The Glen Arbor Players (GAP) will present “Kalamazoo”, May 16, 17 and 18 at the Leelanau School auditorium.
Written by Michelle Khoolos Brookes and Kelly Young and directed by Jan Dalton, “Kalamazoo” a story of two widowed seniors venture into the risky world of online dating.
Through adventures and missteps all over town — at a Mexican restaurant, the beach, a strip club, and a chi-chi wedding venue — these quirky, endearing baby boomers find a second chance at love. Yes, the characters in this comic, tender play are older people, but you don’t have to be one to recognize the play’s truths.
Every generation knows about falling in love, facing family disapproval, forgiving hurtful blunders, and living an abundant life at any age. And it’s a funny thing about older people: they’re smarter and more adaptable than many might think.
Two 70-somethings meet online, go to dinner, drink too much, and wake up in a hotel. It could be the plot of a silly TV sitcom, with the stereotypical wisecracking Jewish guy and the naïve Irish Catholic gal. Soon, though, the stereotypes in Kalamazoo fade, and Irving and Peg, the main characters, are real people who fall in love. Their banter is hilarious but also surprisingly honest and touching.
Dalton, a theater veteran for over 50 years, many of them with Traverse City’s Old Town Playhouse, knew GAP faced challenges in doing its first play of the season as it moved to the Leelanau School this year from its previous home at the Glen Lake Community Church. The troupe needed a good, simple play; dedicated actors; and a production staff willing to move equipment to a new space.
“What I didn’t anticipate was the willingness of the actors to take it to the next level — not readers’ theatre, but an off-book play with set, costumes, props, backstage crew, sound and light. The whole shebang,” Dalton said.
It required finding props locally, a production staff and actors willing to set up in a new space and put in extra time and effort, and “a whole lot of theatre magic” to bring it all together.
“I am so proud of my cast and crew. They were as delightful as they have been hard-working.” Dalton said. “It never gets old when you put together a theatre production with a wonderful ensemble of actors and production staff.”
Jan Ross, a 10-year GAP veteran, plays Peg. Ross has acted in over 20 readers’ theater plays, but this is her first off-book play ever. The memorizing and many extra rehearsals turned out to be less brutal than she thought. She surprised herself, rather like her character Peg does.
Playing Irving is Rick Kordorfer, who has been “hanging out at OTP about 45 years now, doing plays and having fun with like-minded people.” He really likes this play. “It’s romantic, very funny, poignant, and heartfelt... you won’t be disappointed.”
Performances are Friday and Saturday, May 16 & 17 at 7:30 p.m. and Sunday, May 18 at 2 p.m. in GAP’s new home, the Leelanau School, One Homestead Road in Glen Arbor.
All are invited. You will laugh and you will say, “Awww!” as Peg and Irving show that you’re never too old to be young.
