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Show Plays grasp fear I of communication By Ed Ditterline Entertainment Editor They speak. They hurt. They move you. They pick Vo you tight. And then they throw you down like somen 811(1 telephone receiver in your ear. They fool you and hueY13""1!' sour in your mouth like forty almost-empty milk bottles f yU'Tlif! they sit next to one another, waiting to be made into a T1 window for you to worship. a staiW fa .they are THE CALLERS. No word could possibly convey the meaning of th phrase could possibly tell you of the feeling, the thoueht tn K' yet the understanding that these plays give to the audienc v 1111 something to take home. Something to put in your pocket' place your hand on, just to be sure its still there. But vet sure exactly what it is. y ' Wu'ttm THE CALLERS is the name of two one-act plavs whir-i, 'Tuesday- night at Pioneer Memorial Theatre's &)cTk J1 TRIUMPH is the name of the evening, and primarilv si T that triumph. 3 peol m David Kranes, the author of the plays, took a basic nmhi. L each of us face. . . COMMUNICATION. . .and wrote into that VJ many things which each of us feel but can't put into words Hetr us like puppets and jerked us, pulled us, dropped us and dIh In THE CALLERS, the first of the two plays, Dr. Kranes pllS (Dan Handley) in the midst of every communicative device avail t the average man. He surrounded Ted with messages of every kind ! yet, Ted couldn't communicate. His only link with the world I telephone and a telephone call which reached him by some nee l' mechanical quirk. The call was from Esther (Charlotte toaml another non-communicant like himself. And through a telephone I the audience saw the barriers of communication full and be rebuilt ( fall again. In I'M NOBODY Dr. Kranes took Phyllis Lambert (Heidi Hayes and placed her in a converted water tower apartment in New York, fit placed her in the middle of everything. In the middle of people ml buildings in the middle of one of the largest cities of the world, in Phyllis couldn't communicate either. Unlike Ted and Ester, Phyllis went out to find her communicant who turned out to be Michael Martin (Jeff Forward) and she brought him back to her sister's apartment to communicate in the only way she thought she could, The actors and actresses of both plays were four. . .and tin performances as a group were superlative, but as individuals Dn Handley, Charlotte Pomeroy, Heidi Hayes and Jeff Forward completely transcended the requirements of an actor and actress. They went a much further to make their roles LIVE They WERE Ted and Esthei and Phyllis and Michael. They weren't caricatures but fully painttd portraits painted by a master. . .Dr. H.EJX Redford. Dr. Redford's directing was no less than a miracle of the stage art. Hi took four people, FOUR PEOPLE and made them Jive mi i emotionally. He made them push and fight and hate and cry, but most of all he made them face one another. His directing pushed Michael lo grab Phyllis and to jerk her out of her physically small body. Henade Ted talk to a telephone personified as Esther. He made a first physM touch between a man and a woman a complete act of love. He madei telephone clutched in the hands of two desperate people a gipntit picture window through which they could see themselves and th problems. Others contributed to the tremendous impact of these plays. Kss Mengers taunted the imagination of the audience enabling those oil who saw the plays to build our own sets around these people, to ink the walls close in and the windows shut. William Barber masterminded! scope of sound so vast it is difficult to comprehend. Every click oil telephone dial and every hilarious instant of the soap opera made b that much more aware of THE CALLERS. Lights also played i important part in CALLERS and Bruce Keeler should be commende for the softness, the silhouettes and the alternation of lights bete sets. There can be no reason why anyone should miss seeing these Their total dramatic impact is so great that to miss them would bet miss Communication itself. The plays will run through 1 at Rahrnrk Thf; , - |