Cascade Community Theatre's Second Offering Is 'Odd Couple'

By Carol Ladwig

Source - The River Current News - www.rivercurrentnews.com - February 28, 2008

Unlike the characters in its upcoming production “The Odd Couple,” cast and crew of Cascade Community Theatre seem to get along just fine. They share responsibilities,

swap roles, and play off each other’s, uh… quirks.

“No snorkeling until after the line!” Wendy Habek tries to insist at a rehearsal. She’s struggling to express her character’s sympathy for a sobbing Felix Ungar (Chuck Young), but he continues to make

noises that make her laugh instead.

That should reassure the play’s director Stuart Lisk, who chose the play, about unlikely roommates

Oscar Madison, slob, and neat-freak Felix Ungar, because “I wanted to see if we could pull off a comedy.”

And it does. During the run-through of one scene, Lisk could be heard, telling no one in particular “Oh, it’s getting so much better!” Another reason Lisk chose the play is because, for now, that’s what directors in CCT do.

Chuck Young, director for the first production decided on “An Ideal Husband” by Oscar Wilde, and

Lisk remembers offering “Chuck, you do ‘Husband’ and I’ll do the next one.” Soon that process, like many aspects of CCT, will “become more organized,” says Habek, who is also the producer for “The Odd Couple.” One of the committees the CCT Board is forming is a play selection committee, which will not only choose the shows for CCT, but the directors and producers for each show.

There will also be committees for publicity, fund-raising, technical work, and membership. For now, though, “Everybody’s getting involved and taking ownership,” says Jeff Zuber, who plays Roy and, according to Habek, is the entire publicity committee.

So, Habek is not only the producer, she’s also Cecily Pigeon, neighbor to Oscar Madison and Felix, and before that she was another poker buddy in the play, Speed. She gladly handed that role over to Kendra Magee, a newcomer to the theatre group, because “She really impressed me with the way she

just came off the street and could pick up a script and know where she’s at.”

Richard Greenfield, Murray in the play, is also a set technician and the director of CCT’s next production, (rumored to be Shakespeare, and a comedy). Helping out behind the scenes, he was involved in the often difficult task of finding free props and set pieces for “Husband.” “Sometimes

we’ve taken chairs right out of people’s living rooms,” he recalled.

Lisk, Young and Habek all direct the youth productions for CCT. Every cast member seems to have at least one behind-the-scenes role in the play or the larger organization. Often they play financial parts, as well. “We’re all volunteering our time and our money to this,” says Young, President of CCT. That “we” has grown larger since “An Ideal Husband,” he adds, so the duties are gradually being shared out to more people. Currently, Young said, the group has 50 some people, including members from the umbrella organizations of Cascade Performing Arts Council (CPAC) and the Duvall Cultural Commission.

“It really has become a community program, which is very exciting to me,” he said. CCT has brought together some of the arts groups in the Valley, which is good, but not quite enough for Young, who said “My goal is to bring all the local arts organizations together to become a force… to get city government to recognize us and give us something, a piece of land, a building for performing arts … we’ve got to start somewhere.”

It’s Young, more than his play, that started this process of creating community theatre. “An Ideal

Husband” was a popular success, and a lot of fun, but it lost money and was challenging for the cast and crew. Several cast members echoed Davin Henrikson’s comment that “Basically opening night was our first dress rehearsal!”

A little chaos was hardly enough to put off Henrikson, though. He loves the “grassroots” level of the CCT, and says when he first heard that CCT was planning adult-based shows, “I just jumped on it, because I’ve been waiting for community theatre.”

By the looks of it, most of the cast and crew have been. Even Gina Humberstone, who you’ll never see

on stage. She’s the costume coordinator for the adult and youth plays, and behind the scenes is where she likes to stay. “I’ve always enjoyed costuming,” she said, organizing a pile of clothing, “especially when you do little kids’ -- little fairy tale stuff that’s all glittery – that’s the best!”

Meanwhile on stage, Lisk stands in for Henrikson, stomping back and forth in full Oscar Madison temper, while the poker players watch Felix and the Pigeon sisters (Habek and Jane Pattinson) in the wings, dancing their own version of something like the Twist…

Photos by Amy Bright

Let’s play already! Poker buddies Vinnie (Tom Anderson), Murray (Richard Greenfield),

Speed (Kendra Magee) and Roy (Jeff Zuber) wait for their weekly game to start.

Director Stuart Lisk refers to his script during one of the

twice weekly rehearsals for “The Odd Couple.”