Eight shows for the price of one

Tom Titus

Summer in the theater is the time for fun and frolic and Golden West

College had an ideal summer show on its schedule, the Russian comedy

“Red Noses.”

Due to royalty considerations, however, the college couldn’t

obtain the rights to “Red Noses,” so director Tom Amen elected to

offer audiences a real bargain -- eight comedies for the price of

one.

The collective title of the new Golden West summer show is “All in

the Timing” by David Ives, opening July 11, the date originally

penciled in for “Red Noses.” Amen promises you’ll get a kick out of

the show.

“Ives is a master of comedic dialogue, and this collection of

one-act comedies represents some of his finest and funniest work,”

Amen said. “It’s zany, intelligent and wonderfully fresh.”

The titles of the one-acts alone are intriguing -- “Sure Thing,”

“The Philadelphia,” “Variations on the Death of Trotsky,” “Captive

Audience,” “Time Flies,” “English Made Simple,” “Enigma Variations”

and “Foreplay.”

The plays, Amen explains, are performed by a small company of

actors who take multiple roles in the production.

“This is an actor’s show, in that it allows each actor to play a

variety of characters throughout the evening,” he said. “This is

tremendously challenging for the actor and wonderfully entertaining

for the audience.”

Not to mention the fact that the playlets will be brand-new to

most audiences, your correspondent included, and I’ve been looking

at, and commenting on, local stage productions for the past 38 years.

After all that theatergoing, anything new is an automatic plus.

“This show takes its audience on a dizzying, roller coaster ride

straight through the heart of a three-ring circus,” Amen says. “This

is a terrific, lighthearted evening of summer theater.”

Besides, it’s the last chance for Golden West audiences to avail

themselves of a good laugh. The first two productions on the

college’s 2003-04 schedule are “The Crucible” and “Grapes of Wrath,”

not exactly a pair of knee-slappers.

“All in the Timing” will open its two-weekend engagement July 11

with performances Fridays and Saturdays at 8 p.m. and Saturdays at 3

p.m. in the Mainstage Theater on the Huntington Beach campus, 15744

Golden West St.

Tickets are priced at $11 for general admission and $9 for

students and senior citizens. Call the box office at (714) 895-8150

for more information.

* TOM TITUS reviews local theater for the Independent.