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About SCRC's production of Matt and Ben

Will power: 'Matt and Ben' at the SCRC

By TIM DONNELLY • Special to the Guide

Times are tough these days. There’s that nasty merry-go-round of bad economic news, global turmoil and the sudden return of Michael Jackson.

So it’s a good opportunity to look back and laugh at an earlier, simpler time, one in which Slick Willie presided over a booming dot-economy as the gentle tones of Better Than Ezra wafted from the radio. It was then that two still-relatively unknown Boston boys named Matt Damon and Ben Affleck burst forth with the movie “Good Will Hunting,” plunging themselves into a miasma of celebrity, gossip and occasional smugness while brandishing their world’s sexiest mannishness credentials.

This is the setting of “Matt and Ben,” a comedic send-up of the two stars’ relationship and subsequent rise to fame after the Oscar-winning script for “Good Will Hunting” literally falls from the sky (completely written and wrapped in brown paper) and lands in their Boston apartment. The play — by all accounts a hilarious parody of celebrity culture and over-praised modern demi-gods, full of clever lines of vicious wit — will be performed at the South Carolina Repertory Company March 19 to April 5.

And it’s just the kind of funny escape people need these days, director Blake White said.

“We were looking for a play that was just funny and topical and had nothing to do with the economy,” said White, who is making his directorial debut.

“We want people to come in and buy a ticket, and then, 90 minutes later, hopefully the only problem they’ll have is their cheeks hurt from laughing,” he said. Plus, he added, the theater hasn’t been immune from the economic downturn itself, had been looking for relatively smaller productions to put on this year.

White, whose acting credits at the theater include “Proof,” “Foxfire,” and “Doubt,” realizes the production is a bit of a departure for the company as it ventures into a modern, pop-culture infused play.

“We’re rolling the dice a little bit. It’s different,” he said. “I think that’s what this theater is about. I think people in the area that come to see our stuff actually welcome something that’s going to be new and different.”

'Office' credentials
Co-written by and originally starring Mindy Kaling, who now writes for, produces and plays the role of Kelly on NBC’s “The Office,” “Matt & Ben” was an off-Broadway smash when it debuted in 2003. It landed at the height of America’s tabloid Affleck-tion, when saturation of Ben and J. Lo on magazine covers and talk of how bad “Gigli” was had reached a breaking point.

The two Boston boys are played as caricatures: Ben is the jocky clown; Matt is an intense, emotional guitar balladeer. Gwyneth Paltrow and J.D. Salinger pop in along the way as the two figure out what to do with the script that fell from the heavens and could make their careers.

And in another comedic twist, both leads are played by women. Megan Bowers (who previously appeared in “Foxfire”) plays Matt and SCRC regular Peggy Trecker (“Mauritius,” “The Last Five Years,” “Rabbit Hole” and others) plays Ben. The casting helps even those who don’t know much about Damon and Affleck find humor in the play, White said.

“I think that’s one of the more delightful premises of the show is the fact that it’s two women doing it,” he said. “It equals some comic scenarios that are really, really funny.”

About SCRC's production of Mauritius

‘Mauritius’ gets SCRC’s stamp of approval

By TERESA FITZGIBBONS • Special to the Guide

A stamp may seem an everyday thing to most people, but in the South Carolina Repertory Company’s new production of Theresa Rebeck’s “Mauritius,” it’s the gateway to a high-stakes crime caper with a charismatic cast.

“It’s a play that puts people on their heels with its charms,” said associate producer Blake White. “On one hand, it’s very aggressive, but on the other, it draws you in with its suspense. It’s something people around here haven’t seen before.”

“Mauritius” involves the drama of a dysfunctional family. Following the death of their mother, two estranged sisters, Jackie (Ellie Clark) and Mary (Peggy Trecker), come into possession of a valuable stamp collection that includes the crown jewel for collectors. Conflicts arise when the financially strapped Jackie wants to sell the collection that Mary wants to keep for sentimental reasons.

The play steers Jackie into a murky world of seedy characters, including Sterling (Matt Bridges), a high-stakes collector with a violent streak; Phillip (Waldon Durham), a stamp shop owner with a thirst for revenge and an agenda of his own; and the wheeling and dealing Dennis (Blake White). Each wants to claim the collection for his own.

