Winter 2008 - Summer 2009 18 Months and 21 Productions

Photos of Wit, Philadelphia Here I Come, Take Me Out, Gross Indecency: The Three Trials of Oscar Wilde

  by Eileen Counihan

PRESS 2010

TOM EYEN'S WOMEN BEHIND BARS

“That "Women Behind Bars" is a campy send-up of cheesy women's prison movies from the 1950s is probably all you need to know to guess what goes on in Provincetown Counter Productions' melodramatic spoof.  …just sit back, go with the spoof and enjoy details like the slapfest between Blanche and Cherrie or the dreaded Acme Lobot-o-matic machine.”    Cape Cod Times

"Tom Eyen’s “Women Behind Bars,” a Provincetown Counter Productions production, now on stage at the Wellfleet Harbor Actors Theater, is a hoot and a wake-up call all at once.  There’s a whole lotta laughing and whole lotta stuff to digest, it’s a mind bend.  … you will certainly leave the theatre talking about what you just witnessed."  Provincetown Banner

"If winter has you feeling a little cooped up, break out of the doldrums and plan an escape to Wellfleet Harbor Actors Theater to see Counter Productions’ Women Behind Bars   Director Patrick Falco has put together a perfectly depraved show that delights the audience. …wicked fun and an audience with a hunger for something a little wild will not be disappointed."   Barnstable Patriot

FULL ONLINE REVIEWS

BERNARD POMERANCE'S THE ELEPHANT MAN

BARNSTABLE PATRIOT

THE PROVINCETOWN BANNER

CAPE COD TIMES 

PRESS 2009

TAKE ME OUT CC TIMES FULL REVIEW 

PROVINCETOWN MAGAZINE FULL REVIEW

PROVINCETOWN BANNER FULL REVIEW

 Take Me Out      "…superb cast, under Patrick Falco's equally superb direction..an absorbing, multifaceted story that Falco and his cast have turned into one of the top must-see productions on the Cape this year."   Cape Cod Times    

‘Counter Productions  …once again manages to tackle a complicated piece of theatre and, in this case, knocks it out of the park’  Patrick Falco …pulled truly impressive performances from his cast.  …a memorable achievement for a director with a lengthy resume of great productions.  Counter Productions is a brave and ambitious theatre company, one that Provincetown is very lucky to host to.  And this presentation of Take Me Out is another example of the professional work they are capable of making both important and fun.’   Provincetown Magazine

'This is an ambitious piece of theater that should find a wide and appreciative audience.  Director Patrick Falco gets strong performances from all his leads, and the ending is both unexpected and powerfully rendered.’   Provincetown Banner

GROSS INDECENCY: The Three Trials Of Oscare Wilde  Landry’s intense but understated energy stands in sharp contrast to the rest of the all-male cast,Ben Griessmeyer was vivid as Douglas, and Ethan  Paulini nearly stole the show in a brief interlude as a halting modern-day academic...  The Boston Globe

Counter Productions’ staging of “Gross Indecency: The Three Trials of Oscar Wilde” is is a meaty night of theater and, like a lovely piece of beautifully prepared beef, it reveals emotional gristle beneath its attractive surface.Susan Grilli shows once again that she is not afraid of tough theater and that’s what this is — tough. Ryan Landry plays Wilde with strong understatement.  Berry is formidable... Greissmeyer is very effective as Special note to Carlson and Eustis for particularly solid work.  The Provincetown Banner

'Ably directed by Susan Grilli and starring well-known Provincetown performer Ryan Landry as Wilde.  Landry captures Wilde's arrogance and pugnacity The cast of 11 offers many fine performances.  Standouts include Adam Berry, Ben Griessmeyer, whom we admired for his work with Shakespeare on the Cape, gives a vigorous performance as the dilettante Lord Douglas. And another Shakespeare on the Cape actor, Elliot Eustis.  Cape Cod Times

