Wired for laughs
A guy and his doll provide the sparks in 'Comic Potential'

Tuesday, February 19, 2008
BY PETER FILICHIA
Star-Ledger Staff
NEW JERSEY STAGE
Maybe they will need all those seats after all.

Alliance Repertory Theater Company, which usually draws about 100 people to its performances, has moved into the cavernous 1,356-seat Union County Arts Center in Rahway. And while its production of Alan Ayckbourn's 'Comic Potential' does have its flaws, connoisseurs of comedy must rush to see Sara Peters in the role of a lifetime.

Peters is delicious as Jacie Triplethree -- or, better, JC333, one of the androids who acts on daytime soap operas. Ayckbourn's comedy takes place 'in the foreseeable future,' after directors have finally decided that real actors aren't necessary to enact a soap's trite plot and dialogue. (This is a clearly a play that will bring no pleasure to Susan Lucci.)

Adam, the network boss' nephew, comes by the set to meet Chandler Tate, a director he admires. Soon, though, Adam is more taken with Jacie, who's playing a nurse on the down-in-the-ratings soap, 'Hospital Hearts.' However, Jacie seems to have something wrong with her internal wiring and program. She's having, Tate complains, 'vowel movements.'

For a futuristic farce, 'Comic Potential' goes into a terribly retro plot: Adam feels bad about how Jacie's treated, and when she's threatened to be melted down and reconfigured as a new android, he won't let that happen. He helps her escapes, which infuriates the network, because these 'actoids' cost millions. Nevertheless, Adam won't return Jacie, for now he's fully in love with her.

Who wouldn't be, the way Peters enacts the character? Her journey from stone-faced soulless droid to feeling individual rather mirrors Hal the Computer's journey in '2001: A Space Odyssey.' But Peters and Jacie are much more fun.

She starts out with a straight-armed stance worthy of Barbie and vacant eyes that blink in the mechanical way a doll's would. What she does with her voice, however, no Chatty Cathy could ever manage. Because Jacie has been programmed to respond to any situation a writer could throw her way, Jacie must come out with an appropriate response, sounding like Garbo now, Liz Taylor later. Name any female entertainment icon and Peters will probably do it -- and splendidly. And if that isn't enough, she has one scene where she must break out in a dance so invigorating and funny that one rushes to the program to see who choreographed. (Answer: Sara Peters.)

Matt McCarthy is an appealing Adam, getting more and more frenetic as he finds problem after problem in this guy-and-doll romance. He's especially funny when he must cope with Jacie's announcing that she's 'full of liquid' and needs to be 'emptied.' John Correll scores as a blustery and frustrated Tate. The other seven supporting performers pass muster, with Clare Dill getting extra points for a flawless British accent.

Ayckbourn's play does go on too long, and director Michael Driscoll doesn't know how to keep it from flagging. That he places the action too far back -- especially in such a big house -- is harmful, too, for many lines don't come solidly across the footlights. Ed Pearson's lighting is too dim for comedy, but Frank Takacs has done an ingenious job of designing a set that may not look costly, but is apt for each of the many settings to which the play takes us.

Though Peters deserves standing-room-only crowds, she may have to settle for standing ovations. But she's so winning, scalpers may soon be showing up in Rahway.

Peter Filichia may be reached at pfilichia@starledger.com or (973) 392-5995.

© 2008 The Star Ledger
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Slow start, but 'Comic' delivers the laughs

Home News Tribune Online 02/19/08
By BILL ZAPCIC
STAFF WRITER
bzapcic@thnt.com
One thing is true about comedy: If it's over-analyzed, it's no longer funny. Conversely, though, if the elements of comedy are cataloged, they can be taught to someone - or something - with no inherent sense of humor.

Picking apart what's funny in comedy and laying bare the nature of human nature are the underlying themes of 'Comic Potential,' the wry production by Alliance Repertory Company now on stage at Union County Performing Arts Center in Rahway.

The play, a PG-13 affair written in 1998 by the prolific Alan Ayckbourn, is set in 'the foreseeable future' when acting for television is done by robotic 'actoids.' This blurs the line between television program and computer program.

Computer programs can have bugs in them, and somehow the one that runs Jacie Triplethree (Sara Peters) has given her an actual sense of humor, as well as a degree of artificially intelligent self-awareness not found in other actoids of her model and vintage.

Jacie works on a second-rate soap opera; it's good to see the genre continuing though it's kind of sad to think the same hoary plot lines plod on. Cast as little more than set dressing, Jacie carves out a distinctive role for herself.

This catches the eye of Adam Trainsmith (Matt McCarthy), nephew of the network's magnate owner and an aspiring writer who idolizes Chandler Tate (John Correll), a onetime master of comedic cinema now reduced to directing the soap. Tate lets Trainsmith hang around the studio, and when Trainsmith realizes Jacie's uniqueness, he works with her to develop her comic chops.

