Ever feel like youre traveling on a road to nowhere, lost without a compass? If you said no, we dont believe you. If you answered yes, youll have no problem understanding the characters in the staged reading of playwright Sutton Vanes Outward Bound, directed by Mark Basile and performed by the Theatre Artists Workshop in Norwalk. "They all want the same thing, says Mark, to know who they are and where theyre going.
Mark means this literally. The play is about a group of passengers on a crewless, fog-enshrouded ship sailing to an unknown destination. It's the metaphorical implications of this set-up that make the story universal, says Mark.Whats interesting is how everyone deals with the same situation in a different way. Some try to be brave and hide their fear, others give into it and lose control.
Having the freedom to choose probing material like Outward Bound is one reason that Weston-resident Mark is happy to have left The Biz proper. A professional actor for many years, Mark became a Fairfield County real estate agent almost two decades ago. Now, instead of having to take on less-than-stellar roles to pay the bills, he can make art for arts sake. The Theatre Artists Workshop "is really like a theatrical gymnasium, says Mark. We have actors from all over the area, amateur and professional, who use it as a place to flex their muscles.
Anytime he misses the glitzy side of performing, he can think back on working with luminaries like Shelley Winters and Imogene Coca, a dear friend who introduced Mark to his longtime partner Steven.
Speaking of passengers, Coca was a particularly memorable traveler. "Imogene was electric onstage but incredibly shy offstage," he says. "One time early in our friendship I accompanied her to LA where she was doing a pilot. While there, we decided to take a drive to Malibu to visit some friends. I knew that Imogene was a nervous passenger, always was, because she never learned to drive. As we were approaching and then descending a steep hill on the way to our destination, I looked over in the passenger seat and saw it was empty. I looked in the back seat and no one was there. I panicked, thinking she could have been tossed out the door on one of the hairpin turns." He pulled over to the side of the road, screaming "Imogene!"
"Finally a little voice came from floor of the backseat of the car," he says. "There's Imogene, huddled up and holding on to the back of the seat for dear life. I asked if she was okay and she said '"Oh sure, hon.....just tell me when we get there, I'll be right here."
See Marks take on Outward Bound on March 12 and 13 at 8 p.m. Admission is free, but donations are welcome. Call 203-854-6830 for more info.
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