THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Saturday, October 5, 1996 TAG: 9610050376
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B5 EDITION: NORTH CAROLINA
SOURCE: BY FRANK ROBERTS, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: MANTEO LENGTH: 62 lines
What's cookin'? A Theatre of Dare comedy. Who's cookin'? Gus.
Gussie Richardson wants to stand over a hot stove, and under some hot lights. She wants to be one of those television personalities who smiles benignly as she tosses off lists of ingredients, pours, mixes, stirs, tastes and discusses yummy-ness.
She has a problem, though. Aim the camera at her and she freezes.
Gus began her professional life as a cookbook author, then became a syndicated columnist. Next came the television show, ``Cookin' With Gus.''
That is the title of the fall production of Theatre of Dare, playing at Manteo Middle School Oct. 10 to 12 and Oct. 17 to 20.
Gus is portrayed by Manteo High School English teacher Nancy Hudspeth, a newcomer to Outer Banks theater, but an old stage hand. Her last appearance was in western North Carolina in the Yadkin Players production of ``Star Spangled Girl.''
Don Bridge portrays Gus's live-in boyfriend of 18 years, an inventor who made his money from a patent for a valve. He uses hypnosis to try to help her get over camera fright. He has already hypnotized the Gypsy woman next door and made her quit smoking.
Bridge is new to Theatre of Dare, but not to Outer Banks theater. He plays tipsy Old Tom in ``The Lost Colony.'' When he isn't treading the boards, he and his wife, Lisa, operate the Toy Boat Toy Store in the Manteo Waterfront Shops.
``Cookin' With Gus'' is a four-star production. The other two stars have been seen often in Theatre of Dare outings.
Tom Charity, Dixie 105.7 morning guy, portrays the cooking lady's agent; Kathy Morrison, owner of The Yarn Corner, portrays plays Gus's Gypsy neighbor.
You can do a number of gags about hypnosis, Gypsies and television cooking classes.
Like a good recipe, you can mix 'em. One example: Gus tells her boyfriend she'll marry him if he hypnotizes her so she can overcome her camera fright. He does. Every time she hears the word ``cup'' she acts like she just had a shot of 100 proof vodka.
Gus's Gypsy buddy, who wants to co-host the show, is hypnotized into believing she's Zsa Zsa Gabor.
It's crazy stuff by playwright Jim Brochu. Director Pete Grana hopes to mine his comedic gems, which include - honestly - a food fight.
Grana, 33, is a firefighter with the Nags Head Fire and Rescue Department.
Grana began doing stage work while he was in Newport News. ``My parents were involved - I got involved,'' he said. ``I got the bug, I enjoyed it. I loved the applause.''
When Theatre of Dare was organized several years ago, ``I jumped on it,'' said Grana who, on stage, was seen in ``The Foreigner'' and two Neil Simon pieces, ``California Suite'' and ``The Odd Couple.''
He switched from acting to directing, he said, ``because it was something I thought I could do. I always felt my technique for characterization was good.
``The first time I directed - it was well-received,'' Grana said, adding that there is another benefit. ``I don't have to learn the lines.'' ILLUSTRATION: DREW C. WILSON/The Virginian-Pilot
``Cookin' With Gus,'' with Kathy Morrison, left, Nancy Hudspeth, Don
Bridge and Tom Charity, runs at Manteo Middle School Oct. 10 to 12
and Oct. 17 to 20. It's about a wanna-be TV chef who's camera-shy. by CNB