Renaissance Players present comedy about family, money, greed

Release Date: 9/28/2007. Expired: 10/28/2007

“There’s a million things a man won’t do for five dollars, but there aren’t five things a man won’t do for a million dollars.”

That assertion by Ethel Savage is put to the test with riotous results when the Renaissance Players present a community production of The Curious Savage in the Performance Hall of The Renaissance Center in Dickson Oct. 19-28.

Performances are 7 p.m. Fridays and Saturdays and 2 p.m. Sundays. Tickets are $12 for adults, $10 for seniors 55 and up and $7 for children under 13. A special lunch matinee is set for 12 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 20. Tickets are $17 and include a buffet lunch and the 1 p.m. performance.

Written by Pulitzer-winning playwright John Patrick and directed by Kim Cantu, The Curious Savage is a comedy about money, greed, family and the very subjective definition of sanity.

Ethel Savage (Ty Bissell) has been left an estate worth $10 million by her late husband, whose grown children become quite enraged when they learn their stepmother plans to create a foundation to give away the bulk of the family wealth to help people make their dreams come true. Sen. Titus Savage (Carey Thompson), Judge Samuel Savage (Jamie Cunliffe) and socialite Lilly Belle Savage (Beth Burch) conspire to have their stepmother committed to a “sanatorium” to bring her to her senses before she disposes of the money. Confined to The Cloisters, Mrs. Savage finds new allies in the residents and staff, who help her lead the Savage children on a merry hunt for the money.

The residents of The Cloisters include Fairy May (Autumn Massiello), Florence (Pam Funderburg), Jeff (Tommy J. Parris), Hannibal (Chris Norman) and Mrs. Paddy (Trudy Whiting), all of whom find the outside world too much to handle due to various experiences in their lives.

The staff includes Miss Willie (Nikki Price) and Dr. Emmett (Jerry Lucas).

“The true joy of The Curious Savage is how it leads the audience to question whom is actually more sane: the outwardly respectable but inwardly greedy Savage children or the social misfits inside the institution who accept Mrs. Savage’s grand dreams without question,” said Cantu. “The play shows that the love of money can be the root of foolishness, while the pursuit of foolish dreams can be what makes life worth living.”

The Curious Savage debuted on Broadway in 1950 with Lillian Gish playing Ethel and over the past 50 years has become a popular production for community and school theatres. Patrick won the Tony Award for Best Play and the Pulitzer Prize for Drama in 1954 for Teahouse of the August Moon. A Louisville, Ky., native born John Patrick Goggan in 1905, he grew up in a variety of foster homes and boarding schools after being abandoned by his parents. A drifter during much of his teen years, Patrick landed a job as a radio announcer for KPO in San Francisco at 19 and dropped his last name. He wrote more than 1,100 radio screenplays for the Cecil and Sally Show, which eventually was broadcast by NBC 1929-33. He served as an ambulance driver during World War II and began his career as a playwright following his military service.

Patrick’s other plays include The Hasty Heart, Anybody Out There?, A Bad Year for Tomatoes, A Barrel Full of Pennies, Cheating Cheaters, Divorce – Anyone? and The Willow and I. He has more than two dozen screenplays to his credit, including Teahouse of the August Moon (starring Marlon Brando and Glenn Ford) Three Coins in the Fountain (Clifton Webb, Dorothy McGuire), The Hasty Heart (Ronald Reagan, Patricia Neal), Love Is a Many Splendored Thing (William Holden), High Society (Bing Crosby, Grace Kelly, Frank Sinatra), The World of Suzie Wong (Holden) and Les Girls (Grace Kelly, Mitzi Gaynor), which earned an award from the Screen Writers Guild. Patrick also wrote for several television series, including an episode of Leave It to Beaver. He died in 1995 in an apparent suicide.

Cantu is directing her third production for the Renaissance Players, after helming Arsenic and Old Lace and The Mousetrap. The Bon Aqua resident has appeared in productions of A Christmas Carol, Godspell, Harvey and Dearly Departed. She served as stage manager for productions of Grease, Annie Get Your Gun, Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat, Annie, Cinderella and The Sound of Music.

Bissell, a Franklin resident, has previously appeared in Renaissance Players productions of Guys and Dolls, Annie Get Your Gun, The Wizard of Oz, Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat and Arsenic and Old Lace, for which she won a Jimmy Award for Best Actress in a Play.

