What's Up - Your guide to what's happening in Fayetteville, AR this week!
Issue link: https://www.epageflip.net/i/1483420
BECCA MARTIN-BROWN NWA Democrat-Gazette W ho wouldn't jump at the chance to work on a masterpiece by Edward Albee, one of America's greatest playwrights?" That's how Terry Vaughan, co-founder of Smokehouse Players with her husband, Tim Gilster, starts a discussion of their upcoming show, "Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf ?" First published and produced in 1962, it's considered a "dark comedy" in which two couples — George and Martha, who are older, and Nick and Honey, who are younger — engage in "a long night of malicious games, insults, humiliations, betrayals, painful confrontations, and savage witticisms" after a university faculty party. Martha and George are played by Vaughan and Gilster, Bryan Guarino plays Nick, and Juliette Robinson is Honey. Critic Toby Zinman writes of the play: "The plot stands as one of the great theatrical treatments of the dysfunctional family, a subject American drama has been in love with from the beginning; this is not the drippy prime-time variety of television's version of 'family drama' … but rather the obsessive reexamination of how families love and hate each other, the domestic battlefield where truth and illusion are locked in mortal combat." "I know every actor secretly dreams of getting the opportunity to dig into one of the four juicy characters in this play," Vaughan goes on. "And if there are theater lovers out there who have not gotten the opportunity to see a live production of 'Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf ?,' they are missing out on an unforgettable theatrical experience. The play is hilarious and heartbreaking, scorching and exhilarating. … It is clear that this play is a love story — a twisted love story — but a love story nonetheless." The play is, for modern audiences, almost Shakespearean in length — three acts, certainly running more than two hours. That kind of production, says Vaughan, takes "brass balls, huge open hearts, and 100 percent commitment from all involved. Smokehouse Players 'ain't afraid of nothing,' and we refuse to underestimate our audience! "Worthwhile theater comes in many shapes and sizes. If you start with a brilliant script and put in the work that is required before, during, and after rehearsals, it doesn't matter if the show is one act or three acts. The audience will take the journey with you…" Vaughan says what audiences don't need to worry about is coming into the play with their homework in hand. November 6-12, 2022 What's up! 5 Faq Smokehouse Players: 'Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?' WHEN — 7:30 p.m. Nov. 10-12 WHERE — Ozark Mountain Smokehouse, 1725 S. Smokehouse Trail in Fayetteville COST — Free; donations accepted INFO — smokehouseplayers@gmail.com FYI — No reservations; first come, first serve BONUS — The Nov. 10 performance is a benefit for Magdalene Serenity House. Truth And Lies Family is focus of dark comedy 'virginia Woolf' The cast of "Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf" features Juliette robinson (from left), bryan Guarino, tim Gilster and terry vaughan. (Courtesy photo/Danielle Keller, arli media) FayeTTeville See Woolf Page 6