For full reviews of Gross Indecency 

WORKING  'Counter's cast and crew make "Working" an entertaining and often moving meditation on the world of jobs. Director Susan Grilli and musical director John Thomas set a smooth pace, with easy transitions, and the shifts in tone, musical genre and actors' personalities keep the production engaging. Standouts include: Elizabeth Stahlmann's "Just a Housewife" lament; Darlene Van Alstyne's sassy portrait of a supermarket checker; Sara Shatzel's wonderful "It's An Art," as a waitress pretends to be on stage to get through the night; Clyde Shelby's "Lovin' Al" routine as a parking-lot attendant; Ben Griessmeyer's lead in the yearning group number "If I Could've Been"; and Donald Loupe Jr.'s reliable creation of the show's most touching characters in his migrant worker, stonemason and firefighter.  The Cape Cod Times

Review links for Gross Indecency: The Three Trials of Oscar Wilde  http://www.boston.com/ae/theater_arts/articles/2009/08/05/trials_and_tribulations_of_oscar_wilde?mode=PFhttp://www.wickedlocal.com/provincetown/fun/entertainment/arts/x1641103109/-Gross-Indecency-is-a-literate-look-at-Wilde-s-downfallhttp://www.capecodonline.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20090727/LIFE/307279942/-1/ENTERTAIN13

Review links for Working  http://www.capecodonline.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20090805/LIFE/308059990/-1/ENTERTAIN05

WiT  "McNeely Myers is simply brilliant!" Provincetown Banner

Meticulously directed by Valerie Stanford'

" ... A beautiful performance, one that is hauntingly memorable....  Reward the production with your support; They should be applauded for taking such a risk and succeeding marvelously'  Provincetown Magazine

Old Wicked Songs  …an emotionally rich, funny and deeply moving story
Mashkan, played to perfection by John Thomas...

Ethan Paulini, as Stephen, shows tremendous range as he adroitly embodies both the rigid perfectionist pianist in the opening of the play and the more human, compassionate young man at the end.

The Effect of Gamma Rays On Man-In-The-Moon Marigolds  The title may refer to Tillie's experiment, but this is Beatrice's play, and a bravura performance by Lynda Sturner under Patrick Falco's impeccable direction for Counter Productions gives us a stomach-churning, yet heartbreaking family dynamic.

Braunwyn Jackett's Ruth is an equally vivid character, all energy and emotions
Skillings gives you the sense that Tillie has escaped her surroundings into a world of thought and ideas that will ultimately save her,
The cast is rounded out by the brief, but memorable, performances of Connie Tavanis as Nannie, an ill elderly woman boarding with the family, and Danielle Cardinal as Janice Vickery,

Wonder Of The World   Director Susan Grilli has packaged it with an appealing, constantly amusing cast, some great sight gags and an overall sense of fun. Grilli nimbly navigates all of their off-kilter situations and silly lines, and does bring some warmth to this often kooky look at how life can pivot on chance moments.

Shatzel's sarcastic sidekick is a welcome, often hilarious addition to every scene she's in, and she somehow avoids making the over-the-top alcoholic wife character too cliched.

The rest of the cast is strong, too: Greissmeyer's whiny, all-about-me Kip; Beau Jackett as a broken-hearted ferry captain who finds a second chance with Cass; and Sue Modrak and Scott Hayes as a pair of long-married, bumbling oddball private detectives put on Cass' trail.

Philadelphia Here I Come!   Berry is superb, offering a kaleidoscope of feelings, and switching accents and moods seamlessly – and often comically –

Greissmeyer is just as good in a less showy role, creating a hesitant, quietly angry and unsure young man.

Grilli has gotten Greissmeyer and Berry perfectly attuned in playing the two sides of Gar,

Standing out in the supporting cast are two women: Gwen Kazlouskas-Noyes as the impassioned and demonstrative aunt from America, whose infectious laugh and honest chatter are a breath of fresh air to Gar’s lonely life and the quiet household; and Connie Tavanis as the loving but reserved housekeeper

Press 2008

"Copenhagen," Counter Productions, Provincetown. Michael Frayn's brilliant script about history, science, mathematics and human relationships was wonderfully directed by Gabriel Kuttner,

Tim Babcock, as Thom Pain, Counter Productions' "Thom Pain (based on nothing)."

