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1 of 3 Premium Clicks used this month SUBSCRIBE Print + Online Subscriber Activation | Register x Forgot Password | Need an Account? subscribe | newsletter | deals Classifieds Jobs Autos Real Estate FEATURED » NEWS NOW Gap fire eclipses 17,500 acres but is slowed by cooler, moist marine air ... Local wineries earn gold ... Voter information for Jackson County ... Gap fire eclipses 17,500 acres but is slowed by cooler, moist marine air ... Local wineries earn gold ... Voter information for Jackson County ... THEATER REVIEW Not quite fit to a 'Tea Party' Comment By Jeffrey Gillespie For the Tidings DailyTidings.com By Jeffrey Gillespie For the Tidings Posted Jul. 26, 2016 at 8:55 PM By Jeffrey Gillespie For the Tidings Posted Jul. 26, 2016 at 8:55 PM » RELATED CONTENT • Sitting in on a 'Tea Party' • Ashland New Plays Festival presents 'Now This' • Shakespeare Festival's Living Ideas series is a lens on Roe v. Wade... » Social News One of the nice things about community theater is that it's designed to give people who might otherwise never try their hand at acting an opportunity to do so. Ashland Contemporary Theatre, which is now in its 26th year, has long been a place for novice and professional performers alike to try their hand at various texts, sometimes with great success (as witnessed in ACT's last production, the Tony Award winning drama, "RED," which deals with the life and times of luminary American painter Mark Rothko). So good was "RED" that it was certainly at the back of my mind when setting a bar for what ACT might have lined up for us next. That bar was not cleared at the Ashland Community Theatre on Sunday night, where ACT presented "Chatting With the Tea Party," a documentary-style play by New York playwright Rich Orloff. The premise of the play is interesting enough. Mr. Orloff, a supposedly open-minded liberal from Manhattan, sets off on an intellectual exploration of the Tea Party Movement in the United States, moving around the country during a two-year period between 2010 and 2012, and visiting with a series of conservatives and libertarians in order to get their take on the movement, American political culture through their eyes, and the rise of Barack Obama. There are a series of sweeping conversations, set up as individual dialogues between Orloff and his conservative interviewees, that cover a wide range of traditionally divisive subjects. These included discussions on small government, gun rights, abortion, public education, the supposed shortcomings of the current president and, of course, the evils of taxation (for those who don't know, TEA stands for "taxed enough already"). Orloff's project is an ambitious one. The writing is surprisingly good. There are moments of genuine humor and pathos in the play; it is an admirable thing to attempt to present, in a humanistic light, the extreme factions within any American political affiliation. Orloff manages to show that his subjects — who might easily have been written as ultra-conservative tinfoil hat cartoons — are as human and angst-ridden as any other ordinary American, a fact that might not sit well with the local audience in an aggressively liberal stronghold like Ashland. Director Jeannine Grizzard didn't exactly woo her blue state audience, either — the few liberals who do appear in the play are presented as more stereotypical in their dress, manner, and "knee-jerk" style than many might consider to be fair. On more than one occasion, an actor who, in a previous scene, had been playing a hardcore conservative, would reappear on stage with a vest or a beret hastily flung on to represent their transformation into another, more "liberal" character. Stereotypical hipster garb doth not a liberal make; it's not enough, in the 2010s, to dress an actor like a beatnik as a representation of their supposedly leftist ideology. There were other major problems, too, which, despite being present in a community theater production, were just a little too tricky to go completely without mention. Lead actor Daniel Stephens, who was not only playing Orloff, but who was responsible for presenting most of his text as well, was not prepared. This was made clear when a young lady — not a part of the original cast — was introduced to the stage with the sole purpose of helping Mr. Stephens to remember his lines. Throughout the night, she was an active participant. Stephens would ask for help in the middle of dialogue with other actors. He would ask for help during solo speeches. He would ask for help consistently, and he would break character every time he asked. As such, the play ran longer than it needed to, much of the spontaneity was lost, and other actors seemed poised to rescue Stephens at any moment. This added an almost unbearable tension to the proceedings that really did seem to prevent the audience from settling in and enjoying the show. Fortunately, the other performers onstage — most notably Tim Kelly, Cynthia Tank, and Joseph Suste — had moments of genuine excellence. That fact, combined with Orloff's clever writing and some good humor from the assembled theatregoers, made the evening a reasonably entertaining one. John Lambie, Karen Douglas, Tony Owens and Jennifer Lauren filled out a cast that was sporting and enthusiastic. It was brave of Ms. Grizzard to challenge her actors with such a complex piece, and doubly brave of Stephens to tackle such a massive text. Unfortunately, it didn't quite work out, but it was still a fun night. As such, we look forward to seeing what ACT's committed band of players might have in store for us next. Ashland resident Jeffrey Gillespie is a Daily Tidings columnist, arts reviewer and freelance writer. Email him at gillespie.jeffrey @gmail.com. By Jeffrey Gillespie For the Tidings DailyTidings.com By Jeffrey Gillespie For the Tidings Posted Jul. 26, 2016 at 8:55 PM » Comment or view comments Reader Reaction » STAY INFORMED Email NewsLetter Sign Up Today Sign up for our newsletter and have the top headlines from your community delivered right to your inbox. Southern Oregon Directory Featured Businesses Loading... 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