Miners Alley Presents “Present Laughter” January 7, 2012

Miners Alley Playhouse presents

“Present Laughter”

By Noel Coward

Directed by Richard H. Pegg

Miners Alley Playhouse kicks off the 2012 season with “Present Laughter” January 6 through February 12. Performance dates are Fridays and Saturdays at 7:30 p.m.; Sundays at 6 p.m. *(Sunday, February 12 is at 2 p.m.; no 6 p.m. performance that day) Tickets are $19.00 - $26.50 with senior, student and group rates available by calling 303-935-3044 or online at minersalley.com. Opening night features a great, gala hors d’ oeuvres reception after the show; audience is invited to join the festivities and mingle with the cast. On Saturday, January 14, Miners Alley holds its "Second Saturday Members Appreciation Night" and conversation with the cast and crew after the performance.

Garry Essendine, a popular and pampered actor, is busily making preparations for an extended overseas tour with devoted secretary Monica. His plans are complicated first by Daphne, a beautiful stage struck ingénue as well as a fatuously ardent aspiring playwright Roland Maule, who insist on his attentions. When his wife, his agents and his numerous admirers arrive, Garry is hard pressed to escape. Typical of Coward's sparkling dialogue and alluring wit, Garry finesses the mounting and potentially embarrassing social faux pas, fleeing the chaos, reunited with his wife Liz.

Director Richard H. Pegg and costumer Ann Piano have decided to set "Present Laughter" in the big-hair decade of the 1980's. Richard reminds us, "Think of "Dallas" or "Dynasty" and it opens up the plays moral issues to a decade when sexual expression was being flaunted. Add in recent shows, such as HBO's hit series "Entourage" that depicts the life of a pampered movie star and all the people who orbit around him, and you have a play that still has relevance today."

The talented cast includes Chris Bleau as Gary Essendine, Dave Blumenstock as Hugo Lyppiatt, Rachel Bouchard as Joanna Lyppiatt, Adrian Egolf as Liz Essendine, Erica Johnson as Miss Erikson, Haley Johnson as Monica Reed, Christian Mast as Roland Maule, Tim McGrath as Morris Dixon, Kelly Reeves as Daphne Stillington, Crystal Verdon Eisele as Lady Saltburn and Jack Wefso as Fred.

Sir Noel Coward, an astounding polymath - dramatist, actor, writer, composer, lyricist, painter, and wit, was defined by his Englishness as much as he defined it. A visit to New York in 1921 infused him with the pace of Broadway shows, and he injected its speed into staid British drama and music to create a high-octane rush for the jazz-mad, dance-crazy 1920s. His between-the-wars celebrity reached a peak in 1930 with "Private Lives," by which time he had become the highest earning author in the western world. Many of his works, such as Hay Fever, and Blithe Spirit, have remained in the regular theatre repertoire. He composed hundreds of songs, poetry, several volumes of short stories, the novel Pomp and Circumstance, and a three-volume autobiography. Coward's acting and directing career spanned six decades, during which he starred in many of his own works.

Miners Alley Presents “Present Laughter”

Clever banter and ridiculous situations surround a popular and pampered actor in this classic Noel Coward comedy. Jan. 6 - Feb. 12 - Fri./Sat. at 7:30 p.m.; Sun. 6 p.m. *(Sunday, February 12 is at 2 p.m.; no 6 p.m. performance that day)

$19.00 - $26.50; senior, student and group rates available. 303-935-3044 or online at www.minersalley.com - Miners Alley Playhouse, 1224 Washington Avenue (13th and Washington 2nd floor entrance on 13th).