Elizabeth Aspenlieder to Star in Bad Dates
Shakespeare & Company Stages Theresa Rebeck Play
By: Charles Giuliano - Dec 19, 2008
Recently we poked around in the enormous new Elayne P. Bernstein Theatre on the Shakespeare & Company campus, in Lenox, Mass. Link to S&C Exploring several large rehearsal rooms we found the actress, Elizabeth Aspenlieder, and director, Adrianne Krstansky, an actress and professor of Theatre at Brandeis University. They were working on a production of the one woman show by Theresa Rebeck "Bad Dates" which runs through March 8. The hilarious and insightful play is sure to be a hot date in the Berkshires.
We settled in with freshly brewed coffee and snacks to discuss the first winter season for Shakespeare & Company which is made possible by the new facility. There is a lot of pressure on the very gifted, witty, and charismatic Aspenlieder to carry the theatre from now through March. There are a lot of "what ifs" between now and then, including potential inclement weather, and reviews by unpredictable critics. This winter production is clearly an experiment with some risk taking for the company. The simple set by Susan Zeeman Rogers assures an affordable production. But at a top price of just $28.80 the play is hoping to lure a local audience during the off season. This is part of a growing trend of expanding the shoulder season in the Berkshires. The eventual goal is to offer theater year round.
"Bad Dates" is Aspenlieder's first one person show and when I raised the issue of what kind of pressure that represents there was a bit of frantic laughter. She compared memorizing a 30 page script to the usual task of just a few pages of dialogue. To further press the issue I observed that this may well be one of those career moments for Aspenlieder who has had any number of roles and responsibilities in the 13 years she has been on staff with Shakespeare & Company. In 2007 a critic for the Wall Street Journal writing about her work in "Rough Crossing" stated that she is "one of the funniest actresses on the East Coast." A statement that we would quickly back up based on our own observation of her roles this past season in the farce "The Ladies Man" and as Bianca in the drama "Othello." With a touch of anxious whimsy she commented that she hoped that the Wall Street Journal critic will cover the new show and "like it." If the show is a hit, and there is every reason to think it will be, that will go a long way toward widening her visibility beyond the Berkshires.
While she performs for other theatre companies, as well as independent film, Aspenlieder has both security and administrative responsibilities with Shakespeare & Company. In the family like environment established by artistic director, Tina Packer, everyone does everything. While there is a focus on perfecting the craft of acting there is also a daunting level of multi tasking. "Between rehearsals I run to the office to write and send out a press release" she said. She is the director of publicity for the company and during the off season has the job of selling some $180, 000 in ads for the programs.
In that capacity she states that "I know everyone in Lenox" on a first hand basis. She has a vivid sense of the community and its intimate relationship with the theatre company. This has the additional benefit of helping her, and Packer, to relate to the audience and address its needs. This is an exquisitely hands on and embedded company.
Interacting with Aspenlieder and her director, Krstansky, they were remarkably open and fun. There was little or none of the diva aspect that one too often encounters in the theatre. In the case of Aspenlieder she is too busy and hard working to cop an attitude. Krstansky affirmed that Elizabeth is constantly upbeat and positive. It is just the kind of energy and optimism that is absolutely essential to make Haley Walker in "Bad Dates" come to life.
The play which made its New York debut in 2003 is perhaps the best known and most widely produced of the works by Rebeck. Last season the Williamstown Theatre Company premiered her play "Understudy" Understudy review and Astrid Hiemer review of Understudy and in 2007 "Mauritius" Mauritius review moved from the Huntington Theatre Company in Boston to the Biltmore Theatre on Broadway. She was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize in 2003. Rebeck holds an MFA in playwrighting and a PhD in Victorian Melodrama from Brandeis University. She has a continuing relationship with Brandeis, as a visiting artist, where Krstansky has known her. So the director, who is new to Shakespeare & Company, is well suited for this project.
As in the productions of "Mauritius" and "Understudy" similarly "Bad Dates" conveys an element of dark humor. It is comedy with a twist. There is an aspect to Haley Walker which recalls Carrie Bradshaw in "Sex in the City." Again it focuses on a woman of a certain age (in this case a single mother of a teenage daughter) who has a fetish for shoes (several hundred pairs) and can't seem to solve the riddle of finding the right guy for a long term relationship. But as always with Rebeck it is never quite so simple and obvious. She keeps dropping hints and clues for the stunning reversal and turn of events. Typically, Rebeck's writing is remarkably well crafted as well as drop dead hilarious.
The play in two acts, which will run for about an hour and a half with an intermission, takes place in Haley's bedroom. It is a bit of a mess. From time to time she talks with her daughter who never appears. She is also often on the phone to friends and potential dates. Between dates and reflections with the audience she has numerous costume changes. Including, at one point, some sexy lingerie for a hot date who never shows up. It seems he hasn't quite broken off from his relationship. It is just one of several "Bad Dates."
Imagine, for example, a first date with a man who over a romantic dinner obsesses on the topic of his bowels and colonoscopies. Just how do you get through that kind of an evening? Haley lets herself get talked into another date set up by Her Mother. Good grief. Yes he is a handsome law professor from Columbia, but, duh, Gay. He spends their date flirting with the waiter.
All of which is perfectly outrageous, but, alas too close to the truth. For the past couple of years I have heard, in more than welcome detail, about the dates of a friend now separated after years of marriage. It has only convinced me to work harder at maintaining my relationship. The last thing one wants to do is date. It may be fun when you're young and the hormones are raging out of control, but once we mature, and come to our senses, dating is really a nightmare. It's about putting up a good front and being someone other than who we really are. Once you are secure in a relationship it is quite all right to discuss medical symptoms but never, no never, on a date. Particularly a first date.
So "Bad Dates" is hilarious and great fun. As long as it is about somebody else. This is a play that many in the audience will readily understand and identify with. Haley is a truly wonderful and all too human character. For Aspenlieder, it may well be that breakout role. After this star turn when she lights up the Berkshires it's going to be hard to keep her down on the farm. Bright lights, big city. Mr. DeMille, I'm ready for my close-up. My bet is that "Bad Dates" will be positively boffo. Break a leg. You go girl.