Farmington Players Present SUITE SURRENDER

The Farmington Players are presenting Suite Surrender, a madcap screwball comedy that pays homage to the classic farces of the 1930s and 1940s. There is plenty of fast-paced dialogue, slamming doors, physical comedy, and escalating stakes.

Claudia McFadden (played by Rose Randall Warner of Southfield) and Athena Sinclair (Hilary Borlack of Orchard Lake) are rival diva singers who despise one another but are appearing at the same wartime benefit concert that evening.

Keith Firstenberg of Livonia plays Bernard Dunlap, the hotel general manager who tries his best to keep the divas far apart, but complications arise when they are somehow assigned to the same hotel suite. Suite Surrender is proudly sponsored by Weinstein Jewelers and will run September 23rd - October 8th in Farmington Hills, Michigan.

Director Tony Targan wants the play to pay homage to the World War Two era. Suite Surrender is set in 1942, which was the start of the United States' war effort. Star entertainers gave benefit concerts at home and entertained the troops abroad. As Targan says, "There was a collective spirit of cooperation and sacrifice that is almost unimaginable today. Men went to war and women went to work in factories." In Detroit, idled auto plants were converted to wartime production after sales of new cars were banned to save steel. Targan also believes that the 1940s had "a certain innocence and formality that is quaint and charming by today's standards." The Farmington Players are dedicating their performance of Suite Surrender to the father of cast member Eric Nogas. Sadly, Richard (Dick) Nogas passed away on August 27, 2022. Coincidentally, Dick was born in 1942, and his father, Walter, was killed in Germany, near the end of World War II.

Several crazy and compelling characters round out the cast. The divas' personal secretaries Murphy Stevens (Mei-Lin Wong of Livonia) and Mr. Pippet (Kyle Philips of Hazel Park) cater to the stars' every whim. Society matron Mrs. Osgood (Carol Shirley-Brown of Southfield) and gossip reporter Dora Del Rio (Donna Pelon of Livonia) drop in at inopportune times, and bellhops Francis (Todd St. George of Clarkston) and Otis (Eric Nogas of Farmington) add to the growing chaos. And a lapdog named Mr. Boodles might steal your heart ... and the show! As the evening's concert approaches, the stakes couldn't be higher for the hotel manager and staff as they want to make the hotel and suite "sparkle like the diamond she is." But just as diamonds must endure tremendous pressure to be formed, so too must the characters survive the pressure of the looming disaster as the rival divas embark on a collision course!

The Barn has implemented and continues to update its COVID-19 rules in accordance with CDC guidelines to keep members and audiences safe: Masks are not currently required for audience members, based on Oakland County transmission levels. Additionally, all cast and crew members are fully vaccinated. Suite Surrender will be performed without an intermission and the run time is approximately 90 minutes.

Photo Credit: Paul Manoian

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