Contest winner hits the stage with hysterical results
KAREN SHADE World Scene Writer
02/23/2006
Tulsa World (Final Home Edition), Page D3 of Arts
The title of Heller Theatre's next play is "Hysterical Friction," but it would take more than a bout of laryngitis to make Whitson Hanna succumb to panic.
His own dry voice never broke when he recently talked about rescheduling rehearsals to allow the other half of his comedy duet time to heal.
"Her voice is coming back, and hopefully it'll be ready to go on Friday when we open," he said calmly.
Kara Saunders will be ready -- whether her voice is may be another matter. She plays Nora, the character with the business know-how who stays busy to avoid dealing with her problematic personality. Annie Ellicott plays Kate, the one with the talent who fears her own sexuality. |
Annie Ellicott and Kara Saunders star in “Hysterical Friction,” the winning entry of Heller’s 2005 original playwriting contest.
A. CUERVO/Tulsa World
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When Nora and Kate meet in a garage to collaborate on a romance novel, their personalities clash. Those clashes provide much of the humor in the play by Lane Riosley.
"Hysterical Friction" won Heller Theatre's 2005 original play competition. Hanna, the play's director, helped select the winner after narrowing the field of about 50 submissions to three, which were read aloud and evaluated by people who participated in the read-throughs in the fall.
He first read the play last summer.
"I remember being very impressed at how complete it was. It was the kind of play that you read and you already see in your mind," he said. "... It was almost heads above everything else that was offered."
Subsequent readings and rehearsals also have revealed humor he didn't catch the first time around.
"It's a lot funnier than I thought it was when I originally read it ... and God bless my actresses. They already have such a great established relationship with one another, so the chemistry on stage was nothing they had to overcome," he said.
"One of my favorite moments in this entire show is when Nora has given herself the assignment of going home and writing down all the adjectives that are used in sex scenes in all these romance novels. So she goes and does the research. She's reading all the adjectives almost like a school teacher to Kate to inspire Kate, so they can write these sex scenes. It's very funny," he said.
His experience with new plays is that they often go through considerable revision before making it to a paying audience. "Hysterical Friction" is different, he said.
"It's so well-written. It's almost like it's a published well-known work that people know and have done for years. I'm not going to say it's 'Our Town,' but it rubs off like that," he said.
Karen Shade 581-8334
karen.shade@tulsaworld.com
theater preview
“HYSTERICAL FRICTION”
What:
presentation of winner of Heller Theatre’s 2005 original play contest
When:
8 p.m. Thursday-Saturday and March 2-4
Where:
Heller Theatre, 5328 S. Wheeling Ave.
Admission:
$8 adults, $6 students and seniors For more or to make reservations, call 746-5065 or go to hellertheatre.com.
This site sponsored by Heller Theatre Council.
To contact the webmaster e-mail alb74066@aol.com or Heller Theatre at Parktheater@ci.tulsa.ok.us
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