Photo Flash: Take A VISIT TO A SMALL PLANET in Lakewood Theatre Co's Latest

Lakewood Theatre Company opens its 65th season with Gore Vidal's quirky and humorous sci-fi satire, Visit to a Small Planet. Director Tobias Andersen brings to the stage a story of a flying-saucer spaceman with psychic powers who discovers love, pain, and beatniks on earth. The production sponsor for Visit to a Small Planet is the Lakewood Center Associates.

Imagine if a visitor from another galaxy happened to land on earth to observe the United States firsthand. What kind of impression would the country, or for that matter, the human race, make on a complete stranger? This is the question posed in Gore Vidal's Visit to a Small Planet, a comedy subtitled as A Comedy Akin to a Vaudeville.

Originally presented as a television play in 1957 (it had its New York stage premiere in the same year), the satirical play follows the exploits of Kreton, an alien who lands on Earth, hoping to catch a glimpse of the American Civil War only to find that "something went wrong with the machine!" He has landed in the mid-twentieth century, outside of the Spelding family's home. Upon learning that it is not 1861, Kreton nevertheless decides to stay and observe human behavior: "You are my hobby," he tells the Speldings, "and I am going native."

Lakewood's production opens July 7 and continues through August 13, 2017 on the Headlee Mainstage at Lakewood Center for the Arts, 368 S. State Street in Lake Oswego. Performances areThursday, Friday, and Saturday nights at 7:30 PM, one Wednesday performance at 7:30 PM (July 26), Sunday matinees at 2:00 PM (July 16, 30, August 6, and 13) and Sunday evenings at 7:00 PM(July 9, 23 and August 6). Ticket prices are $34/adults and $32/seniors. Discounts are available for students and groups. For additional information and tickets, call the Lakewood Box Office at (503) 635-3901 or order online at www.lakewood-center.org.

Special note: On Wednesday, July 26, the theatre continues its program called WOW: 25-35. For people 35 and under tickets are priced at $25 each. One hour prior to performance there will be a complimentary wine tasting hosted by World Class Wines. Come enjoy Wine on Wednesday (WOW) paired with discounted show tickets.

About the Play: Bored with his distant planet and endowed with a technology far more advanced than ours, where immortality, perfection and peace coexist, Kreton (Jeremy Southard) has adopted Earth as a hobby to escape his intergalactic ennui. And that's dangerous. Kreton loves violence and he has decided to time-and-space travel to earth to experience a place where the inhabitants do war "really well." This extraterrestrial, arrives on Earth dressed as a Confederate gentleman expecting the Battle of Bull Run, the first big battle of the American Civil War in 1861. Instead, however, he lands his driverless, time-traveling vehicle to a 100 years later in Manassas, Virginia in 1957. (His spaceship miscalculated.)

Kreton's ship treads on the rosebushes that encircle the meticulously kept household of Roger (Todd Hermanson), Reba (Julie Elizabeth Knell) and Ellen Spelding (Melissa Sondergeld). Kreton unceremoniously falls into their lives and soon discovers he is in an era that, though rife with general human conflict, is hopelessly devoid of explosive battles. But after discovering all the new playthings the 20th century has invented for war-making, the fun returns for him as he decides to take over the planet and create a brand new war for himself. Along the way are a lot of laughs, a little bit of love and a humanizing look at the citizens of small planet Earth, where we observe how different people define "love of one's country."

The Lakewood Theatre Company production of Visit to A Small Planet also features Erik James as the blustering General Tom Powers; Paul Harestad as the boy-next-door, Conrad Mayberry;Kaleb Hood as the hapless army Aide; Ethan LaFrance as Delton 4; and Dusty as Rosemary the cat.

Stage direction for LTC's production of Visit to a Small Planet is by Tobias Andersen. Scenic design is by Christopher Whitten, lighting design is by Kurt Herman, sound design is byMarcus Storey, properties are by Addie Underwood, fight choreography is by Heather King, and costume design is by Patricia J. Rohrbach. The stage manager is Addie Underwood and the producer is Steve Knox.

Photo Credit: Triumph Photography

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