The play starts slowly; the directing of the soap opera lays out a lot of the backstory and sets the time and place. Lots of exposition, plus a swipe at how mechanical the acting on 20th century soaps actually is. When Adam and Jacie get the stage to themselves, the play goes into hyperdrive. Adam, as the naif with a love for silent comedies, ignores the warning of programmer Prim Spring (Lili Marques) not to get emotionally attached to actoids. He ignores the warning to the 180th degree. The way he perceives her, they way he approaches their relationship reopens some fundamental questions about love, personality, conditioning (brainwashing?) and unselfishness.

Peters, as the android with something extra, goes from machine to human child to human adult in a flash. Just as it's difficult for humans to grow up (think teen angst), it's more so for machines.

The Jacie role is extremely demanding; Jacie the actoid reprises some of her hundreds of characters as she reacts to unknown situations in the human world, and Peters the actress channels any number of actors and dancers in bringing Jacie to life. Her speech ranges from clipped, mechanical, robotic to romantically lilting to a tough guy from an action movie. And as for her dancing? Well, she's a maniac, maniac.

Peters could win awards for this portrayal.

The ensemble cast, solid throughout, switches among several characters as Adam and Jacie wind up at dress shops, restaurants and hotels of varying degrees of quality. This is a hard-working bunch.

Some of the comedy is bawdy, with a sweet innocence that heightens the laughs.

The set, lights and sound are well-executed.

Bill Zapcic: (732) 565-7345; bzapcic@gannett.com

Alliance Theater Finds Potential in New Home

The Westfield Leader and The Scotch Plains – Fanwood TIMES
By SUSAN MYRILL DOUGHERTY
Specially Written for The Leader and The /Times
Thursday, February 21, 2008
RAHWAY – There’s nothing nicer than moving into your own new home. It is long time coming for Alliance Repertory Theater Company, originally of Linden, which has moved into its new home at the Union County Performing Arts Center (UCPAC) in Rahway.
The theater itself is an historical gem with crimson velvet and gold guild practically everywhere one looks. Reminiscent of the ornate vaudeville theaters of old, the newly renovated UCPAC invited Alliance Repertory Theater Company to be their resident professional theater company.
Alliance’s season opener, Comic Potential, under the brilliant direction of artistic director Michael Driscoll, glitters and sparkles just as brightly as the theater.
Alan Ayckbourn’s two-act play is set in the foreseeable future, where androids have replaced actors on daytime soaps.
The story involves a washed-up film mogul demoted to TV soap-opera director, Chandler “Chance” Tate (John Correll); a gung-ho young writer, Adam Trainsmith (Matt McCarthy); and an android actress, Jacie Triplethree (Sara Peters) as an “actoid.” The astute android is quite a fast study when it comes to both comedy and romance.
Taking a satiric look at the TV industry, specifically the set of “Hospital Hearts,” a daytime soap opera, Comic Potential relies on great timing and talented actors who can play multiple roles and affect accents rapidly. Mr. Driscoll’s first-rate cast of 10 delivers it all.
Young Adam idolizes Chance and is thrilled to be on the set learning the ropes from a one-time great director. When the set is clear except for Adam and Jacie (really “Juvenile Character 333” in machine-identification code), the female android interacts with Adam in surprisingly human ways.
As the pretty machine, Ms. Peters readily handles physical comedy, double takes and broad humor, which her character learns from Adam and later from Chance.
The versatile Ms. Peters has adopted a monotone voice that is endearing, unlike most aggravating robotic tones. Her physical movements make her look like a Madame Tussaud wax figure come to life.
As Adam, Mr. McCarthy has the charm and optimism needed to help the unlikely romantic pair survive. His earnest portrayal of the naïve young man is as targeted as Cupid’s arrow.
John Correll aptly displays Chance’s frustration of his lost status. Veteran actor Correll has precise timing and comedic flair punctuated with Jackie Gleason bits.
As “Black Death” Carla Pepperbloom, Beth Painter nicely plays an unpopular, glamorous upper-management boss who hangs around the studio barking orders and throwing her weight around.
Clare Dill, Chess Lankford, Greg Louis, Lilli Marques, Frank Takacs and Jennifer Crane Turner round out the stellar 10-person cast.
Frank Takacs’ modern set of plastic, stark white columns that are vibrantly backlit from time to time aptly suggests the future. Minimal set pieces roll on to whisk the audience to an upscale dress shop, the front desk of two hotels and their interior rooms.
Call the welcome wagon to greet Alliance Repertory Theater Company, the new resident professional theater company at UCPAC. This arrangement has all the earmarks of a successful long-term commitment.
Comic Potential continues Thursday through Saturday nights at 8 p.m. in addition to a Sunday, February 24, matinee performance at 2 p.m.