Features

It may appear small-minded to dwell on the point, but it does feel good to know that in Berkeley, you can actually see live drama for 10 (count’em 10!) bucks in a perfectly charming, completely traditional, theater. This seeming piece of magic occurs with absolute regularity in the Actors Ensemble productions at the Live Oak Theater in the Arts Building at 1301 Shattuck Ave. at Berryman. 

Now, to add to the glow, you can even feel civic-minded when you pay for the ticket. Starting with the current production, Sam Shepard’s Seduced, every play will benefit a local charity, either by a donation or by service, or both. Fifty percent of all proceeds from the Sunday, Feb. 13 matinee (2 p.m.) will go to Berkeley Meals on Wheels which takes food to housebound Senior Citizens. 

The secret behind AE’s position is longevity. By far the oldest theater company in Berkeley, they have an unbroken production record going back to the 1957-1958 season. In 1967, the company began performing at the City’s Live Oak Theatre, which their volunteers now manage. In 1978, the theater was saved from closure when AE assumed responsibility for its management. (The city was unable to continue meeting the costs of operating the theater due to the budget cuts necessitated by the passage of Proposition 13). 

Clearly, volunteers are the lifeblood of this company. That does not mean that either the quality of the productions, or their selection, lack sophistication. Sam Shepard, the author of AE’s current production, Seduced, is the darling of both New York and Hollywood. Even a very condensed account of Shepherd’s stature has to note that before he was thirty years old over thirty of his plays had been produced in New York. He’s received a Pulitzer Prize for Drama and both his screenplays and his acting have been successful in Hollywood. He was nominated for an Oscar for his performance as an actor in The Right Stuff. 

Seduced reached the New York stage three years after Howard Hughes’ death had brought public attention to the bizarre extremes of the ga-zillionaire’s lifestyle during the final decades of his life. Although the play calls the dominating character Henry Hackamore and makes no claim to historical accuracy, it doesn’t stray far from the extraordinary behaviors detailed in the national press after Hughes’ death.  

Both acts take place in the claustrophobic, barren room somewhere outside of the United States, where Hackamore has withdrawn into a life of absolute isolation, confined to a quasi/wheelchair/table, totally dependent upon the assistance of his servant, Raul. 

Duane Schirmer is literally stage center throughout both acts as he embodies the terrified, totally dependent, and totally arrogant Hackamore, swinging back and forth from one extreme to another. 

It is a demanding role, which he does well.  

Hackamore’s servant, Raul (effectively played by AE veteran David Fenerty) is, of course, the absolute rock maintaining the pair’s lifestyle, the quiet, seemingly subservient person who appears to have no purpose other than to exist for Hughes’ needs. He is the one person whom the paranoid Hughes trusts to any degree; and his behavior is critical to the major action of the plot. 

AE has been able to locate two actresses whose physical appearance alone, quite aside from their unquestioned talent, make them fully believable as old flames of the man who once seemed to be one of the best “catches” in the world. Wendy Welch plays Luna, the more polished of the two, and the first to respond to Hackamore’s invitation to re-enter his life.  

It does become a bit startling when Welch is then given the task of creating a fairly intelligent and sound woman who seems unrelated to the character who originally comes on stage. She does both well; but should she have to? 

Suraya Keating, a veteran actress who deserves better, has been cast as Miami a “blonde bombshell.” It’s a role which she handles well, if you’re willing to believe in the blonde bombshell stereotype.  

Ultimately one must fault Shepard, not the four person ensemble, for any weaknesses in this production. It seems to be a classic case of good actors doing the best that can be done with basically unwieldy materials. Quite aside from Shepard’s seeming lack of acquaintance with real live women, he appears to have mistaken a case study of Howard Hughes’ for a drama.  

Even Pulitzer Prize winners don’t always win them all.  

Actors Ensemble’s production of Sam Shepard’s Seduced runs Fridays and Saturdays through Feb. 19 a the Live Oak Theater, 1301 Shattuck Ave. 649/5999. www.aeofberkeley.org.l