Home. About Us. Productions. News. Press.

Press and Reviews

CLEVELAND

Critics' notebook

07/27/2003 - Dallas Morning News

A compendium of outtakes, reactions and follow-ups by our arts writers

THEATER

Last year, the Festival of Independent Theatres proved remarkable for its new plays: Fish by Cyndi Williams, Perchance by Angela Wilson and Bad Roof by Tim Hatcher. This year, new faces are providing that sense of discovery. Most have appeared in productions with area theater companies, but all are making their FIT debuts.

Colleen Clinkenbeard and Andra Buschmann were both superb as wayward teen mothers in Theatre Quorum's Be My Baby this year. At FIT, both are appearing in productions by Echo Theatre. Ms. Clinkenbeard is radiant as a young actress hungry for fame in the mysterious comedy Ariel Bright; she won high school speech contests, and her poise and posture remain flawless, but now there's a knowing luminosity.

Ms. Buschmann, starring in Dumb Supper as an Ozark Mountain girl dabbling in supernatural rituals and getting more than she bargained for, has a youthful but haunted look, a beguiling gravity that hints at great depth.

Audacity Productions' Cleveland features two finds: the intense Christie Beckham as a high school cheerleader with a secret life as a space alien and female pope, and hilarious Jeff Swearingen in a dual role as both the nerd Ms. Beckham takes to the prom and the handyman who's having an affair with her mother.

Joey Oglesby holds his own opposite veteran Ashley Wood in The Harry and Sam Dialogues from Boaz Unlocked, itself a newcomer to FIT. Mr. Oglesby is completely disarming as the blue-collar, put-upon but unfailingly sweet Harry, who's down to earth but has a knack for impromptu utterances such as, "Ever want to be a model or just look like one?"

Another fresh face is that of Maryam Baig, who's been impressive in student productions at UTD but is far more so as Frida Kahlo in Cara Mia's To DIE: GO in Leaves. She's got a delicate, birdlike quality, but is nonetheless powerful as the Mexican painter, carrying the show handily and mastering the demanding mime and movement fostered by director Jeffry Farrell.

Tom Sime