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43 °F Forecast | Road Cams Monday, January 24, 2005 Today's News | Classifieds | Autos | Homes | Jobs | Tempo | Health | Community | Home Delivery SECTIONS Home Page Local News Sports Business Obituaries Life Opinion - Politics Tempo AP News Weather Classified Archives Site Map SPECIAL SECTIONS Since We Asked Outdoor Journal Menu Guide How To Guide Wellness Connection Readers' Choice Real Estate Showcase Real Estate Guide Joy Magazine Homelife Magazine Wedding Guide Passport to the Rogue Valley EXTRA Newspaper in Education Personals Movie Times TV Times E The People Volunteer Opportunities Moving to Southern Oregon? MARKETPLACE Find a Car Find a Home Find a Job Classifieds Place an ad eSouthernOregon Automotive Communities Entertainment Publications Recreation Calendar CUSTOMER SERVICE Frequent Questions Advertising Information Home Delivery Employment Contact Us Media Kit Network Affiliate Oregon Road Conditions & Cams Email Story to a Friend May 8, 2004 Photo courtesy of SOU Theatre Arts Department Peter Diseth as Adam Trainsmith and April Lowe as Jacie Triplethree star in �Comic Potential,� playing at Southern Oregon University. ‘Comic Potential’ exemplifies SOU theater By BILL VARBLE Mail Tribune Imagine a future in which everything has changed except human nature. Androids called actoids play roles in corny TV soap operas. But television is still a vast wasteland ruled by power-dressing tyrants who pander to the lowest common denominator. What would happen in such a future if a beautiful actoid showed signs of becoming human? What if an idealistic young writer recognized the actoid’s blooming humanity and fell in love with her? And just what does it mean to be human, anyway? It sounds a bit familiar, with echoes from "Pinocchio" to "Blade Runner." But seen through the dark, dystopian prism of an Alan Ayckbourn, it shines with surprising luster. The Southern Oregon University Theatre Department’s crackerjack new production adds a high patina to the shine. As "Comic Potential," directed by Dale Luciano, opened Thursday night in SOU’s black box theater to less than the full house it deserves, a knowledgeable, theater-going friend remarked, "SOU plays are the best-kept secret in Southern Oregon entertainment." Advertisement Hear, hear. The direction was tight, the acting sharp, the sets imaginative and effective. In the three-quarter-thrust configuration, the room feels much like the fondly remembered Black Swan at the Oregon Shakespeare Festival. A turntable-like device on stage even enables quick changes of Paul Michael Garcia’s delightful scenes. Taken as a whole, you almost forget you’re watching a student production. In tragedy you can be off a tad, as Laurence Olivier famously explained, and the audience will never know the difference. But if you’re off in comedy, the thing dies utterly. April Lowe gives us an actoid, Jacie Triplethree, that at the play’s start is a creature of circuits and servo-mechanisms, a smiling robot. The first crack in the facade is a big laugh (there is something quintessentially human about laughter, as the play’s title hints). As Lowe builds Jamie’s Pygmalion arc, it’s as if she’s recapitulating the history of the women’s movement, from stepping outside a stereotype to forging a new identity. With Ayckbourn’s writing and Lowe’s acting, this is more fun than it sounds. The action begins when a malfunctioning actoid on the set of "Hospital Hearts" has a problem with his voice module and says he wants to "umputate" a patient’s foot at the "uncle." When Jacie, whose real name, or identification number, is JC-F31-333, laughs at the mishaps, she has in effect moved beyond her programming, and we’re off and running. Peter Diseth, who is terrific as Jacie’s lover, Adam Trainsmith, will make you think of a cross between a young Tom Hanks and Quentin Tarantino. Kelsi Knudsen is outstanding as man-crushing TV exec Carla Pepperbloom, and Craig Jessen shines as hard-drinking Chandler Tate, a former Hollywood wunderkind reduced to directing weepy TV pap. Although "Comic Potential" is a comedy and plays like one in all respects, it is other things, too. Among them, a rousing satire on television, an amusing love story and a philosophical puzzle with delightful asides on romance and the secret of slapstick. Although there were a few flat spots in the second act, this is overall a spot-on production of a hot play. If you haven’t gone to SOU for a play, now’s the time. Reach reporter Bill Varble at 776-4478 or e-mail [email protected] Mail Tribune Home Local News | Sports | Business | Obituaries | Life Opinion - Politics | AP News | Archives | Site Map E Southern Oregon | Classified Copyright © 1997-2005 Mail Tribune. All rights reserved. Privacy Policy | Terms & Conditions Website Feedback ADVERTISERS A D V E R T I S E R S SPECIAL SECTIONS Auto Finder Job Finder Home Finder Joy Magazine Homelife Magazine Tempo Readers' Choice Real Estate Showcase Since We Asked Outdoor Journal Moving to Southern Oregon? Volunteer Opportunities Student Loan Consolidation Conference Calls - $50/Month Home Security Systems Trunks, Footlocker, Trunk, Footlockers