“It’s got some unexpected twists,” said director Tom Evans. “It seems to be going one way, and then suddenly it veers in another direction. It’s kind of like a Warner Bros. crime thriller.”

The drama by Rebeck, best known for “The Scene” and “Bad Dates,” draws upon serious themes such as the nature of obsession, the loss of a parent, inheritance conflicts, and the decision whether to focus on the pain in the past or to live in the present.

LC Weekly Review of Rounding Third

Rounding Third

Sports and life. Two different arenas, two different pursuits, one goal – winning. The question we all face: “What is Winning?”

Is it the actual scoring of points? The tallying up of more wins than losses? Or are the lessons we learn, the relationships we build in the process, more important?
    Rounding Third sees through the eyes of two little league coaches on the same team, played masterfully by Matt Bridge (Don) and Blake White (Michael) as they examine just those questions. As Director Tom Evans puts it, Rounding Third “...lets us look at both these aspects of our sporting nature: the deep rooted and archetypal desire to win squared against the hope that we can do so with honor.”
    Evans continues, “We passionately want our team to win. We just as passionately want them to do it without cheating, and, if and when they lose, we want them to accept defeat graciously. In our heart of hearts, if we could trust everybody to be a true sportsman, we’d really like to go back to our playground youth where the old saw really could be true: It’s not whether you win or lose but how you play the game.”
    The show is fast paced and the timing good. The strong writing draws us into the minds of these coaches, helping us understand how life led them to their rationalizations and coaching choices.  As an audience member, I found myself examining my own experiences, both as a spectator and a participant in sports. If you’re a parent with children involved in sports, you’ll find the humor and insight here both dead on and wildly entertaining.
    For all you women out there who find it almost impossible to get the husband and kids to do “culture,” this is the one for you – theatre disguised as the great American pastime!! So don’t strike out! Step right up to the box office and get your ticket now. Some shows are already sold out.
    Rounding Third continues through Nov 9th. Call 342.2057 or log on to www.hiltonheadtheatre.com . On Beach City Rd, just past the entrance to HIlton Head airport.

This review was written by Debbie Hoffman, Sales & Marketing Director for Lowcountry Weekly.

Review of SCRC's production of Rounding Third

'Rounding Third' about much more than baseball

By NANCY K. WELLARD

Matt Bridges as Don and Blake White as Michael are the two central figures in "Rounding Third," in place through Sunday at South Carolina Repertory Company. In fact, they are the only figures in "Rounding Third," a comedy/drama written by Richard Dresser and directed by Tom Evans.

Dresser wrote the piece, which premiered in Chicago in 2002, to address issues faced in Little League Baseball -- issues of building character, encouraging fair play, sportsmanship, having fun, team spirit, team play and the conflicting philosophy of winning at all costs, and no matter what.

Clearly, Dresser meant to entertain and to challenge our thinking, too. Happily, his issues were given thorough exploration by everyone involved at Saturday night's performance. Home run hitters were not only the two fine actors and the director, but the spare, minimal stage, the sound and lighting details, and -- and this is important -- the audience.

Simply stated, "Rounding Third" is about Little League Baseball, but it is certainly about more than that.

At the very beginning, when Don, and we don't mean Donald, and Michael, and we don't mean Mike, hook up for their first meeting as Little League coach and assistant coach at a community watering hole, their differences are impossible to miss. The beer-drinking Don meets the Starbucks quaffing Michael, and in seconds, the disparate philosophies of both men become the more defining. As the story progresses, boundaries are crossed in rapid succession as Dresser sets up the two who hold different preoccupations, to try to take their team to the championship and, just as importantly, to resolve their coaching conflicts.

They move the play by turns from laugh-out-loud funny, to drop-dead serious, as we in the audience learn more about the backgrounds of the two men, and the personal and family histories they bring to the table. And, though chuckles and grins and a load of one-liners are the order of the evening, the play is not without poignancy and some touching, dramatic moments.

