THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Thursday, October 31, 1996 TAG: 9610300142
SECTION: SUFFOLK SUN PAGE: 08 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY FRANK ROBERTS, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: AHOSKIE LENGTH: 66 lines
JILL ARROYO IS portraying a doctor's wife.
No stretch there. She is a doctor's wife.
The stretch is with the husbands.
Arroyo's stage husband in the Gallery Theatre production, ``It Runs In the Family,'' is Dr. Mortimore who is, to put it politely, a philanderer.
Or, as she so succinctly describes him, ``the cheatin' scum of the hospital.''
Dr. Raul Arroyo, on the other hand, is a nice homebody M.D.
The family arrived in Ahoskie three months ago from Philadelphia.
``I joined the Gallery,'' Arroyo said, ``figuring it was a good way to meet neat people.''
She met another area newcomer, Dona Gipple, also the mother of two, who had the same thought.
``I saw the audition notice, figured it was a good way to meet people and do something,'' she said. ``It's fun, and I will do some more plays.''
She portrays Jane. ``We're so similar,'' Gipple said, ``it makes my old Irish heart cry.''
No crying, but many, many laughs are in ``It Runs In the Family,'' the Gallery Theatre's Nov. 7 to 10 presentation.
It is a wacky hospital comedy with a cast of some of the craziest characters imaginable.
The patients are offbeat, and so are the hospital personnel.
``It Runs In the Family'' is one of those breathless comedies where something nutty happens with alarming regularity.
Someone is always running through a door, someone else running out another door immediately afterward.
``And, it's line on top of line on top of line on top of line,'' said director Henry Joyner. ``So much goes on - oh, what a tangled web we weave.''
Most of the goings-on center around the the problems of Dr. Mortimore, who is portrayed by Ed Copeland, who owns Ahoskie's Pizza Inn.
Mortimore is fighting off a paternity suit, trying to figure out his punk son, fussing with his ex - all while trying to get ready to deliver a lecture to an international conference.
How he got invited to address such a prestigious gathering makes no sense. For that matter, how he became a physician makes no sense.
The other Gallery stage veterans have relatively minor roles. Joyner has a couple of lines, Tommy Kiff has a few, and former executive director Lottie Lassiter has six.
Another newcomer is Larry Cook, an Air Force Academy graduate who owns Cook Motors in Aulander.
What's cookin' at the Gallery is an evening of laughter for mature audiences. ILLUSTRATION: Photo by FRANK ROBERTS
Ed Copeland plays Dr. Mortimore and Jill Arroyo is Mrs. Mortimore in
``It Runs In the Family.''
Graphic
AT A GLANCE
What: ``It Runs In the Family''
When: 8 p.m. Nov. 7 to 9; 2:30 p.m. Nov. 10
Where: Gallery Theatre, 115 W. Main St., Ahoskie
Tickets: Adults - $7 in advance, $8 at the door; Students - $5
advance, $6 at the door. Group rates available. At the box office or
Chamber of Commerce.
Call: (919) 332-2976. by CNB