Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SATURDAY, April 28, 1990 TAG: 9004280020
SECTION: EXTRA PAGE: E-8 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: JEFF DeBELL STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
The two-character play will continue through May 20 on Mill Mountain Theatre's small stage in Center on Church.
Jere Lee Hodgin is directing.
"A Walk in the Woods" was named outstanding new play of 1986-87 by the American Theatre Critics Association and was nominated for a Tony Award after its 1988 production on Broadway.
In it, Blessing invents private conversations between American delegate John Honeyman and a Soviet counterpart named Andrey Lvovich Botvinnik and uses them to put a human face on the arms-control negotiations. Their talks take place in a woodsy, park-like setting away from the formal negotiations.
The play was inspired by an actual meeting between Paul Nitze and Yuli Kvitsinsky during negotiations at Geneva in the summer of 1982.
The play covers nine months and four meetings - one in each season - instead of the single meeting that actually took place. Blessing's Soviet negotiator is the older of the two men, whereas in real life the opposite is true.
In interviews, Blessing has said his play is fundamentally about trust - between men, nations and political systems.
"A Walk in the Woods" was developed at the Yale Repertory Theatre and California's La Jolla Playhouse before moving to Broadway, where Sam Waterston played the American negotiator and Robert Prosky portrayed his Soviet counterpart. The productions of the play have since been mounted in London and the Soviet Union in addition to other American theaters.
Maury Erickson plays Honeyman in the Mill Mountain Theatre production. He is director of actor training at Virginia Commonwealth University and is a busy actor and director in the Richmond area. Erickson played the title role in Mill Mountain's 1987 production of "Cyrano de Bergerac."
Botvinnik is played by Howard Katz, who is making his Roanoke stage debut in "A Walk in the Woods." He is from New Jersey. His stage credits include Tevye in "Fiddler on the Roof" and he has appeared on television in "Unsolved Mysteries" and "New York's Most Wanted."
Sets for the play are by John Sailer. Costumes are by Mimi Hodgin, and the stage manager is Cindi Raebel.
"A Walk in the Woods" opens Tuesday and continues through May 20. Performances are at 7:30 p.m. Tuesday-Thursday, 8 p.m. Friday and Saturday and 2 p.m. on weekend matinees. General admission tickets are $8. Discounts are available for students, seniors and groups. Half-price tickets, called Hot Tix, are available for weeknight performances from 6 to 6:30 p.m. and on weekends from 6:30-7 p.m. the night of the performance. Hot Tix are sold for cash only and reservations are not allowed. The box office number is 342-5740. Theatre B is not in Center in the Square. It is in Center on Church, which is at 20 E. Church Ave. in downtown Roanoke.
by CNB