Humbugs with a twist

Ritzville theater performing holiday melodrama

RITZVILLE — Scheduling conflicts frequently surface in town when it comes to putting on a community play.

So says Miles Athey, director of the latest from the Ritzville Community Theatre, "The Plight Before Christmas," opening Nov. 9.

"It's so small that there are constant

conflicts," he said. "Many people who would come no matter what, automatically, are at their sons' football game or whatever. And we have very active FFA, all kinds of organizations in this town that are constantly doing things. It's just a maze of activity in this town on any given night."

That makes scheduling a block of time to get the maximum number of attendants to the play during a four-day weekend occasionally difficult. But Athey said the shows are packed and estimated roughly 95 percent of the last five years of productions have sold out.

"Plight," a dinner theater melodrama by Fred Cusick and Diane Moore, is a take-off of Charles Dickens' "A Christmas Carol" and takes place in the 1890s at the Old Curiosity Saloon in El Paso, Texas.

Seven primary characters are somewhat coordinated with characters in the classic story, Athey said, noting his character, Jake Marley, is a former partner left by Scrooge stand-in Ebeneezer Humbug to die, but not a ghost like Jacob Marley. Athey noted some characters have been added for the Ritzville production that Cusick and Moore did not create, including a piano player, an Native American, a prompter and a bartender.

"The show is a melodrama, so for the most part it's extraordinarily colorful, almost in some cases cartoonish," Athey said. "The characters have, as did the old melodramas because there was no sound in those, their expressions and emotions are exaggerated, so it's a lot of fun in that regard."

The play differs from past Ritzville productions, Athey said, which might appear to be "bad acting" when held up in comparison.

"Or it would appear so," he said with a chuckle. "If you were to compare it against the quality of the other shows we've done, this one is going to seem corny, almost."

Athey said there's more audience interaction than normal.

"It's kind of fun in that it's not a whodunit, it's not a mystery — you don't have to sit down and try to figure out what's going on, because it becomes pretty obvious," he said. "It's just like the old melodramas, where the landowner comes in and he's essentially stealing from everybody and making their lives miserable."

Athey said it's the first time the theater group has put on a melodrama, and a play including some music.

"I don't want to say it's simplistic, because there's a lot of action in it," he said. "And so the blocking and everything is a technical challenge, especially on a small stage. At some point, I think we're going to have as many as 11 people up there. That's tough."

Paul Schwisow plays Ebeneezer Humbug. He's been involved in nine other productions, he said, but it's the first time he's ever played a lead character, so there's more memorization involved.

"I'm a farmer, so I'm on a tractor, and I do it on the tractor all day long," he said. "So I can get it really through my head."

Anna Schwartz plays young heroine Felicity Fuzziwig, described as a pure and sweet orphan.

"I had to watch 'Dudley Do-Right' a couple of times," Schwartz said with a smile. "As an actor, I had to raise my voice quite a bit and to remember that she's nice and sweet and innocent, whereas I am 31 and I have three children —not quite the same."

Schwartz studied technical theater in college, but hadn't done anything in 12 years. Her husband urged her to try out, and she said she's enjoyed having something to do outside being a mother and the Cub Scouts.

"Most of our rehearsals last longer because we're all laughing too hard," she said.

Ritzville High School junior Cory Kiesz is using the production as a project to earn an academic letter, handling public relations for the play

Cory noted he's long been involved with the plays through his parents — in "Plight" mother Michele plays the sheriff and father Randy handles lights and sound — but the extracurricular project requires eight hours of community service. He said he's learning about the work put into the production, and the amount of work put into advertising.

"Just how much it takes to put one of these plays together," he said. "I think they're great, it's something fun you can come and watch and eat dinner. There's no cussing, swearing, it's good humor."

"Plight" opens Nov. 9 and plays at the Circle T through Nov. 12. Thursday through Saturday, the stage opens at 6 p.m. with curtain at 6:30 p.m. On Sunday, the stage opens at 3:30 p.m. with curtain at 4 p.m. Seating limit is 35 per show. The Thursday and Sunday shows offer a discount spaghetti dinner for $16 per ticket. The Friday and Saturday shows offer a full-fare dinner for $30 per ticket.

To purchase tickets, call 659-0922. For more information, call 509-659-1239.