![]() ![]() His children and grandchildren are throwing him a surprise party. The occasion of Centerburg Tales is the 75th birthday of Grandpa Carson (Joe Ponazecki), whose wife, the beloved Grandma Ruthy, recently died. I left the theater after the opening night performance thinking about all the intended themes and more, but I wasn't quite sure what the play was saying about them. In this production, it is about 75 percent successful. The extent that Centerburg Tales succeeds in getting these large ideas across is the ultimate measure of its success. Booker and Rodgers (who collaborated on the playwright's Lost Electra last year at the Asolo) also want to explore themes such as imagination and the uses of storytelling, the loosening of family ties in a transient society and the impact of technology on American life. Rodgers' adaptation from Robert McCloskey's books of stories for young people about the small-town Ohio of his childhood, Homer Price and Centerburg Tales.Īs staged by director Margaret Booker, the play is not just colorful and fun, although its funky high spirits generate plenty of laughs. Of course it needs work, but the shape of something special is clearly visible in Bruce E. Rarely is a play perfectly presented in its first production.Ĭenterburg Tales, now debuting at the Asolo Theater, has a bright future. ![]() ![]() Ithink perhaps the highest praise for the premiere of a play is not that it is great right now, but that it has a bright future. The play shows promise in its debut run at the Asolo. ![]()
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