8 // COASTWEEKEND.COM
PHOTO BY
DANNY MILLER
Literate
chim-
panzees Justin
Germond,
left,
Edward
James
and Amber Ble-
cha react to a
shock in the Da-
vid Ives play “All
In The Timing,”
which opens at
the Clatsop Com-
munity College
Performing Arts
Center this week-
end. The three
characters
are
imprisoned in a
room and must
stay there until
they have typed
“Hamlet,” a task
fueled by banan-
as and cigarettes.
Edward James is
also the show’s
director.
It’s ‘All in the Timing’
Have a rollicking good time this January with this play at
Clatsop Community College’s Performing Arts Center
By MARILYN GILBAUGH
Dim the lights and curtain up as the Partners for the PAC
present playwright David Ives’ theatrical winner “All in
the Timing.” Opening at 7 p.m. Friday, Jan. 13 at Clatsop
Community College’s Performing Arts Center in Astoria,
performances follow at 7 p.m. Jan. 14, 20 and 21 and with
two matinees at 4 p.m. Sunday, Jan. 15 and 22.
“All in the Timing” is a play in several parts with some-
thing for everybody — that includes the audience and an
energized and captivating cast. On stage at various times,
fi nd an absent-minded and/or way-focused guy with an ice
pick in his head; three chimpanzees and a typewriter; and a
newly acquainted couple who can’t tell the truth. That’s just
for starters.
Six separate scenes, or more aptly put, six fast-paced
playlets set the tone as eight actors and director Edward
James (who also appears on stage in one of the scenes),
weave their way through clever, quick staging and smart
dialogue. There’s comedy (lots of it laugh-out-loud), pathos,
bumps in the road, romance, miscommunication, and at
times all-out wacky antics. Each of the six pieces stands
alone; though, in each, the common denominator is timing
and language.
Amber Blecha, Gigi Chadwick, Jim Dott, Justin Ger-
mond, Jordan Griffi n, Barry Sears, Patricia Shannon, Patrick
Webb and director James make up the North Coast cast. At
a recent rehearsal, the group had a good time with the script,
creating and carving out roles.
In “Sure Thing,” a man and a woman meet in a café. Nei-
ther can immediately tell the truth but are magically given
repeated chances to try again — and then again — and then
again. Who among us wouldn’t love the same opportunity?
“Words, Words, Words” lets the audience meet three
classic authors — except, in this case, they are three chim-
panzees. Jonathan Swift, Milton and Kafka are imprisoned
with the seemingly impossible task of retyping Shake-
speare’s “Hamlet.”
“The Universal Language” introduces a shy woman try-
ing to overcome loneliness via a con artist with a language
all his own.
“The Philadelphia” presents two men in a café experienc-
ing different realities. They’re served by a waitress who’s
determined to mess up their orders and them as well.
“Mere Mortals” focuses on three construction workers
perched high on a half-built skyscraper who reveal their true
identities. Are they European royalty? Or...?
And “Variations on the Death of Trotsky” offers more
than a half-dozen amusing alternate depictions of the fi nal
moments of the Soviet communist icon. To say that you
can’t miss him is an understatement. He’s the guy about to
meet his end, going about his business, oblivious to the fact
he has a mountain-climber’s ax in his head.
Playwright David Ives is one of those talents who seems
able to multitask if the stage is your biz, and he has more
than proved that it’s his. The New York Times called him
the maestro of short-form theater.