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‘The Potting Shed’ Has: Successful Opening NightIA jam-packed audience *p« surely Saturday night by platided vigorously Saturday Edward A, Caskey, as the self-night the tense, convincing ■ assured, blustering Dr* Frederick Hasten: Robert Boa], InPotomac Play makers production of 11 Die Potting Shed.*1 The-Graham Greene drama, is in many senses the most serious play that the local little theater group has produced for several years. But . the moral and religious overtones of the play made no inroads on the size of the audience or the favorable reaction. More, than 200 persons, absolute capacity of the Woman's Club auditorium, were'on hand for an unusually flawless first night production. The play \vill be repeated tonight, tomorrow night and Wednesday night,Mary Ella Crossley, in her first- director’s rale far the ; Potomac Playmakers, guided I- a well-drilled, closely integrated cast who kept the playaf emotions and dramatic1 .tenseness at such a height that r the scarcity of physical action'in the drama was not detrimental to its attention-holding qualities. Mrs* Crossley has been assisted by Theron Rinehart In the directing.Dick Collyer, with the biggest role iti the play, turned in . a letter - perfect, well thought-out performance as the yohrig man who gradually uncovers a secret of the past that works major* revolutions on his life and thought. As James CaUifer, he was a center of attention throughoutthe play, and painted in convincing colors the transformation that gradually grasps the drama’s hero.None of die other male characters is on the stage as ' much. But Evan Crossley, whose appearance is limited2 to one scene, Held the atten-1 tion of the audience glued as ■ the priest who is tortured by j doubts, yet proves to hold an! important cluo to the unfolding of the riddle of the potting ] shed. In .startling makeup and : with infinite attention to details^ of characterization, ne | dominated the second scene of the -second act as Father'L. William CaUifer, \ '; r .More normal eharacterizn-: tions are demanded by the '■ other male roles in (fie play.!• They were handled deftly andthe role of the more self-effacing and business-like John1 Callifer, Paul . Burger, who was property command* ing and intense as the psychiatrist, Dr. Krenzer; and Ron Gardner, as the quite average roommate, Corner,Janis Priest made her Potomac Playmakers debut an impressive one, in the rote of ^ara Calllfcr. Giving the •characterization a rather world - weary, even - keeled slant, she was at her beat during the big first and last act scenes with the hero.To Mary Jane Thurmond, as the young Anne CaUifer, went most of the amusing lines of the play. Another newcomer to the Playmakers stage, she gave,, an airy, completely natural performance that an actress of twice her years might have envied.Lottie Greene infused the elderly Mrs. . CaUifer with tragic/, foreboding implica tions. Equally splendid were the brief appearances of Helen Johnson, as the tottery, fluttering Mrs, Potter, md Pat Rensch,. in. the role of the sharp-tongued,'-- domineering Miss-Connolly. 'One of*the most attractive and elaborate staging arrar|c-merits in Playmakers history added to the interest* of Sat* urday .night's performance.The .stage crew under the direction of Bab Peters has worked minor miracles in providing three complete’ sets that can be shifted on-the tiny Playmakers stage without undue waits between acts or scenes. The opulence of the CaUifer residence, the bareness of the rectory, and the normalcy of James CaUifer1 a rooms arc sharply differentiated In the three sets.Sodality Slates Annual Card ParlySt. Mary’s Sodaliiy will hold its annual card party tonight in the State Armory. Bridge, canasta, five hundred and other card games will beC2;AKiwihoc*WEIcedliatsuananan M Sr an da M DiMchM:Li.iWitoLiScLeHi01Kic»B(TeTlitoiCh36.idaseseVtinMinilpi;afrlt;anwith«m * Ch re
Newspaper Details
Morning Herald
Hagerstown, Maryland, US
Mon, Feb 03, 1958
Page 4
Full Page
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Anonymous
USA 22 Jun 2020
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