Paul Melone

Things Beyond Our Control

My latest directing project is with the Brandeis Theatre Company, directing this play written by Jesse Kellerman.

Basic information: performances March 16-26 2006, in the Laurie Theater at the Spingold Performing arts Center. More info about the show and the season here.

So what's it about? A chance accident brings together a collection of characters whose lives intersect in strange and unpredictable ways. Through tragedy and guilt new relationships are formed, truths are confronted, choices are made, and lives are changed.

That's more like what happens. What it is about is character. Jesse Kellerman serves up fascinating and human flaws in Texas-sized portions. We have a cab driver with a rough past who faces a crime that could destroy is future. A high-strung businesswoman turned accomplice. A single father whose only son is near death, but rewards the attending physician with his undiluted wrath. An airline booking agent who hand-delivers her homemade pie to difficult, stranded customers. That's just some few of the people in this play, I didn't talk at all about the vagabond street magician.

One of the eye-openers about this process (haven't started rehearsals yet) is how front-loaded the schedule is. With all of the academic overhead, like balancing work on the show with coursework, and grading schedules, etc. the design process began months ago. It's not a bad way to work, but different than the more hectic last-minute schedule of the small professional theatre company. The good news is the bulk of the design concept is complete, and I should have some examples to post here before long.

Oh, and if the name Kellerman sounds familiar to you, both Jesse's father Jonathan and mother Faye are accomplished writers of the Mystery/Thriller genre.

Jesse himself is promoting his debut work of fiction in the novel form, Sunstroke.

The Moonlight Room

Latest directing project: The Moonlight Room by Tristine Skyler, produced by SpeakEasy Stage Co.

A jewel of a play, that I have been lucky enough to direct for SpeakEasy. A hospital waiting room, late at night. Two teenagers have brought their friend, who OD'd on special K. They wait for news about him, they wait for the parents to find out, they wait.

One of the challenges was casting the two main teenage roles. With young characters, the two desired qualities of believable youth and professional experience are often mutually exclusive. There are two ways to go: find an older, professionally experienced actor who has the chops to play the role, but physically looks very young. The other is to find a young actor with enough raw talent to make up for lack of professional experience. For this project we did both. the role of Sal was played by Tracee Chimo, an actor who grew up in the suburbs outside of Boston, but now persues a professional acting career in New York. Tracee can pass for a teenage girl in appearance, and her considerable acting ability gives her the full range of teenage girl idiom and characterization to make the role work. The role of Josh, the other teen, was played by Ian Michaels, a young local actor who just graduated from Lexington High school.

The setting is sparse. I had a talented team of designers who worked like crazy to create an environment and then stay out of the way of the action: Jenna McFarland, Seth Reiser, Jenna Rossi-Camus, Gabe Wood.

Running January 28 to February 19th in the BCA Plaza Theatre

Here's a photo of the cast after the run-through when Tristine came up from NY to see what we were doing to her play.

Back row: David Krinitt, Me, Tracee Chimo, Tristine Skyler, Ian Michaels, Cheryl McMahon
Front row: David Jackson, Leah Zaguroli, Cole Genuardi