Friday, Mer and I headed down to Akron to the new home of Actors’ Summit Theater, to see a play we had never heard of before, Becky’s New Car. The interesting thing about the play is that it was the sixtieth birthday present of a woman in Seattle, given to her by her husband. He walked into a theater and asked them to write a comedy, and eighteen months later, Becky’s New Car debuted. The Actors’ Summit version was the thirteenth production of the play, and as is their tradition, the couple who commissioned the play was on hand to see the opening. That was pretty cool.
We met up with our friend Nate for the play. Nate’s wife Rachel was supposed to join us, but sadly, she was ill with the flu. We chatted with Nate until the show started, which was a pleasant (and, with Nate, always amusing) way to spend thirty minutes.
The set for Becky’s was interesting – the front of the stage was divided in half, with the left part of the stage being taken up by a desk, and the right part of the stage with a couch and small table. The back of the stage was an elevated platform that looked like a deck. So, for the play, the left part of the stage was Becky’s office, the right part of the stage was Becky’s home, and the back of the stage was a beach house.
The play was very funny, for the most part (the end got a bit serious). It was interesting in that Becky broke out of the theater mold from time to time to talk to us, the audience, or to talk to her lighting technician. She had audience members help her with her paperwork at the office, and asked for the light tech to light up the “home” part of the stage when she was tired of being at work. It took a minute or two to get used to it, but then it worked well and was quite funny.
The actors did a fine job, with most of them being new to Actors’ Summit (or they had not been on stage there for a while). The actors playing Becky and the man who wants to date her were especially good.
The basic plot line revolves around a rich widower who buys some cars from Becky’s dealership. He is fond of Becky and becomes accidentally convinced that she is a widow. The play follows the developments of the entire family as Becky tries to figure out what to do. It makes for some pretty good theater.
Mer and I are on this very strict diet, so that meant not going out before or after the show, which is pretty rare for us. Then, to top it off, this was the opening night of Actors’ Summit’s one hundredth production, so they had cake after the play. Nate quite enjoyed it. Mer and I were left with just enjoying the play.