FSLT tees up comedy on the golf course
BECCA MARTIN-BROWN
bmartin@nwadg.com
The show must go on.
It’s a saying as old as theater itself and, in some way, it’s a plot device in nearly every comedy ever to grace a stage.
In “The Fox on the Fairway,” opening June 1 at Fort Smith Little Theatre, the show must go on for Mr. Bingham, president of the Quail Valley Country Club — in this case meaning, he must find a hot-shot golfer able to win a challenge match for the honor of the club and a great deal of Bingham’s money he’s wagered on the game.
Photo Courtesy Suzanne Thomas for FSLT
Christian Meurer, left, plays Henry Bingham, the executive director of the Quail Valley Country Club, seen getting rather cozy with his vice president, Ms. Peabody (played by Nicole Bostick) in the Fort Smith Little Theatre comedy “The Fox on the Fairway.”
Director Duff Taylor can go the playwright one better. A longtime actor, he was directing his first show at FSLT when, on dress rehearsal night, a gully-washer storm blew through town, with hail so fierce it shook paint loose from the ceiling and so much rain it came flooding through the roof.
“Needless to say, we stopped the performance — it was Arthur Miller’s “All My Sons” — and took shelter,” he remembers. But the show opened the next night, after an all-day cleanup effort. “Talk about a baptism by fire,” he says.
That’s not a bad phrase to describe how Taylor came to the stage either. He was 7 or 8 years old when his mother cast him as a child in a high school production of “Teahouse of the August Moon” — and he was bitten by the acting bug. After he got out of college, he got involved in supporting the renovation of the King Opera House in Van Buren, then auditioned for “Born Yesterday” at Fort Smith Little Theatre in 1985 or ‘86, he says. It was the company’s last show before moving into its current home on North Sixth Street, and he remembers the challenge of the warehouse space — including a pole that was right in the middle of the stage. “For 20-some years, they’d always had to build some piece of the set around that pole,” he marvels.
Working in a space created for a theater has been much easier, Taylor says, and he’s grateful for a community that supports FSLT — which, he points out, doesn’t have the money worries that some other bigger companies have.
Photo Courtesy Suzanne Thomas for FSLT
Christian Meurer, left, plays Henry Bingham, the executive director of the Quail Valley Country Club, seen getting rather cozy with his vice president, Ms. Peabody (played by Nicole Bostick) in the Fort Smith Little Theatre comedy “The Fox on the Fairway.”
“We are a very sound and strong theater,” he says. “We’re so fortunate to have huge community support.”
Those supporters love to laugh, which makes “The Fox on the Fairway” as likely to succeed as previous Ken Ludwig comedies like “Leading Ladies,” “Lend Me a Tenor” and “Moon Over Buffalo.”
“I think Ken Ludwig appeals to audiences because you are always in for a good time,” says Ian Miller, who suggested “The Fox on the Fairway” to Taylor as a project. “I personally believe that most people love coming to live theater to laugh more than to watch a good drama. Don’t get me wrong; I love both. But even if you are having a bad day and decide to go watch a comedy — especially a Ludwig play — you are going to have a great time and escape that bad day for those two hours.”
Ludwig, Miller adds, “is known for his big farces, usually paired with lots of physical comedy, lots of running around, door slamming, people kissing wrong people, weird costumes and, most importantly, big ensemble cast work. That to me makes a great show!”
In this case, Miller is right in the middle of the action as the golfer tasked with saving the day.
“My character is kind of a spaz who has super anxiety when it comes to things going wrong, no matter how big or small,” he describes. “He also really loves golf and is really good at it, so there is so much pressure weighing on him to perform his best — and as every comedy goes, we know that is probably not going to happen.” And that, he says, is when chaos and laughter ensue.
FAQ
‘The Fox on the Fairway’
WHEN — 7:30 p.m. June 1-2; 2 p.m. June 3; again June 7-9
WHERE — Fort Smith Little Theatre
COST — $27 opening night; $12 all other shows
INFO — 783-2966
