Asolo’s ‘Morning After Grace’ looks at love and sex in a retirement community
Peter Amster allows that a plot synopsis of “Morning After Grace” might make it sound like one of those shows at a Florida dinner theater in the 1980s, the kind where a couple of B-list movie stars of yesteryear appear in a play that’s designed to draw in a crowd of undiscriminating senior citizens.
But, he said, it’s much more than that.
“It’s a comedy about two older people who wake up naked in bed together after a one-night stand,” he said. “It’s perfect for our demographic.”
Amster is directing a new production of “Morning After Grace” for Asolo Repertory Theatre in Sarasota. It opens Friday and runs through early March, in rotating repertory.
It’s bright and funny, especially in the early going, he said. But playwright Carey Crim gracefully turns the play from a fairly typical comedy into a sharply observed social commentary, and from a rom-com that would appeal mostly to older people into a crisp and substantial comedy that should appeal to all audiences.
“The literary people here warned me about this play,” he said. “They told me it was lightweight. And when I started reading it, I laughed, of course. But then it goes deeper, and actually goes to some fairly dark places.”
When I started reading it, I laughed, of course. But then it goes deeper, and actually goes to some fairly dark places.
Peter Amster
The three-person cast — the couple that had the one-night stand, plus a retired professional baseball player who shows up later and drives some of the intriguing plot complications — consists of Asolo newcomers.
Jack Weatherall, a Canadian stage actor who’s something of a Shakespeare specialist, is most widely known for playing Vic on the Showtime series “Queer as Folk.”
Catherine Smitko is also primarily a stage actor, though she’s done a handful of independent films, including “Cotton” with Gary Cole.
David Alan Anderson, who plays the baseball player, has done guest spots on “Prison Break” and other TV series, and he’s currently a regular on the new Showtime series “The Chi.”
“I’m extremely fortunate to have this cast,” Amster said.
The play is set in a Florida retirement community (“not far from here,” according to Asolo Rep’s publicity material). The central couple, Angus and Abigail, meet at a funeral (“At our age, funerals are better than singles bars,” one of them says). Abigail thinks she might be ready to take a chance on love again, but Angus isn’t quite there.
It’s a comedy about two older people who wake up naked in bed together, after a one-night stand,” he said. “It’s perfect for our demographic.
Peter Amster
When Ollie, a former Detroit Tiger, enters, we learn that things aren’t quite as they seem.
The show premiered in the fall of 2016 at the Purple Rose Theatre in Michigan, which was founded by Jeff Daniels. Playwright Crim is a resident artist there, and she created the play as a vehicle for Randolph Mantooth, a former TV star (most notably on the show “Emergency!” in the 1970s) who now works mostly on stage.
A review of the premiere production noted that the play is “a delightful farce without being shallow ... thought-provoking without being pretentious; it points to social injustices but never puffs up with self-righteous indignation.”
Details: Through March 3, in repertory, Mertz Theatre at the FSU Center for the Performing Arts, 5555 N. Tamiami Trail, Sarasota. 7:30 p.m. Tuesdays, 1:30 and 7:30 p.m. Wednesday-Thursday, 8 p.m. Friday, 2 and 8 p.m. Saturday, 2 p.m. Sunday. $15.50-$98. 941-351-8000, asolorep.org.
Marty Clear: 941-708-7919, @martinclear
This story was originally published January 17, 2018 at 5:11 PM with the headline "Asolo’s ‘Morning After Grace’ looks at love and sex in a retirement community."