Portland playwright Andrea Stolowitz has written some pretty heady stuff that has been produced all over the map, from Southern California to New York to Europe.
Some of her work has been pretty heavy stuff that has been described variously as “heartbreaking,” “a brave refusal to sugarcoat issues and tough decisions” and “thoughtful and engrossing.”
But this time around, she’s produced a romantic comedy called “Successful Strategies” that has its world premiere at Oregon Contemporary Theatre from Feb. 23 to March 11.
Stolowitz’s play takes its inspiration from a farce written by a popular playwright, Pierre de Marivaux, who lived and created novels and plays in France in the 18th century, having been born in 1688 and lived until 1763, just missing both the American and French revolutions.
Marivaux wrote his first play, “Pėre Prudent et Équitable” — which translates “father careful and fair” — at age 18, but it wasn’t produced until he was in his mid-20s. He later became a working acquaintance of Jean-Jacques Rousseau.
Marivaux was a prolific author, and his version of “Successful Strategies” appeared in 1733, under the French name of “L’Heureux Stratagėme,” which translates roughly to the same thing.
Left to right: Shawn Bookey, William Mark Hulings, Erica Towe, & Storm Kennedy try to work out their own love lives at the same time they confront conflicts between neighbors in “Successful Strategies”
Stolowitz’s homage involves seven people trying to salvage their deteriorating love relationships while at the same time unwittingly doing everything calculated to destroy them.
It centers around a couple named Susan and Hugh, played by Storm Kennedy and William Mark Hulings, who has to be referred to that way in this case because of his status in Actors Equity but who is widely known around town as Bill, or sometimes William.
At any rate, Susan and Hugh own a presumably Oregon vineyard where they grow fine grapes for pinot noir, and their marriage is shaky, to put it mildly.
Meanwhile, the farmland next door has been purchased by a couple, John and Misty (played by Shawn Bookey and Erica Towe) who have relocated from California’s Silicon Valley and whose construction plans for their new property have completely blocked the road to Susan and Hugh’s winery.
Sabrina Gross plays John and Misty’s daughter, Natasha, who arrives with her boyfriend, played by Joel Ibañez, to introduce him to the parents.
Al Villanueva rounds out the cast.
Needless to say, the whole thing is a recipe for disaster, except for the fact that it’s a romantic comedy, which means — Doesn’t it? — that everything has to be happy in the end.
As OCT artistic director Craig Willis put it in a news release announcing the play, “Love, laughter and pinot noir is a great antidote to the end of winter in the Willamette Valley,” by which everyone can assume that the play is more predictably hilarious than the recent Oregon weather.
In addition to the cast, the crew includes director Elizabeth Helman; scenic designer Steen Mitchell; Gabe Carlin on sound and projection; props by Taylor Freeman; costume designer Shelbi Wilkin; lighting by Justin Feimster; and stage management by Jennifer Sandgathe.
In addition to her playwrighting, Stolowitz is on the faculty at Willamette University. She previously held academic positions at the University of Portland, Duke University and the University of California San Diego.
Successful Strategies
When: Pay-what-you can preview performance at 7:30 p.m. on Feb. 22 with a suggested $15 price for a general admission ticket; subsequent shows at 7:30 p.m. on Feb. 23-24, March 1-3 and 8-10; matinee shows at 2 p.m. on March 4 and 11
Where: Oregon Contemporary Theatre, 194 W. Broadway in downtown Eugene
Tickets: $35 for opening night show and post-show reception on Feb. 22; $20 to $39 for other performances; $15 for students with valid ID at all shows except opening night; tickets available at the box office, 541-465-1506, or online at octheatre.org