Thompson, a Dickson resident, is appearing in his 17th Renaissance Players production, having previously had roles in Children of Eden, Harvey, A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum, Arsenic and Old Lace, The Sound of Music, The Wizard of Oz, Annie Get Your Gun, Disney’s Beauty and the Beast, Cinderella, Jesus Christ Superstar, Fiddler on the Roof, Faith County, Guys and Dolls, Faith County II: An Evening of Culture, Dracula and Annie.

Cunliffe, a Slayden resident, has appeared in Renaissance Players productions of Cats, Fiddler on the Roof, Guys and Dolls and Dracula.

Burch, a Bellevue resident, is appearing in her 16th Renaissance Players production, with previous shows including Godspell, Dearly Departed, The Odd Couple, Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat, Harvey, A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum, A Christmas Story, The Sound of Music, Cinderella, Disney’s Beauty and the Beast, A Christmas Carol, Jesus Christ Superstar, Faith County, An Evening of Culture: Faith County II and Annie Get Your Gun, for which she won a Jimmy Award as Best Actress in a Musical.

Massiello made her Renaissance Players debut in 2006’s production of Dracula. The Nashville resident has appeared in productions of The Crucible, The Night Before Christmas, The Lion in Winter, A Candle on the Table, Wait Until Dark, Bermuda Avenue Triangle, Three Days of Rain, Charlie’s Aunt, The Little Princess and Cotton Girls.

Funderburg has appeared in Renaissance Players productions of The Wizard of Oz and The Mousetrap, for which she won a Jimmy Award for Best Supporting Actress in a Play. The Leiper’s Fork resident played clarinet in the Renaissance Players Orchestra for productions of The Sound of Music, Annie Get Your Gun, Cinderella and The Wizard of Oz, as well as other productions of The Music Man, Amahl and the Night Visitors and My Fair Lady. She performed with the Franklin Heritage Foundation’s production of The Scrooge Syndrome and worked backstage on Enchanted April.

Parris has appeared in Renaissance Players productions of Dracula, Guys and Dolls, Yes, Virginia, There Is a Santa Claus, Fiddler on the Roof and Jesus Christ Superstar. He was on the crews for Little Shop of Horrors and Faith County II: An Evening of Culture. The Dickson resident appeared in and/or worked on the crews for Yearbook, Our Town, I Sincerely Doubt This Very Old House Is Haunted, A Competition Piece, Cinderella and You’re a Good Man, Charlie Brown while attending Lenoir City High School.

Norman appeared in the Renaissance Players production of The Miracle Worker and served as stage manager for Disney’s Beauty and the Beast. The Dickson resident played Norman Bulansky in the Gaslight Dinner Theatre’s 2001 production of The Boys Next Door. Previous credits include Arsenic and Old Lace, The Perils of Priscilla and Finders Creepers.

Whiting, a Charlotte resident, has appeared in Renaissance Players productions of Guys and Dolls, Annie, The Sound of Music, The Wizard of Oz, A Christmas Carol, Yes, Virginia, There Is a Santa Claus, Faith County II: An Evening of Culture and Fiddler on the Roof. She was assistant stage manager for Arsenic and Old Lace, Annie Get Your Gun and Little Shop of Horrors, stage manager for Annie and Jesus Christ Superstar and assistant director/stage manager for Faith County. She won the Outstanding Technical Crew Member in 2003 and Best Featured Actress in a Play in 2005 at the annual Jimmy Awards. Other credits include The Wizard of Oz and Oliver.

Price appeared in Renaissance Players productions of Guys and Dolls, A Christmas Carol, Grease, Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat and The Sound of Music. The Lyles resident recently graduated from Columbia State Community College where she appeared in productions of Nunsense, Cinderella, Letters to Santa and Through the Looking Glass. While attending Hickman County High School she appeared in productions of Aladdin, The Stinky Cheese Man and The Adventures of Tom Sawyer. Other credits include Wiz of the West, Hansel and Gretel, Sleeping Beauty and Little Red Riding Hood.

Lucas is appearing in his first Renaissance Players productions. The Dickson resident’s credits include productions of The Compleat Wrks of Wllm Shkspr (abridged), Dearly Departed, The Music Man, Noises Off, The Best Christmas Pageant Ever, 1940s Radio Hour, The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe and All in the Timing, which he also directed.

For more information on the Renaissance Players production of The Curious Savage, call (615) 740-5600 or visit The Renaissance Center’s website at www.rcenter.org. To purchase tickets, call (615) 740-5601.

The Renaissance Center is a fine arts education and performing arts center at 855 Highway 46 South in Dickson, just 35 miles west of Nashville on Interstate 40 at exit 172.

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