SALT LAKE CITY, UTAH – November 4, 2015 (Gephardt Daily) – Pygmalion Productions begins its new season with “Buyer & Cellar” by Jonathan Tolins, opening November 6.
The show, directed by local actor, director and designer Teresa Sanderson, tells the story of Alex More, a struggling actor in L.A. He takes a job working in the Malibu basement of megastar Barbra Streisand, where she has built a mall to house her treasured possessions.
The New York Times said of the show: “Jonathan Tolins has concocted an irresistible one-man play from the most peculiar of fictitious premises—an underemployed Los Angeles actor goes to work in Barbra Streisand’s Malibu, Calif., basement—allowing the playwright to ruminate with delicious wit and perspicacity on the solitude of celebrity, the love-hate attraction between gay men and divas, and the melancholy that lurks beneath narcissism. This seriously funny slice of absurdist whimsy creates the illusion of a stage filled with multiple people, all of them with their own droll point of view.”
“Buyer & Cellar,” which won the Lucille Lortel Award for Outstanding Solo Show and was named Best Unique Theatrical Experience by the Off-Broadway Alliance, premiered at Rattlestick Playwrights Theater in New York from March 20 to May 12, 2013. Its regional premiere was at the B Street Theater in Sacramento, California, from April 7 to May 9, 2015.
Alex More will be played by Aaron Swenson, a local actor best known for appearing as Hedwig in Plan-B’s “Hedwig and the Angry Inch.”
Swenson said he has been eager to work with Sanderson for years. “When she approached me about doing this show I basically decided to do it before I’d even read the script—which totally could have blown up in my face. Luckily I fell in love with the script as well. I mean, I hate it because there’s so much of it and all of it is me talking, which is a pain in the ass, but I love it for the same reasons. The best and worst part of this role is how much we have in common: we’re both thirty-something-year-old actors struggling to build an adult life from a weird grab bag of leftovers and spare parts. Sometimes I almost feel like I’m playing myself onstage, so it’s good practice for the rest of my life, where I’m gonna have to play myself all the time, but for free. And hopefully with less applause at the end.”
He said he has been surprised to discover how much of an impression the script has made on him. “I was surprised to discover how deep it cut, how much it stung me on a personal level. ‘Buyer & Cellar’ has a lot to say about ambition and aspiration—how our definitions of success change as we grow up. And that’s really hitting me where I live at this point in my life. Success for me now, at 37, is nothing like what I thought it would be when I was starting out. And that’s a good thing, mostly”
Director Sanderson said she wanted to be involved with the play as soon as she saw it last year. “I discovered ‘Buyer & Cellar’ last winter while my husband Barry and I were in LA. A friend had seen it and thought I would enjoy it. That was an understatement, I ordered the script the next day, and started circulating it to board members so we could secure rights before someone else jumped on it.
“This piece offers more challenges than most one person shows in that Aaron has to play seven characters. He responds to himself, it is extremely challenging to make sure the characters are clear and actually hear and react to one another. The idea of one person playing ALL the roles (including Barbra) excited me as an actor and a director. I could immediately feel the rhythm of the piece.”
Both Swenson and Sanderson said the play will appeal to a range of demographics. “It’s funny and honest and sharp and weird,” said Swenson. “It’s a modern fairy tale that almost could have happened. Maybe it did happen. Who knows? I’m legally obligated to say that it didn’t. All I know is that I’m having so much fun doing it, and I hope some of that makes its way across the footlights.”
Sanderson added: “This play will speak to you if you are a Barbra Streisand fan on any level. As a lover of design, complicated personalities and relationships. Or just to watch an amazing actor bring these characters to life. I like the way the author treats Barbra. Not going to say too much more than that. It is clever and sweet and honest and hilarious.”
“Buyer & Cellar” runs November 6 – November 21, Thursday, Friday and Saturday at 7:30 p.m., Sunday at 2 p.m. with an extra matinee November 21 at 2 p.m. at the Rose Wagner Performing Arts Center, Black Box Theatre, 138 W. 300 South
Tickets are $20 from (801) 355.ARTS (2787) or Arttix.org.
