Stage West Presents Liz Lochhead's Good Things

Stage West presents Liz Lochhead's wry and funny Good Things. 

49-year-old Susan is going through what is generally described as a bit of a rough patch. Her husband has left her for a much younger woman, she has lost her job, her father is slipping into senility, and her teenage daughter is behaving like-well-a teenager.

Now she's volunteering in a resale shop, and maintaining a (mostly) cheerful determination not to fall into victimhood, in Liz Lochhead's comedy Good Things, beginning Thursday, October 29 at Stage West's Vickery playhouse.

Susan's co-workers, the nurturing and possibly gay Frazer, and the micro-managing Marjorie, are eager to see Susan's life sorted out in appropriately fairy-tale fashion. They've encouraged her attempts at online and speed-dating, though she herself is less than enthusiastic. It hasn't worked out very well so far; she's currently having to dodge the attentions of one particularly creepy match-up. And then into the shop comes David, a widower of about Susan's age, and a genuinely good guy. It isn't quite the Hollywood-meet-cute that it sounds, though. Susan has been having a singularly bad day, and she vents her frustrations on David, who is very much taken aback. Is this potential relationship doomed before it even starts?

With Good Things, playwright Lochhead has fashioned a comedy to appeal to all ages, but perhaps especially to women (and men!) of "a certain age." In Susan, she has created a heroine of complexity, resilience, and warmth, one whose frustrations are certainly relatable. And she has surrounded Susan with a supply of interesting characters, many of whom are played by just two actors-and the changeovers are often accomplished at Tuna-esque speed! It's a theatrical journey described by the London Times as "as funny, as touching, and yet as emotionally true as anything this supremely humane writer has yet produced."

Liz Lochhead is a poet, playwright, and occasional theatre director. She was born in Lanarkshire in 1947 and educated at Glasgow School of Art. Her collections of poetry include Dreaming Frankenstein and The Colour of Black & White. Her dozen original plays include Blood and Ice, Mary Queen of Scots Got Her Head Chopped Off, and Perfect Days (the sister play to Good Things). Her stage adaptations include Moliere's Tartuffe and Miseryguts (based on The Misanthrope), Euripides' Medea, and Thebans (adapted mainly from Sophocles' Oedipus and Antigone). Ms. Lochhead currently lives in Glasgow, and is writer-in-residence for both Glasgow University and Glasgow School of Art. She was named that city's Poet Laureate in 2005.

Jim Covault will direct Good Things, which features two familiar faces along with two new to Stage West. Stephanie Dunnam, most recently lauded for her work as Maggie in The Skin of Our Teeth, will appear as Susan. John S. Davies, a DFW Critics Forum award-winner for his role of Willy Brandt in Theatre Three's Diplomacy, and last seen on our stage in Comic Potential, will be seen as David.

The fun of playing multiple characters will go to Amber Nicole Guest (ranging from shopkeeper Marjorie to quirky customer Scotch Doris) and Art Peden (including co-worker Frazer and Susan's senile father). Ms. Guest was most recently seen as Diane in the Uptown Players production of bare, while Mr. Peden played Baptista in Shakespeare Dallas' The Taming of the Shrew.
The shop set will be designed by Jim Covault, with costumes by Covault and Peggy Kruger-O'Brien. Lighting will be provided by resident lighting designer Michael O'Brien, while Lynn Lovett will handle the challenging props and set decor.

Estimated run time for the play: about 2 hours plus intermission.

Good Things will preview Thursday, October 29 at 7:30 and Friday, October 30 at 8:00. Performance times will be Thursday evenings at 7:30, Friday and Saturday evenings at 8:00, with Sunday matinees at 3:00. The opening night reception will be Saturday, October 31. Ticket prices range from $26 to $30, with discounts for students and seniors. Preview tickets are priced at only $15. Pay What You Can performances will be Sunday, November 1 and Thursday, November 5. Food service is available 90 minutes prior to performances (reservations strongly advised), and information is available through the Box Office, or on the website, www.stagewest.org.

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