A view of the opening-night party from behind the “Consider the Oyster” set, shot through the cut-out window of a Detroit skyscraper. Very cool set design by Shaun Albrechtson.
By John Moore
Feb. 19, 2013
Opening No. 30: “Consider the Oyster” is a gender-bending comic fantasy developed by Jeff Daniels’ Purple Rose Theatre Company in Michigan. Playwright David MacGregor’s tale trades on two little-known facts: That all oysters are born male and turn female. And that cutting-edge doctors now use oyster shells to speed the repair of broken human bones. In the story, the perennially hapless Detroit Lions actually win a Super Bowl title. (Go with us here.) In the euphoria of the celebration, super-fan Gene Walsh (Ben Dicke) impulsively proposes marriage to his girlfriend (Rachel Turner), immediately breaks his leg, and, well … they can take it from here. Ironically, director Bev Newcomb-Madden had her own foot surgery just four days after opening night. “Let’s hope they didn’t use oyster shell!” said producer Charles Packard. Also featuring Jude Moran, Rhonda Brown and Ali Frances. Through March 10 at 9900 E. Colfax Ave., Aurora, 303-739-1970 or the Aurora Fox’s home page. Photo by John Moore of www.CultureWest.Org. Thanks to Charles Packard, Lindsey Sullivan, Patricia Wells, cast and crew.
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Randy, rowdy Rhonda Brown plays a considerably more uptight character on stage – a sharkish attorney who is out to score millions of dollars.
Rachel Turner plays the confounded finace Marissa, whose intended is no longer the man she thought he was.
Ben Dicke, left, and Jude Moran play roommates Gene and Eliot.
Director Bev Newcomb-Madden is the most prolific female director in Colorado theater history, with nearly 300 productions to her name, dating back to the old Bonfils Theatre in the 1960s. Here, in a backstage dressing room at the Aurora Fox, she greets the women who appear in her latest effort, from left: Rhonda Brown, Rachel Turner and Ali Frances.
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