American Players Theatre: Picnic

Allie Bugajski, Allie and the After Party

Pull Up a Chair and Cool Down In This Heat

As dusk settles over the Hill Theatre, it feels like a picture perfect summer evening. The backs of two houses face each other, one with a porch and chairs, the other painted blue with a storage shed around the corner. Both are a little weather worn, but neat and tidy. Off to the left there’s a sign pointing to the boarding house with rooms available for let. They share a backyard with lush green grass and more lawn chairs surround an old tree stump. We can already see the neighbors who live here are close and most likely spend a lot of time out here chatting in the yard together.

Barreling out of the screen door is Millie played by Kelly Simmons. She’s dressed in a t-shirt, jean shorts, and a baseball hat. When the newspaper delivery boy pokes fun at her, she immediately tries to fight back. The other women emerge from their houses and fall into their regular routine with each other. Cue the record scratch because today is not like any other day. When new to town Hal is helping Mrs. Potts around the house, and is doing so shirtless, it throws everybody in small town Indepence, Kansas into a tizzy.

Out of the 50s

Picnic was originally written in the 1950s and set in the 20s, and we can see how the overall play has those tones from the era - objectifying women, women only wanting to get married, men feeling the need to justify their egos etc, etc. This production of Picnic finds ways to enhance the context of that period while also changing some intentions and adding more subtext to soften those problematic areas.

Tracy Michelle Arnold as Flo is still an overbearing mother, but gives more worried about her daughters’ futures rather than disappointment over not meeting society's expectations.

Colleen Maddon as school teacher Rosemary is your favorite single aunt who regales you with her crazy single life stories and you can’t wait to see her next. So when she launches into an emotional rant fueled by bootleg whiskey, we believe she’s genuinely horrified at the words that came out of her mouth as she sits stricken on the treestump.

Trinity Sandoval plays Howard as a little doofy, maybe a little oblivious, store owner but ultimately has a good heart and good intentions. When he dances with Madge in the yard, it doesn’t feel creepy, just a normal part of the fun evening as they all laugh, switch partners, and dance together in the backyard.

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