The Plays of Steve Duprey
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THEATER REVIEW: 'Men of a Certain Age' will make you laugh, tear up
2/20/24 Finger Lakes Times
A while back, you might have been lucky enough to catch a performance of an original play, “Women of a Certain Age,” by local playwright Steve Duprey. That was a funny, well-plotted and well-acted production presented by the Geneva Theatre Guild. The play centered on a group of close female friends spending a couple of eventful days together in a cozy mountain cabin. The story was imaginative and even a tad far-fetched, but it was delightful and enjoyable in every respect.
Now here comes what might be thought of as a sequel — except that it isn’t.
“Men of a Certain Age,” also by Duprey and also presented by the Geneva Theatre Guild, tells the story of four men, friends since their youthful days, gathering in another cozy cabin. Similar setting, but not the same cabin — and these men have no relationship to the women in the previous play.
The male story is an entirely different one, but it has a ring of truth that may be difficult to observe by anyone who has lost a spouse or mate.
This tale centers on two men — best friends and brothers-in-law — both of whom were widowed and are dealing with their losses in two completely different ways.
Alan (actor Glen Wyand) lost his wife, Helen, to illness less than two years before the time of the cabin gathering. Helen was the younger sister of Chris (actor Llewellyn Lafford) who lost his own wife, Janet, in a traffic accident more than twice that long ago.
Chris hasn’t taken it well at all. Idolizing his sister and feeling guilty that his wife died and he didn’t, he has moped and become sullen and obsessed with his own health.
Alan, on the other hand, has found new love with a nurse who cared for Helen during her long illness. The nurse, Stephanie (actress Abigail Adams), is younger than Alan — much younger. And, therein lies the rub. Alan hasn’t mentioned to any of his close friends that he has a new woman in his life, let alone one he describes as young enough to be his daughter.
In the course of two emotionally charged acts, these two men and their friends, Jimmy (actor Steve Mitchell), a happily married man with a living wife, and Rob (actor John Gibbon), a priest, deal with the issues of loss, guilt, renewal, trust, and deep friendship — the sorts of things that don’t generally make up the story of a bunch of men drinking beer and wine and playing euchre together in a pleasant getaway cabin.
There are moments of humor in this play — quite funny moments — but it’s really a drama, and a good one at that. The interactions among those men realistically reveal the depths of emotion that can happen in a small group of men who have known each other through all sorts of ups and downs for a lifetime.
You think guys can’t really feel much of anything? Think again.
Duprey, who is the director of his own play, has chosen a superb group of actors to bring to life the complex characters he created in this play. They’re all men of the right age, and they’re all very good. And, the one woman in the cast, Abigail Adams, is equally well cast and does a superb portrayal of her character.
If you see this play, you will laugh several times, but you also might find yourself tearing up a bit as the story unfolds, so have some tissues handy. Just in case.
Carol Ritter Wright is a retired journalist who has been active in community theater, in the Finger Lakes and Rochester, as an actor, singer and director for more than 50 years.
A Review of the Premiere Production of
Women of a Certain Age
THEATER REVIEW: 'Women of a Certain Age'
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By CAROL RITTER WRIGHT
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Oct 21, 2022
If you’re going to write a realistic play about women who have been around the block a few times, it helps to be married to one — and to be a good listener when she’s hanging loose with some of her women friends.
Steve Duprey checks these boxes. He paid attention to his wife and some of her girlfriends when they were talking at a dinner a few months ago, and that inspired him to write a two-act play that is being premiered this weekend as a Geneva Theatre Guild production, with Duprey directing his own work. Ellie Stearns is the producer.
“Women of a Certain Age” is the result of Duprey’s observation and imagination, and it’s a hoot. Really. This is a very funny and very fun play. It helps that Duprey’s wife and the other three women in the cast are all good friends in real life, each with extensive stage and production experience at the community level. Mary Cook, Deb Hodgeman and Joanne Saracino join Cindy Duprey as a hilarious and true-to-life foursome who are really pretty much playing themselves. They’re all women of, well, a certain age, not younger actresses trying to act like their own mothers. So the warts-and-all portrayals are realistic and absolutely delightful.
Without revealing much of the plot, it can be said that these four characters interact with the bluntness and honesty that tends to bubble to the surface as women age. Their language is sometimes a bit foul, but it’s the way girlfriends often talk together when nobody is around to eavesdrop. The lines Duprey has written for them are so true to life that it’s unlikely that any of the four women on stage felt reluctant to memorize and speak them.
The genuine affection and mutual concern that the four have among themselves is obvious as they enact scenes of sisterhood that will have women in the audience nodding in recognition, laughing hard at certain lines and scenes, and even sniffling a bit through a few of the more tender moments. Any man who has really been listening to the women in his life should find this rather familiar.
There are some gloriously funny moments in this play. Watch for the bits that involve trying to get a cell phone connection in the remote location of the cabin. The few moments of potty humor aren’t likely to offend anyone — it’s all just a fact of life for women.
Kiefer Schenk adds a bit of spice just where it’s needed in one oddball scene that is perhaps the only weak spot in the script. It’s a goofy interlude that might take a bit of reworking. But that could happen. In his director’s note, Duprey says his play is still a workshop enterprise and may be revised based on audience feedback and his and the players’ own observations.
This ensemble cast does a wonderful job with a play that deserves a long life somewhere. It’s too good to just have four performances in a high school auditorium.
One interesting note about the appealing set, a cabin interior that looks mighty inviting: the paintings on the walls are all originals by Steve Duprey, an artist and playwright who lives in Phelps. The pictures will be for sale after the show ends, with a portion of the proceeds going to the Geneva Theatre Guild.
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Carol Ritter Wright is a woman of a certain age. She is a retired journalist with extensive experience acting, singing and directing in community theater productions in Seneca Falls, Brighton, Rochester, Newark, and Webster.