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0 of 3 Premium Clicks used this month SUBSCRIBE Print + Online Subscriber Activation | Register x Forgot Password | Need an Account? e-edition | subscribe | newsletter | deals Classifieds Jobs Autos Real Estate FEATURED » NEWS NOW Southern Oregon construction industry finds subcontractors in short supply ... Death of transportation bill costs Jackson County $10 million ... Phoenix downtown in for big changes ... Southern Oregon construction industry finds subcontractors in short supply ... Death of transportation bill costs Jackson County $10 million ... Phoenix downtown in for big changes ... THEATER Camelot presents Playwright Richard Manley's 'A Question of Words' Camelot presents Playwright Richard Manley's "A Question of Words" New or edgy plays are a theater company's dream, though they can be financially risky to produce. Camelot Theatre Artistic Director Livia Genise says she's more than comfortable staging the premiere of award-winning playwright Richard Manley's "A Question of Words." Comment By Laurie Heuston Mail Tribune MailTribune.com By Laurie Heuston Mail Tribune Posted Feb. 2, 2015 at 9:00 AM By Laurie Heuston Mail Tribune Posted Feb. 2, 2015 at 9:00 AM » Social News New or edgy plays are a theater company's dream, though they can be financially risky to produce. Camelot Theatre Artistic Director Livia Genise says she's more than comfortable staging the premiere of award-winning playwright Richard Manley's "A Question of Words." "We had such a successful 2014 season, and I think this play will speak to Camelot's audiences," Genise says. "It's a present-day love story. I fell in love with it when I saw a reading at Ashland New Plays Festival in 2013. It's a smart, six-character play that touched my heart the way 'Sleepless in Seattle' and 'You’ve Got Mail' did." She'll direct the production.  Playwright Manley loves the comparison to those two films with Tom Hanks and Meg Ryan, he says. "They're funny, and they're meant for a more sophisticated audience," he says during a telephone interview from Newport Beach, Calif. "I used to call 'Question of Words' a literate comedy, meaning it's not a silly farce full of slapstick. It has a lot of heavy humor in it, but it's also serious in some ways." Manley's "Words" tells the story of poet Derby Wright (played by Roy Von Rains Jr.) whose desire to quietly slip back into society after a long bereavement prompts him to accept a house-sitting position at a Manhattan co-op. There he is regularly vexed by his inquisitive neighbor, Mary (Barbara Henson), and her pushy mother, Lucille (Pam Ward), along with snobby members of the co-op's board and an attorney determined to disgrace him for his murky past. When his hopes for privacy fail, one romantic exception forces the overly intellectual Derby to recognize that happiness and real life are actually a question of words. The show previews Wednesday and Thursday, Feb. 4-5, opens Friday, Feb. 6, and runs through March 1 at Camelot, 101 Talent Ave., Talent. Curtain is at 8 p.m. Thursdays through Saturdays and 2 p.m. Sundays. The Feb. 4 performance is a fundraiser for Community Health Center and tickets cost $27. Tickets cost $12 for the Feb. 5 preview. A pay-what-you-want performance will be offered at 8 p.m. Wednesday, Feb. 11. Tickets for all other shows cost $23 for students and seniors (except for Sunday matinees) and $25 for adults. Tickets can be purchased at the Camelot box office, online at camelottheatre.org or by calling 541-535-5250.  Local theater enthusiast John Rose will moderate a question-and-answer session with Manley following the Feb. 7 performance. Manley began writing plays late in his life. He and his wife gave up working 80 hours a week at their careers, sold everything and boarded a plane for Europe with only one suitcase of clothing. After a few years, the couple moved around the U.S., living in furnished rentals. "I realized it was time to start writing, so about eight years ago I sat down and began my first play," Manley says. "I had a copywriting background from my advertising business, and I'd been an avid reader of poetry, fiction and philosophy.   "I thought it would be interesting to create two characters with each representing one side of my life: the copywriting, advertising and branding side, and the poetic, philosophical side. I thought it would be an interesting metaphor for the fact my life came together that way as well. "There's a little bit of farce, and there's comedy and drama in it," Manley says. "The protagonist and antagonist are not always the same character, sometimes the characters are both, and they sort of share the lead. That is unusual for a play, but I didn't know any better. It turned out to be something that people liked."  The long monologue by the character of Mary from "A Question of Words" will be published this year in a book titled "The Best Women's Monologues of 2015." "I think there's something particular to American culture that poetry is only read in school, fine art is something that is kept in museums and not talked about, when it should be more of everyday life because it adds so much to anyone's life," Manley says. "Where Derby's somewhat lost in his own words and his academic background has made him forget language has power at all levels, it takes Mary's everyday language to make poetry and fine art accessible." Other plays by Manley include "The Truth Quotient," produced at Beckett Theatre in New York City, and "Life is Mostly Straws," which premiered at Georgia College. By Laurie Heuston Mail Tribune MailTribune.com By Laurie Heuston Mail Tribune Posted Feb. 2, 2015 at 9:00 AM » 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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