I've often written about the magical power of theater to captivate an audience through a wonderful mix of storytelling, stagecraft and performance.
Colin Lane plays Dan in "Chapatti" at Florida Studio Theatre. PHOTO BY MATTHEW HOLLER
Even though I know about that special theatrical brew, it's wonderful to be reminded how it actually works.
It happened a little more than a week ago when I finally had a chance to catch up on the regional premiere of Christian O'Reilly's Irish play "Chapatti" at Florida Studio Theatre.
The play had opened a few weeks earlier, but on the same night as several other shows, and so my colleague Susan Rife wrote our daily review while I waited to find a free night to see it.
I arranged to attend a performance on May 13 when I could hopefully go just to enjoy and not worry about anything.
But journalists can't count on relaxing at any time, and just a few minutes before the show started, I received a text indicating that I had a wrong year in a story that was running on the front page the next day. It wasn't a major catastrophe. I was able to send an email to my office editors who quickly fixed the date and all was well.
Until . . . I realized that changing the date meant something else was off in the story. Now the lights were dimming and I was focused only on trying to figure out how to quietly get a message to the office without disturbing other patrons. (Yes, I know, I'd have to chastise myself later for my rude theater behavior.)
But I didn't. I sat and watched and waited.
I have to admit, with no disrespect to actors Colin Lane and Susan Greenhill, that I was so distracted by my work situation that I had trouble getting involved for the first 20 minutes or so. All I could think about was would there be enough time before deadline to deal with the error and get it fixed before the next day's paper was printed.
It didn't help my state of mind that "Chapatti" is a one-act play that runs 90 minutes without intermission. It was looking like a long 90 minutes for a while.
Then again, maybe it was just the play itself, which deals with a dog owner who meets a woman with many cats, and I'm not an animal lover. And it's done in a story-telling fashion at first, so the two actors speak directly to the audience, a device that can grow tiresome.
In the early scenes, we meet Dan, as he talks about his routine life in one scene, his troubled love life and his concern about being alone, and then we are introduced to Betty, a hyperactive woman who helps an elderly neighbor and takes care of her houseful of allergens (I mean, cats).
The back-and-forth was bothersome to me for a while. Was that the play, the actors or my distracted mind? Would I have reacted the same way the night before, or a night later?
But something began to change once the two characters belatedly started to interact.
Susan Greenhill plays Betty in "Chapatti" at Florida Studio Theatre. PHOTO BY MATTHEW HOLLER
And here's where that magic happened. I suddenly found that I was being drawn into the play, caring about Betty and Dan's odd but strangely adorable relationship along with the twists and surprises that are eventually revealed as we get to know them, their animals and the other people they talk about.
Lane and Greenhill sucked me in to the point that I really liked them, and almost forgot about what was happening at work. I know I stopped looking at my watch every couple of minutes.
That's what theater can do. Sometimes it takes a little longer than others, but when the show is right, theater can really take you away from your problems.
And it's also a reminder of how our moods or daily experiences impact how we react to a performance or what we contribute to the makeup of the audience.
I can't say how I would have reacted to the play if I had gone intending to write a review the next morning. Or how I might have responded if my mind was clear from the start.
But the events of that day and week led me to that night's experience, and I was able to be transformed just a bit. I can't say it's the most brilliant play, but by the end, I was happy to have spent some time with Betty and Dan, Chapatti and even the cats.
Contact Jay Handelman at jay.handelman@heraldtribune.com. Keep up with entertainment coverage at ticketsarasota.com/theater. Follow me @jayhandelman on Twitter and Instagram, and Like us on Facebook at ArtsSarasota.
