By Carol Davis
SAN DIEGO- -It isn’t often that we get a chance to see a young, up and coming actor who is still in school and has time to perform, and perform well.
How fortunate for us then that Dylan Hoffinger, a freshman at the School of Creative and Performing Arts (as a musical major), has the leading role in Brian Christopher Williams’ comedy Anita Bryant Died For Your Sins currently showing at Diversionary Theatre.
Williams’ coming of age story centers on young Horace Poore (Hoffinger) who discovers early on that he has homosexual leanings. It’s 1977 and he lives in the Adirondack Mountains with his older brother Chaz (Dylan Seaton), his mother Etta (Dana Hooley) and his dad, Myron (Doug Pugh).
Strange as it might seem, Williams’ 1970’s play parallels conditions on the ground in 2010. Still a stigma in some communities and families to have a gay relative or sibling, we do hear of more and more men and women coming out though. After all it is the 21st century, right?
Well, maybe not. The pendulum has been slowly swinging back and gay bashing seems to be OK in certain parts of our land. Just as the shot heard around the world started one revolution it seems more and more politicians and their constituents are ready to start again.
We are now in the middle of yet another battle working at excluding gays from the military and banning same sex marriage. Similarly we are at war and the economy is in the drink. The media back then, while not 7/24, was also an influencing factor in the minds and hearts of the good folk of the Adirondacks as it is today around the world.
Let’s go back to 1977 where very little to protect gay rights among other worldly things were in play. Gay was not where one wanted to be especially IF one were fifteen, naïve and it was at the height of the anti-gay crusade led by the then popular singer and ex beauty queen Anita Bryant and the holier than thou Jerry Falwell.
Their “Save the Children” crusade to repeal the Dade County, Florida ordinance prohibiting discrimination based on sexual orientation took the country by storm and Bryant, the spokesperson for Florida Oranges and their juice, was at the height of her popularity.
Caught between the worlds of his hard working, blue-collar parents struggling to make a living and his rebel anti war brother who left for Canada rather than be drafted into a war for which he didn’t want to die, Horace is left to walk the fine line between his realities and his anxieties with no one to help.
He has this huge crush on Olympic swimming star Mark Spitz that he transfers to his gym coach Jake Spencer (Tyler Herdklotz) who looks remarkably like Spitz (in Horace’s eyes).
Fortunately or unfortunately for the teenager, the coach and Horace’s brother Chaz, when he finally returns from Canada in a more conciliatory mood, get a sense of his struggles and in a round about sort of way do help.
The story is told through the eyes of fifteen-year- old Horace a la Eugene Jerome in Neil Simon’s Brighton Beach Memoirs. As mentioned earlier, Hoffinger shines in the role of Horace as he brings the audience right into his soul sharing both tears of laughter and pain. His nimble way of telling his story is so natural that there isn’t a doubt in anyone’s mind how good an actor he really is.
Both Hooley and Pugh are perfect as the parents whose work ethic, love of country and parenting are cloaked in gender roles, conservative prejudices and lack of education.
Hooley’s Etta keeps herself busy working and caring for the family. She bustles about talking to her God realizing the jokes He/She plays on the unsuspecting good folks in her community are quite an irony. She embodies the role of loving mother.
She doesn’t, however, show too much on the creative side of cooking (frozen dinners seem to be the standard), but as always Hooley gives it her all as she digs into this role.
Pugh as tough and big as he looks, especially when he snaps his belt out of their loops to give one of the boys some good old-fashioned leather, is really a pussycat in disguise. He too is quite convincing.
Using the tools they have as loving parents who just want what’s good for their children they pull together as a family when all is said and done. Pugh is the straight guy to Hooley’s humor and there is much of that offsetting the seriousness of the subject matter.
Tony Houck and Jacquie Wilke, who play a variety of parts, are at their best as Jerry Falwell and Anita Bryant (as caricatures of themselves and are very funny) appearing on TV to spread their gospel to “Save Our Children”. Houck’s Walter Cronkite bit is perfect and every one of Wilkes characters is funnier than the next. In short both are a howl.
Seaton is convincing as the older brother Chaz who understands his little bro and tries to guide him through his trials without actually telling him what to do. Tyler Herdklotz, as the macho coach, is right on target prancing and showing of his sexy manly body to the wide eyed Horace who can’t stop gawking at him in the locker room and in the showers.
One lone character, Agnes (Beth Gallagher) a neighbor gal from across the road whose family comes from Poland and doesn’t speak English, is somewhat of a puzzle as she walks back and fourth letting out little screeches and then disappearing.
References made about her by the Poores, who take her in their stride, are dropped here and there. I’m sure I missed something in the translation as to why this family from Poland and especially the comings and goings of this girl, who is slow-witted, were written into the script but they elude me.
Shana Wride’s spot on direction keeps the pace moving along at a nice tempo. Daniel E. Grodecki II set, a wooden planked tree house set back in the middle of the stage with Horace’s typewriter, portable radio and his favorite blanket on the floor with steps to come and go (his brother Chaz built it) gives the actor space to speak directly to the audience. Grodecki’s use of the wide stage also provides a small kitchen area on one side of the tree house and a multi use school locker room/ radio station platform on the other.
Period clothes by costume designer Valerie Henderson along with Omar Ramos’s sound design and Michelle Caron’s lighting round out the play’s good look.
“Anita Bryant Died For Your Sins” gets two thumbs up.
See you at the theatre.
Dates: October 28th-November 2ist.
Organization: Diversionary Theatre
Phone: 619-220-0097
Production Type: Comedy/Drama
Where: 4545 Park Boulevard, San Diego, CA 92116
Ticket Prices: $31.00and $33.00
Web: diversionary.org
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Theatre critic Davis is based in San Diego