Continued from Page 11
View Gardens, where they share a garden
bench daily and bicker over small things.
But when Adrienne (McCall), a once-fa-
mous actress, moves in, they have some-
thing new to argue about.
The play, McCall said, is about friend-
ship — “all the different stages of your life
seen through the eyes of your friendship.”
It’s also about how friends going through
a rough patch can get through it with the
help of a third party. In this case, Adrienne
reinvigorates the friendship between Burt
and Harold.
“We believe that she is Mary Poppins for
seniors,” Jagodnik said. “She comes in here
to bring these two back together — they
have been estranged. Just having her there
changes their outlook on things.”
Age is another important aspect in the
play.
“How do you live when everything in
your life is suddenly harder? Or threat-
ened?” Sweeney said.
Bronson agreed.
“(The play) shows senior citizens as ful-
ly-rounded people,” Bronson said. “I think
sometimes we see them as caricatures, but
they’re still interested in sex and love rela-
tionships. They’re the same as anyone else,
just older. Nothing really changes.”
New director
The show is Bronson’s directing debut.
She decided to try directing after seeing
a fellow actor direct for the first time at a
recent Coaster show.
“It was something I wondered if I could
do,” Bronson said.
Directing has brought new challenges for
Bronson.
“Sometimes a problem will arise and I’m
waiting for someone else to fix it, and then
I realize, oh no, I have to figure this out,”
Bronson said.
She’s learned that being a director also
requires compromise.
“I have these ideas for how I’d like to
see these characters played, and what they
(the actors) have come up with — which
is great — hasn’t always been what I saw,”
Bronson said. “I know I’ve done the same
thing to other directors … You are in con-
trol, but ultimately you have to let it be.”
Photos by bob Kroll
ABOVE: Adrienne, played by Liz McCall argues
with Harold, played by Frank Jagodnik,
center, as Burt, played by David Sweeney,
watches on in ‘A Bench in the Sun.’ LEFT: Burt,
played by David Sweeney, left, reads the
newspaper alongside Adrienne, played by Liz
McCall in ‘A Bench in the Sun.’
If You Go
‘a bench in the sun’
7:30 p.m. Friday and saturdays, until Feb.
22; sunday matinees, 3 p.m. Feb. 9 and 16
Coaster Theatre Playhouse, 108 N. hem-
lock st., Cannon beach
$20-$25
Playing the part
Because the actors are somewhat
younger than the senior citizens they play,
they had to consider how to physically por-
tray their characters’ ages.
“For me, ‘It was slow down, short steps.
Don’t be in a hurry to go anywhere, don’t
reach for something real fast,’” Jagodnik
said. “Physically, that’s what I keep think-
ing: ‘I can’t move that fast.’”
Lessons to learn
The cast hopes audiences learn some-
thing from the show, even if they don’t see
an assisted living residence in their future.
“A sunny attitude makes a big difference
— not only in how you enjoy life but how
people enjoy you,” McCall said. “It is easy
to get more negative if you get older, and
you have to press against that.”
“Especially if you’ve had loss and you’re
hurting physically,” Jagodnik added.
McCall also hopes audience members
see the show’s emphasis on living in the
moment.
Through box office, 503 436-1242, from
1 to 5 p.m. Wednesday through saturday
and 1 p.m. to curtain on performance
days. Tickets can also be ordered at coast-
ertheatre.com
“You can prepare for the future, but not
live for it,” McCall said.
Thursday, February 6, 2020 // 11