THE HISTORY OF CITY EQUITY THEATRE
City Equity Theatre was founded by Jonathan Fuller and Alan Gardner in the summer of 2006 with a production of David Mamet's salty drama AMERICAN BUFFALO. The production featured Gardner and Fuller in the roles of "Don" and "Teach" under the director of fellow equity member Dennis McLernon. UAB Senior Tobie Windham played the role of "Bobby."
Since Mamet's play took place in the store front of a Chicago pawn shop, Gardner wanted the to perform the play in a downtown store front and approached Ed and Mary Gurney, the owner's of Playhouse, Inc. on 3rd avenue north downtown about the possibility. Supportive of the idea of a professional equity theatre in Birmingham, the Gurney's agreed and together they transformed the space into a Chicago pawn shop. Below is an article and show poster for the production.
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The play was so well recieved (with 8 consecutive sold out performances) that the founders decided to stage a second production before the end of Summer.
They chose the Frank McGuiness's Tony nominated drama
SOMEONE WHO'LL WATCH OVER ME
because of it's moving story, rich characterizations and timely subject matter.
Joining Fuller and Gardner on-stage this time however was Dennis McLernon and fellow equity member Will York was recruited to direct the cast.
The show received both a strong review from the Birmingham News.
Below is the publicity post card, the review and a transcript of the article.
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Transcipt
THEATER REVIEW
SMALL THEATER MAKES BIG IMPACT WITH ‘SOMEONE’
By Pamela Morse
For The Birmingham News – Saturday, August 12, 2006
Good theater takes you to a place you’ve never been. Great theater takes you to a place place you’d never want to go, and makes you glad you went there. That’s what makes Frank McGuinness’s “Someone Who’ll Watch Over Me” a great play. A concrete room in Beirut where three men remain chained to a wall, captive in some unseen war, is clearly a place nobody would want to be. But when the third act finally wraps up, you’ll thank McGuinness for the long and arduous trip.
The second production of City Equity Theatre, “Someone” opened Thursday in the makeshift space of The Playhouse in downtown Birmingham, with only a small audience of theatrefolk in attendance. Eerily timely and still-unfortunately- timeless, the 1992 play is set against the stark walls of a cell. The only characters are an Irish journalist, an American doctor, and a British literature professor. As the robust American, Alan Gardner, co-founder and co-artistic director of City Equity turns in a strong performance. He is matched by Jonathan Fuller, who plays the Englishman with a winning mix of timidity and strength. It is the performance of UAB Professor Dennis McLernon that sneaks up on you. In the first act, McLernon seems to be all bluster and Irish brogue, but, by the end of the second act , he takes on new dimensions and stealthily begins to steal this smart show.
Based on this production it would appear that City Equity Theatre is out to prove to Birmingham that Equity means something. Directed by and starring only members of Actors Equity Association, this production is clearly not the work of amateurs. York has assembled a serious cast to put on a serious play, on an unlikely stage in the back of a prop and costume shop. “Someone” is reminiscent of the fine shows staged by the short-lived Birmingham Repertory Theatre more than a decade ago.
McGuinness’s Tony-nominated play, critically acclaimed here and abroad, is based on the true story of kidnapped Irishman, Brian Keenan, who spent four years as a hostage in Lebanon. The play also has threads of autobiography: McGuinness is am Irish professor who specialized in middle and old English, like his British character. The only flaws in the opening night performance were that some of the lines were lost, and that the rumble of trucks passing on Third Avenue North swallowed a few more lines of dialogue in the play in which the words are everything. The whispering can be remedied: the traffic noise will only get worse, especially on nights when the Alabama Theatre across the street is abuzz.
City Equity Theatre has invested vast amounts of time and talent into this production. A reciprocal investment is being asked on the part of the audience. “Someone” runs almost three hours, and requires a substantial amount of thought and attention. We think it’s worth it.
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| Alan Gardner, Co-Artistic Director |
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| Jonathan Fuller, Co-Artistic Director |
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| Tobie Windam, Founding Member |
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| Dennis McLernon, Founding Member |
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Patron Review:
"There is true beauty in the direction and performance of "CRIPPLE."
It is a theater experience that is fresh and alive -- one that will linger in memory. Congratulations to all of you and my very best for a great new season."
Bob Penny (Actor, Member Actor's Equity Association & Screen Actors Guild)
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"It's a tour de force for the actors involved, and City Equity Theatre's production gives us three performers who are more than up for the task."
Alec Harvey - The Birmingham News |
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"City Equity Theatre's production will make you a believer in the power and beauty of words. The deft troupe and its director, Alan Gardner, rub Brian Friel's text to a dark luster."
Mary Colurso - 12 To Do List
(Birmingham News, June 29th)
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THEATRE REVIEW
Sunday, June 24, 2007
LONG 'FAITH HEALER' TESTS PATIENCE, BUT WORTH THE EFFORT
Brian Friel loves words. The Irish playwright has used them to great effect in his Tony-winning "Dancing at Lughnasa," his adaptation of Chekov's "Uncle Vanya" and many other plays throughout his illustrious career. His are rarely works of great action. More often, his characters tell us of momentous events rather than showing them to us.
Such is the case with "Faith Healer," his 1979 work that has already seen a couple of acclaimed revivals on Broadway. It's a series of four monologues, told from the perspectives of three people - itinerant faith healer Frank Hardy; his wife, Grace; and his agent and friend, Teddy - all of whom were involved in a horrible event one night in County Donegal in northwest Ireland.
It's a tour de force for the actors involved, and City Equity Theatre's production gives us three performers who are more than up for the task. Jonathan Fuller opens and closes the show as Frank Hardy, with Francie Gardner as Grace and Alan Litsey as Teddy, who provides some much-needed comic relief.
Fuller is formidable as the "fantastic Frank Hardy," a man who questions his talent as a faith healer right up to the very end, including a fateful night where his hands seemed to rid 10 villagers of their ailments. Friel has created a multifaceted character in Frank, and Fuller captures every nuance. He grabs the audience from the first scene and has the unenviable task of grabbing them again when the show goes on about a monologue too long.
Sandwiched between those monologues, but no less effective, are pieces delivered by Gardner and Litsey. She plays a woman on the brink, building her monologue to a devastating finale, and he is manic and lovable as Teddy, the cockney agent who devoted a good portion of his life to Frank and Grace. Director Alan Gardner moves the proceedings along as swiftly as possible, but Friel is not a playwright to be rushed. He loves the language and weaves an intricate tale, but even then it wears a bit thin as the running time approaches 2˝ hours.
But if you're patient, "Faith Healer" is worth the wait, and you can credit Friel and three talented actors for that.
ALEC HARVEY
News staff writer
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