Even as Bridges and White take their last bows, we are given only a hint of assurance that complete resolution is a guaranteed outcome. Michael appears newly challenged, and Don, though sure of himself, seems incapable of change. But they have made us hopeful, after our careful examination of their issues, and the set of life's circumstances that seem to form their inner spaces, that in spite of everything, their association will continue and their tenuous friendship will remain in place.

White is spot-on as the sensitive father and tightly wound assistant coach. He is convincing as the cell-phone toting, frequently late and distracted businessman. A kind of idealist, he still is the victim of life's abuses, which, by the way, continue, quite comically, at the hands of Bridges. He completely surprised us when he unsympathetically responded to the blustery, housepainter and former athlete turned coach, calling him less than brilliant ... or words to that effect.

White carefully reminds us he still is in touch with his priorities, and even more importantly, his goals for being involved at all. He moves seamlessly past our first impression, as he reveals first, his concept of what Little League should be, the true nature of his work, the death of his wife and his concern for their son -- who is not only a member of the team, but anything but a talented and gifted athlete. Look forward to White's "prayer" that his son actually catches a ball.

Bridges, whose performance is full of energy, takes Don, the blustery coach, through an impressive transformation, too. He provides us the opportunity to understand what he has become. How convincing was his total recall of a baseball play he made as a 12-year-old, which was ruined by a teammate.Raging against a past he could not change, motivated by revenge, he offered clear insight into the impact of his career-ending sports injury, his relationship, real or imagined, with the mother of a Little League team member, and coming to grips with his wife's affair with his best friend. Even his trophy-winning son's decision to abandon the Little League team in favor of a starring role in the school's production of "Brigadoon" seemed the more immediate through his skillful handling of the role.

Tom Evans, who has directed 23 plays at SCRC, directed and saw to the scenic design of "Rounding Third." He also set, with impressive result, the actors against the minimal set with attention to position, placement and suggestion. It is all about the actors.

About SCRC's production of Rounding Third

'Rounding Third': SCRC explores life and baseball

By HEATHER HOEFER

Blake White and Matt Bridges spent much of last week enthusiastically shouting into empty space at the South Carolina Repertory Company.

They were in the middle of coaching a Little League game played by invisible children represented by signs posted around the theater.

"Over there is shortstop," Bridges says, pointing into thin air. "And over there is first base."

The two were rehearsing for SCRC's new play, "Rounding Third," a two-man production about Little League coaches and dads with very different coaching methods.

White plays Michael, the sensitive father trying to bond with his son, who believes that baseball should be about sportsmanship and having fun. Bridges is Don, the stereotypical macho dad who believes winning is everything.

"Don is the Vince Lombardi-esque type of character," Bridges says. "Everything he says is taken very seriously. He is out to win at all costs."

The two coaches collide when Little League becomes symbolic of their approaches to life. Don thinks winning the championship game will set the stage for their children's eventual successes, while Michael thinks baseball is designed to teach them how to work well with others. By the end of the play, of course, each dad takes his coaching and life philosophies back to the drawing board. "Of course, that brings them into comic conflict," says Tom Evans, the play's director.

In true SCRC style, "Rounding Third" is meant to entertain and provoke thought. The theater company is known for productions that aren't mainstream.

Since last year's sold-out run of "Doubt," an open-ended play designed to leave the audience guessing, the theater staff has implemented a series of "talkbacks," Q&A sessions after the shows with the cast and the audience. Talkbacks for "Rounding Third" are scheduled following the Oct. 29 and Nov. 5 performances.

"Ninety percent of our work has never been done in the Lowcountry," White says. "(The SCRC) is growing and expanding every day. With these slow economic times, we still have a solid foundation under us, and we're a nonprofit."

Indeed, in addition to the witty dialogue, economics played a role in the decision to bring "Rounding Third" to Hilton Head Island. Such limited-cast productions are catching on in popularity nationwide because they're less expensive than shows with a full Shakespearean cast of characters, says Evans.

But what "Rounding Third" lacks in cast, it gains in constant comic chatter.

"The challenge for me as a director is moving through time and space," Evans says. "(The characters are) resting in a bar and the next thing they're on the baseball field. Or they're in Don's van and then back at the baseball field, either in a game or in practice. We have to keep the audience aware of where they are."

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