Playwright: Jonathan Tolins
Directed by: Matt Shakeman
Starring: John Glover and Edward Tournier, Amy Aquino, Mark
Taylor and Bill Brochtrup (***) SECRETS OF THE TRADE presented by the Black Dahlia Theatre, tells the story of Andy Lipman a sparklingly ambitious kid from Long Island who dreams of a Broadway career. Through numerous wide-eyed letters to his idol Martin Kerner (portrayed by Tony Award winner, John Glover) young Lipman pleads for his mentorship. It’s time to play a little game of Frankenstein and the blind girl.
It does seem improbable that a half decade+ of compressed time would take Andrew through so many career highs and lows highlighted by sexual exploits â but what does remain hauntingly effective thru time lapse is the “hurry up and wait” fate of any entertainment career; revealed for what it is: How long can a 20-something pretend his life has not yet began?
What works exceptionally well is the casting of Andrew’s neurotically complacent parents (played by the biting Amy Aquino and Mark L. Taylor) who smother/support Andrew — but this dead-on duo assume a variety of peripheral roles throughout his odyssey that further underscore every artist will always be haunted by the first faces of home.
Perhaps the most powerful undercurrent of SECRETS: is the play’s subtext embodied by Andrew’s mother, a former entertainer, not permitted by the biz to become her very best. This fuels some the play’s best moments exploring this: While TV and the movies remain a man’s game; the stage has been and may always be a gentleman’s lair where women are kept to the sidelines as one gay man’s generation seduces to advance the next. It is a tragic truth told well.
The sparse, ever-changing stage serves the action strongly as the backdrop morphs from Andrew’s home to Kerner’s office and all time-stops in between. On a side note, CAPOTE screenwriter Dan Futterman attended the production this same night who remarked afterward, a shared sentiment: that the best secrets of any trade are either sold in haste or taken to the grave.
Now raise the curtain and drop your dreams.
- Playwright: Jonathan Tolins
- Directed by: Matt Shakeman
- Starring: John Glover and Edward Tournier, Amy Aquino, Mark
SECRETS OF THE TRADE
March 12th- April 20
Admission $25 Black Dahlia Theatre
5453 W. Pico Blvd (Between Fairfax and LaBrea)
Call for tickets 800.838.3006 or online @ www.thedahlia.com
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