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Dramatic Action gets the timing right
 Tracy Ust
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In the latest dramatic presentation by members of SCSU's theater bunch, "All in the Timing," eight performers show the audience just how important timing is. The play, which runs through Friday and is presented by Dramatic Action, consists of five different scenes.
The first, "Sure Thing," shows Betty (Shannon Flannigan) and Bill (Colin Markowitz) at an eclectic little diner. Both are alone and Fate shows us what will happen to the pair if he allows them to let the meeting work in a way for them to get together. Eli Ebb, as Fate, does a fabulous job of acting without saying a word (except for a few panicked dings!) Flannigan and Markowitz's chemistry is fabulous, and their timing is both comedic and ironic.
Ziggy Peters (Milton), Katie Chase (Kafka) and Eero Lane (Swift) team up for the second one-act, "Words, Words, Words." The scene begins with the three actors sitting on different level risers, typing on ancient typewriters. We soon learn that they are part of a science experiment showing that "three monkeys typing into infinity will eventually create Hamlet." Chase's gymnastics on a tire swing and Peters' apparent sexual frustrations added comic relief to a play with a much deeper meaning � one I am not sure I understood.
Markowitz joined Brian Chmiel and Sandra Johnson for "The Philadelphia." Chmiel and Markowitz are customers in a New York diner, physically, but metaphysically, they are each in their own place � Chmiel in Philadelphia and Markowitz in L.A. Johnson plays their waitress who has been in Cleveland all week. All three actors do a great job evoking laughs from the audience, but the definite highlight is Chmiel. From the minute he stumbled onto the stage to the end of the scene, he had the audience busting a gut with laughter.
"The Universal Language," starring Chase, Ebb and Peters, is one that would take five or six times to get all the meaning out of. In it, Chase and Ebb talk in a "Universal Language" which is fun to listen to. The gibberish sounded slightly like English and the duo spoke as eloquently as if the universal language was their mother tongue.
"Variations on the Death of Trotsky" shows Lane as Trotsky and Johnson as Mrs. Trotsky. Together they show the scene of Trotsky's death, murder by a mountain climbing pick. Again, Chmiel, as the Spanish gardner-murderer Ramon, adds great comic humor and Ebb's silence is heard throughout the theater. Lane and Trotsky have great comic timing and the last of the scenes ends with a thud (as Trotsky hits the floor).
Tracy Ust can be reached at: [email protected]
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