And it's with this same honesty that Parrish - who co-founded Sonnet Repertory Theatre in New York - approached Off the Wall Theater's production of "The Mercy Seat," which opens Friday night. She's directing Neil LaBute's critically acclaimed play, the story of a man and a woman who contemplate the new life they could share together beginning on Sept. 12, 2001.
"It's about taking chances more than it is about starting over," said Parrish, who worked as an actress and director in New York at the time of the 9/11 attacks. "To stay married or not to stay married, to remain in the city or to move on - the characters are forced to make everyday decisions in the middle of a cataclysmic event."
An MFA theater student and acting teacher at Point Park University, Parrish said that directing "The Mercy Seat" (her first assignment at Off the Wall Theater) has been an educational experience and also an opportunity for a unique collaboration with Michael Moats and Adrienne Wehr, who co-star as Ben and Abby.
"Rehearsals were like nothing I've ever known as a director," she said. "We experimented, we improvised and we found moments that aren't on the surface of the play but are in the subtext. And we brought out the humor in the play so that the characters, despite not always being likable, are people the audience can identify with."
"The Mercy Seat" runs through March 20. For reservations, call 412-394-3353.
Brick by brick
Who said you can't get there from here?
During its 35-year history of staging musicals at the park, Washington Community Theatre has taken audiences all over the place - to Scotland for "Brigadoon," to Russia for "Fiddler on the Roof," to England for "My Fair Lady," to Austria for "The Sound of Music," to pre-1900 New York for "Hello, Dolly!," even to the pages of the funny papers for "Li'l Abner" and "Annie."
Maybe that's why a destination somewhere over the rainbow and at the other end of the yellow brick road is more accessible than you think.
Cindy Berg will direct "The Wizard of Oz" this summer, and in order to reach the land where farmhouses fall on witches and monkeys have wings, she'll need a cast. A big cast. So she's holding auditions from 7 to 8:30 p.m. March 22-23 at First Presbyterian Church in Washington.
Here are the rules according to a release sent by WCT. One, actors should expect to sing and also read from the script. Two, though young performers are welcome to try out for the show, no one under 7 years old will be cast as a Munchkin. "The Wizard of Oz" opens June 22.
With a Twist
Who knows why, maybe it's because 76.5 inches of snow blanketed the region this winter, but I have the warm weather months on my mind lately.
So does Washington Community Theatre with the upcoming "Wizard of Oz" auditions, and so do the Pittsburgh CLO public relations staffers who announced not long ago that 12-year-old Joseph Serafini will play the title role in "Oliver!" this summer.
You might remember Serafini from three past CLO productions. He played Gavoche in "Les Miserables," Michael in "Peter Pan" and Tiny Tim in "A Musical Christmas Carol." He's a sixth grader at Bethel Park's Neil Armstrong Middle School and a fifth-year student at the Pittsburgh CLO Academy.
Based on "Oliver Twist," the novel by Charles Dickens, "Oliver!" was chosen as the opener for Pittsburgh CLO's 2010 season. It runs June 1-6, followed by "Miss Saigon," June 8-20; "Curtains," June 22-27; "The Producers," July 6-18; "Hairspray," July 20-Aug. 1; and, finally, the one really old chestnut in the bunch, "The Student Prince," Aug. 3-8.
Visit PittsburghCLO.org for details and updates.
Doug Shanaberger covers theater for the Observer-Reporter. He can be reached at ds7f@andrew.cmu.edu