George Romero (left) and Dale Sams perform a scene from Heller Theater’s production of “Dr. Fritz.” STEPHEN HOLMAN/Tulsa World

‘Mere’-ly amusing

Annual fund-raising production garners consistent laughs

By MICHAEL SMITH World Scene Writer 8/24/2004 Heller Theater has an excellent track record of making people laugh -- and making some money -- with its annual council fund-raising production, and it has got another success in "Mere Mortals," which opened last weekend. Those who fondly remember past entries in Heller's August shows like "A Coupla White Chicks Sitting Around Talking" and "Parallel Lives" will want to catch this collection of one-act comedies by David Ives.

Heather Brooker, Michael Bernart (center) and Mike Grove share a scene in Heller Theater’s production of “Time Flies.” The play is one of five in “Mere Mortals,” a collection of one-act comedies by David Ives. STEPHEN HOLMAN/Tulsa World

What makes the consistency in quality of the humor most impressive is that the five playlets are directed by four people, three of them directing for the first time. Fans of Ives ("All in the Timing") know him to be an excellent wordsmith, an original voice who employs wit, intellect and satire. He doesn't disappoint with these sketch comedies, a sort of absurdist lite presentation.
With five short works -- the whole show was 1 hour, 45 minutes including an intermission -- audience members will surely debate favorites following the show.
The funniest, as well as most accomplished, of the group at Sunday's matinee was "Foreplay," a fantastic bit of sexual innuendo among three couples on miniature golf dates, directed by Valerie Stefan.
All three couples riff on some of the same pickup/seduction lines, but all are just different enough in their wordplay to create a hilarious atmosphere.
There's some arousing physical comedy and plenty of golf (wink, wink) talk about men and their sticks, stroking a long one, putting it in the hole -- you get the point -- and it's a riot. Mike Grove, Sarah Alfred, Daniel Fugatt, George Romero, Bryan Reed and Sara Wilemon are all excellent.
Romero returns to form a dynamic comedy team with Dale Sams in "Dr. Fritz or the Forces of Light," in which a tourist with food poisoning in a Latin country is unfortunate enough to encounter a woman who doubles as a sadistic German doctor/vacant doctor's assistant who talks to God on a stuffed-dog telephone.
Romero's comic timing is impeccable, whether she's savagely wielding a stirrup, issuing doctor's orders or trying to sell souvenirs despite a language barrier. Sams is the perfect comic foil to this absurdity in director Jarrod Kopp's first of two efforts here.
Sams also scores with Michael Bernart and Ron Friedberg in the titular piece directed by Sherry Zyskowski, as three New Jersey steelworkers lunching on a beam 50 stories up, telling tall tales in a game of macho one-upsmanship.
Also a delight are Grove -- superb in this collection -- and Heather Brooker in "Time Flies." A pair of mayflies learn they have one day to live ("meeting, mating, breeding and dying," we learn thanks to a TV special by naturalist David Attenborough, brought to witty, monotone life by Bernart) and they decide to make the most of it in Tara Treiber's successful directing debut.
"Degas, C'est Moi" is the final one-act, directed by Kopp and reuniting the entire cast, as well as adding Leighanna Santandrea, for the tale of an unemployed man (Fugatt) who self-actualizes his inner greatness by imagining himself impressionist painter Edgar Degas for a day. An amusing premise, it produces a smile or two, but nothing more.
But taken as a whole, "Mere Mortals" is consistently amusing and smart, perfectly breezy entertainment for adults this summer. Tickets are cheap but the laughs aren't, and funds help Heller Theater with costuming, set design and other production costs for its upcoming season.
"Mere Mortals" continues with 8 p.m. performances Thursday-Saturday at Heller Theater, 5328 S. Wheeling Ave. Tickets are $5-$7 and may be reserved by calling 746-5065. NOTE: This play contains profanity and mature subject matter.