Ethan Paulini, as Malcolm, Counter Productions' "The Full Monty."

DOUBT   Kevin Hardy's set design of a 1960s Catholic school principal's office and the garden outside is impeccable,

But just as impeccable are the performances of the actors playing
this tautly written, 90-minute mystery also contains subtleties and niggling details — powerfully mined by director Susan Grilli

Dakota Shepard sweetly, and sympathetically, shines as the young, idealistic nun

Local actress Sallie Tighe is understandably more self-conscious on stage than Equity co-stars Bell and Babcock, but her fierce performance as a black mother in the 1960s trying to do what's best for her son to succeed marks a fine stage debut.

Anna In The Tropics  Counter Productions has again created just the right look for a show, with the factory room setting created by Nathaniel McKean

Director Susan Grilli conjures the anger and explosiveness of some characters in spades, especially from Justin Campbell.

Souvenir; a fantasia on the life of Florence Foster Jenkins   'Unusual Souvenir a keeper'

'Off-key musical hits the right notes for success'

Thomas shows a good sense of comic timing as he provides the foil to his patron’s musical malapropisms.

But it is Mary Abt as Florence Foster Jenkins who owns the stage. A terrific singer in real life, Abt throws it all aside to open up, wail and hit painful notes all night.

tick, tick...Boom!   Larson's solo, though, would have been far different from director Susan Grilli's engagingly staged Counter Productions show, and missing this would be a real shame.

Counter's "tick ... tick ... BOOM" is impeccably acted and sung by Ethan Paulini as Jonathan; Adam Berry as best friend, Michael; and Denise Parks as girlfriend Susan. They create a polished, fluid trio — especially, under Casey Sanderson's musical direction, in Larson's often complex, fast-moving songs.

The Full Monty  'Full Monty' exposes audience to hilarity

(Beau)ackett is charming and entirely sympathetic as Jerry, and his love for his son, Nathan (played by Sumner Phillips, who is a natural on stage), is palpable.

Tom Boland isn't really fat, but he does a wonderful job of capturing the insecurity of heavyweight Dave Bukatinsky, steelworker turned house husband.

Equity actor Ethan Paulini has such great stage presence, he steals the scene every time he appears as mama's boy Malcolm Macgregor

Kennedy Reilly-Pugh (also an Equity actor) is showstopping as "Horse,"

The women hold their own in this testosterone-laden show, especially Elizabeth Clark as Jerry's ex-wife, Pam, in a reprisal of her role in the Cape Rep 2006 version. Sara Shatzel is equally harsh and tender

Copenhagen   …mesmerizing? Absolutely. Especially in the wonderfully capable hands of director Gabriel Kuttner, who, in this Counter Productions show, does extraordinary double duty as Heisenburg.

Jason Kymball's equally terrific Bohr in what becomes a natural, emotional, never-miss-a-beat conversation.

"Copenhagen" is a play worth seeing and absorbing, and this production is outstanding

The Siegels of Montauk ...is a richly textured drama about a small-town scandal, and it offers up some big-time laughs.This may be an average family, but this is no ordinary collection of characters.
On Stage

Cohn's dialogue is crisp and revealing as it illuminates the dark side of grief and secrecy. At the same time, the intricate family dynamics spark some clever, fast-paced repartee that provide genuine laughter and joy throughout the play.

Thom Pain  ...is the kind of show that inspires you to turn to your companion with a "What the "¦.?" expression when the lights go up.

Yet you've been riveted to what's happening on the stage for that entire hour, and credit for that goes to Tim Babcock's bravura performance and Valerie Stanford's artful direction.