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About The daily Astorian. (Astoria, Or.) 1961-current | View Entire Issue (July 6, 2017)
JULY 6, 2017 // 11 IF YOU GO “She Loves Me” Friday, July 7, through Sunday, Aug. 6 7 p.m. Fridays and Saturdays; 2 p.m. Sundays Fort Columbia, Chinook (Discover pass not required for performanc- es) 475 Washington State Highway 101, Chinook, off Columbia Lane, on the right as people enter the park; the theater is in Building No. 14 Tickets available at online at papatheater.com (Special seating available online only) Oakie’s Thrift Way/Ocean Park Adults $17; children $7 More information about the show available at papatheater.com and on Facebook PHOTOS BY COLIN MURPHEY/THE DAILY ASTORIAN Actors with the Peninsula Association of Performing Artists rehearse a scene from “She Loves Me.” Continued from Page 10 a “lonely hearts society,” pouring their feel- ings out to a secret “Dear Friend” correspon- dence. Guess who they are writing to? Back in the shop is all kinds of chaos. The owner. Mr. Maraczek (Richard Babikoff) is snipping at Georg. Meanwhile, love-seeking employee/babe/floozy Ilona Ritter (Cindy Flood, an association founder) is having a shaky affair with Steven Kodaly (Bryan Foster), a silky smooth cad. He preens; she swoons, for a while anyway. In a restaurant scene, a waiter (Jane Schussman) mixes and muses with patrons. And then there’s Amalia … waiting anx- iously, then dejectedly, to meet her “Dear Friend” at last. In 2016, the New York Times wrote of the musical: “‘She Loves Me’ is a sustained reminder of the pleasures of exalted ordi- nariness. A tasty tale of love lost and found in the workplace.” A play with legs “She Loves Me” has quite the lineage. Hungarian Miklos Laszlo wrote the orig- inal play, “Parfumerie,” which first appeared on stage in 1937 and has been adapted to stage and screen ever since. The musical version first hit Broadway in 1963. Versions of the material include the 1940 film “The Shop Around the Corner” and the 1949’s “The Good Old Summer Time.” In 1998 came Nora Ephron’s take, “You’ve Got LEFT: Actors wait for their cue to take the stage during a rehearsal for the Peninsula Association of Performing Artists’ production of “She Loves Me.” RIGHT: Actors with the Peninsula Association of Performing Artists read through their lines during a rehearsal for “She Loves Me.” Mail,” starring Tom Hanks and Meg Ryan. The original play has, to use theater lin- go, got legs. And the Peninsula Association of Performing Arts — which turns 10 this year — is ensuring the fun continues. Barbara Poulshock, Washington penin- sula’s grande dame of all things musical, returns as the association’s director of stage and music. Brooke Flood, Poulshock’s protégé (and Cindy’s daughter), assists. During rehearsals both Poulshock and Brooke Flood pay scrupulous attention to detail. Minutiae make the “whole” work. Poulshock — who said she fell in love with “She Loves Me” after watching “The Shop Around the Corner” — fills up ringed note- books with copious notes as scenes unfold. Seated at Poulshock’s side, Brooke Flood offers direction to the cast. “Move your hand a little more to the left. Move upstage and stand closer to him. We need to see both of you lock eyes,” she coaxes while cradling her 3-month-old son, William. In the rear of the theater sits “tech guy,” Glenn Ripley. Asked about his involvement with the artist association, Ripley said, “It’s not so much the love of the theater, and what it takes to run lights and sounds, as it is a love of the people involved with PAPA. “The people, the lights, the music, and the sound working together make the play come to life,” he said. CW
