' kind of worries."
Walter said he is aware that some people aren't going to make a trip to the theater unless it's a romantic comedy or Andrew Lloyd Webber or one of the classics. But Theater Club will offer something for everyone, he said.
"We're just broadening the base a little bit," he said. "The theater can be like music (from other generations); if it doesn't get played, it can fade away. We're hoping people will learn that there are different ways to do theater."
One example of that credo is "Largo Desolato," written in 1985 by playwright Vaclav Havel, then a political dissident recently freed from jail in Czechoslovakia and later the president of the Czech Republic. This tale of a man who is trapped -- in his apartment awaiting the secret police to arrive and arrest him for something he wrote -- echoes Havel's own experiences under the oppressive totalitarian regime.
It's the kind of work that's meant to be disturbing and comical at the same time. There's no linear, Step-A-leads-to-Step-B- leads-to-Step-C type of storytell ing. It shows a man struggling with fear and the "slow desolation" of the spirit, and it incorporates sight gags and silences.
"You're dropped into this character's head, and nothing really happens the whole play," said Walter, laughing, as he prepares to portray the main character. "It all stays inside his head. That's the way I'm playing it. I couldn't tell you what the plot of this is."
Other players in "Largo Desolato" include Angela Adams, Derek Adams, Rich Bentz, Jenny Jackson, Liz Masters, Christian Neeman, George Nelson, George Romero and Annette Rosenheck. The design responsibilities belong to Devin Meadows and George Calvert.
Michael Smith, World entertainment writer, can be reached at 581-8474 or via e-mail at michael.smith@tulsaworld.com.