Country club comedy
The Butler Little Theatre will close its season with “The Fox on the Fairway,” a witty romp by Ken Ludwig.
The show opens May 10 and is under the direction of Jud Michael Stewart with producers Ron Lockwood, Sue Collar and Becky Plymale.
Ludwig offers up a tribute to the great English farces of the 1930s and 1940s. The show takes audiences behind closed doors at a stuffy private country club to portray the antics of its patrons.
The fast paced comedy can prove challenging, but for Shannon Donovan who portrays the waitress, Louise Heindbedder, that's part of the fun.
“I love the pace and explosions of farces,” said Donovan, a high school student who is appearing in her first adult show.
“This production was interestingly different than a student cast and it's my first farce. I've come to realize just how crucial timing, flow, blocking and focus are,” she said.
Donovan has appeared in all of the Knoch High School productions and recently wrote and directed her first play at the school. She will be the student director for BLT's summer student production of “James and the Giant Peach.”
Linda Anschuetz of Lancaster Township will fill the role of the unabashed Muriel. “She is a forceful woman that doesn't hold anything back,” said Anschuetz of her character.
“She has to do emotional somersaults to bring out her soft side.”
Anschuetz last appeared as Margaret Craddock in “Murdered to Death” with the Bobcat Players in the Pittsburgh area.
“I have been known to raise my voice now and then,” she said about the similarities of her personality with her character's.
“This is really a good cast and it is 'good to be the queen,'” she said, noting that laughter is a staple of this production.
And every good country club farce must have a cougar to add some sass and drama; enter Sheri McConnell of Pine Township who plays Pamela Peabody.
“She is a 40ish cougar type who is a prominent member of the local golf and country club. She's been married three times,” said McConnell, who claims she and her character have a few similarities.
McConnell is a newcomer to the BLT stage and last appeared as the witch in “The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe” at Leesburg Lighthouse Productions.
The show abounds with slapstick humor and relies on a great deal of physical comedy.
Also starring are Doug Anderson, John Carlson and Dean Weiland.
<B>WHO: /B>Butler Little Theatre<B>WHAT: /B>“The Fox on the Fairway” by Ken Ludwig<B>WHEN: /B>May 10 to 18, with curtain at 8:15 p.m. Fridays and Saturdays, 7:30 p.m. Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday and 2:30 p.m. Sunday<B>WHERE: /B>Butler Little Theatre, One Howard St.<B>TICKETS: /B>$10, available by calling 724-287-6781 from 7 to 9 p.m. Mondays through Fridays<B>INFO: /B>www.bltgroup.org
