November 9, 2006

Principal actors in 'Moon Over Buffalo,' clockwise from top: Simon Freeman, Mary Hyde, Peter Keahey, Meg Hild, Lara Donnelley, Toby Cromer, and Rosa Dixon.

By Diane Chiddister

Villagers are invited to forget the election outcomes, the mortgage and the price of gas this weekend and next, and instead enjoy an evening of “side-splitting laughter” at the Yellow Springs High School Drama Club and Thespian Troupe’s fall play.

The young people will present Moon Over Buffalo, a comedy by Ken Ludwig, at 8 p.m., Friday–Saturday, Nov. 10, 11, 17 and 18, and 2 p.m., Sundays, Nov. 12 and 19. The play, directed by Andrea Auten, will take place at the Mills Lawn auditorium.

According to Auten, the play, which takes place in the 1950s, chronicles the antics of a failing reperatory theater troupe, and is “crammed full of feints, mistaken identities, foppery, great one-liners, Vaudevillian door-slamming scenes and swordplay.”

Moon Over Buffalo is “extraordinarily fast-paced and farcical,” according to YSHS student Meg Hild, who plays an old lady.

“It’s so funny you’ll be laughing even before you get here,” said YSHS student Peter Keahey, who is also in the cast.

In her first time directing Yellow Springs students, Auten said her experience has been overwhelmingly positive.

“It’s the best piece of pie I’ve ever eaten,” she said of working with local young actors. “They have a savvy.”

Many of the young people have spent years taking part in YS Kids Playhouse productions, along with plays put on by Mills Lawn and the Antioch School, Auten said, and their experience shows in their ease with performance. She has also been impressed by the students’ level of committment.

“There are no complainers, no one not giving a full level of commitment,” said Auten, who has also been very impressed by the level of parental support. “It feels like a lot of people giving a lot of time.”

Auten, who has worked as a substitute teacher at Mills Lawn, is a native Daytonian and current Yellow Springs resident with a long history in theater. She is an actor, and the founder and producer of the Cayenne Pepper Theatre Company in Los Angeles, where she lives part-time with her husband. She received a bachelor’s degree in fine arts in theater from Wright State University.

In an “it’s a small world, especially in the world of southwest Ohio theater” coincidence, Auten’s father taught vocal performance at Wright State, and his students included Bruce Cromer and Carol Allin, the parents of Toby Cromer, who plays the male lead in Moon Over Buffalo.

The Moon Over Buffalo playwright, Ken Ludwig, also wrote the comedy, Lend Me a Tenor. The play centers on fading reperatory theater stars George and Charlotte Hay, (Toby Cromer and Lara Donnelly) who have a “last chance at stardom” that goes hilariously awry, Auten said.

Cast members are YSHS and McKinney School students Toby Cromer, Lara Donnelly, Simon Freeman, Meg Hild, Mary Hyde, Abeo Miller, Rosa Dixon, Peter Keahey, Kevin Mayer, Belle-Pilar Fleming, Max Fleishman, Laura Hyde and Barbara Jewell.

The play’s technical crew includes stage manager Niquelle Orr, Laura Hyde, Claire Triplett, Rose Pelzl, Erin Silvert-Noftle, Zane Reichert, Eric Rudolf, Jamie Paul, Caity Bothwell, Jacob Auten, Eileen Borchers, Nathan Auten, Sarah Acomb, Victor McElroy, Levi Amstutz and Cory Daniels.

Tickets are $7 for adults and $5 for seniors and students, and reservations may be made by calling 767-1105. Tickets may also be purchased at the door.

Contact: dchiddister@ysnews.com