Review: BOOK OF DAYS at Wichita Community Theatre

Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright Lanford Wilson makes us rethink how we recognize the people we thought we knew best, and the pressure posed by the religious right in his 1998 work, BOOK OF DAYS now onstage at Wichita Community Theatre. 

Often compared in structure and style to Master’s Spoon River Anthology, and Wilder’s classic Our Town, Wilson sets BOOK OF DAYS in his home state of Missouri and depicts life in a small quiet town challenged by a mysterious death. The citizens of Dublin, Missouri are oddly intertwined and act as a Greek chorus to tell the story while often breaking the fourth wall to speak directly to the audience.  Everyone in Dublin believes they know everyone. In truth, most neighbors have skeletons hiding in their closets. Dublin is dominated by three local establishments: a fundamentalist church, a local community theatre and a cheese factory. The factory is owned by an old school entrepreneur, Walt Bates, who wants to keep the status quo and reap the profits from making cheese for Kraft Foods. Factory manager, Len Hoch, has bigger dreams though. He has convinced boss Walt to defray a portion of the profits to transform part of the product into fine cheeses for more refined customers. But Walt’s son, James, a lecherous ex-basketball star, is displeased with his father’s and Len’s business plans for the factory.

The play begins when guest theatre director Boyd Middleton, escaping Hollywood scandals, casts factory bookkeeper Ruth Hoch, and Len’s wife, as Joan of Arc in a production of Shaw’s Saint Joan. When Walt dies mysteriously in a hunting accident during a storm and Len’s business visions are threatened, Ruth is forced into action. Suspecting murder, Ruth launches a fight to see that justice prevails; in doing so, she pits herself against the church and Walt’s son, James, the lewd new owner of the cheese factory. Ruth progressively becomes the character she portrays onstage, the crusading and heroic Joan of Arc.

Wichita director Steve Miotto has assembled a stellar cast and creative team to bring this story to local audiences.  His direction is effective and efficient. Miotto’s set design was masterfully painted by local artist, Hanson Long.  Simple costumes and props by Jane Tanner along with a brilliant sound design by Dan Schuster and a sufficient lighting design by Tony Applegate make for a great evening of theatre.  The play is somewhat straightforward but Miotto’s staging elevates the work as actors appear at crucial moments utilizing the theatre space.  Actors also double as stage crew, often changing the set as each scene flows easily to the next. An important moment in the story involves a twister blowing through the town early one spring morning.  With the creative usage of strobe lights and the sound of rushing winds, the tornado became menacing as the mystery was beginning to unfold.

Wilson’s characters are unique and memorable, and their story is compelling.  While BOOK OF DAYS is mostly an ensemble piece, lead characters Ruth (played by Ashley McCracken-Christy), Len (played by Chris Welborn) and guest director Boyd (played by Justin Noel Hall) carry the bulk of the show.  Wichita audiences have grown to admire the talents of these three gifted actors.  McCracken-Christy’s strong acting skills come to the forefront in this production as she details her character’s passage from nervous energy to hushed determination.  Welborn stands out as her idealistic husband and is truly believable in his character. The chemistry between Welborn and McCracken-Christy is natural.  Hall as the town outsider brings a slice of humor to the role and the audience is surprised to discover his secret past.

Other supporting actors each had standout moments in the production.  Each seemed to relate to each other on a personal level and made believable friends and neighbors, or in some cases, enemies.  Standout performances came from newcomer Ted McDermott as Walt, Jami Thomas as Walt’s sharp-tongued wife, Sharon, Jake Steward as James and Chelsea Daniel as James’ scorn and beleaguered wife, Louanne.  Steward plays the womanizer character quite well and the look of pure evil on his face in the final scene is disturbing.  Watch for it!  Daniel packs a lot of power in her role and the opening night audience felt remorse and sorrow for Daniel’s character more than once.  The audience was clearly on her side.  Thomas always delivers a winning performance and is an audience favorite.   Hopefully we will see more of McDermott onstage in the future.

Andrew Johnson as Earl Hill, Todd Reifschneider as the seemingly unaware Sheriff Atkins and Christopher Paul Martin as Rev. Bobby Groves each gave sterling performances.  Reifschneider had some of the brightest laugh-out loud moments of the night while Martin maintained a strong yet reserved presence as leader of the flock.  Veteran actor Johnson’s character is just plain creepy, although he is certainly an audience pleaser.

Rounding out the cast are newcomer Abigail Luchsinger as the theatre’s stage manager, Ginger Reed, and Deb Goin as Len’s former flower-child mother, Martha.

BOOK OF DAYS manages to be both a whodunit mystery and a compelling commentary on political and religious hypocrisy.  Run time is approximately 2 hours and 30 minutes with a 15-minute intermission.

Wichita Community Theatre is located at 258 North Fountain in Wichita’s historic College Hill area.  For show reservations, call 316-686-1282.  The show runs through March 23.  Thurs., Fri., and Sat., evenings at 8pm and Sunday matinees at 2pm.

To post a comment, you must register and login.