By RHEA-FRANCES TETLEY
Staff Writer
Recent weekends at the Tudor House have been filled with theatrical shows that have brought both a level of culture to the mountain and have been extremely entertaining for the audiences.
On the weekend of Feb. 28 to March 2, the Heisler Theater players performed three entertaining performances of the two classic radio shows, Cabin B-13 and Sorry, Wrong Number. These Suspense Theater radio classics were acted out with creative direction and modern technology. Using active video backdrops to set the scenes and quickly change the scenery, the Heisler Players, under the direction of Jeff Heisler, brought another exciting production to the community.
In Cabin B-13, a mystery set afloat an ocean liner, the suspenseful storyline is of a new bride on her honeymoon cruise. Gaye Gamble-Heisler plays Anne Brewster, a lady who likes classic murder mysteries and then becomes involved in a mysterious situation herself, when her own new husband mysteriously disappears just hours after arriving onboard the ship. She is confronted with the fact that even her cabin has apparently disappeared from the ship. The crew thinks she has gone crazy as she searches for both her cabin and husband. As she interacts with the crew on the various levels of the ship, as illustrated by the video backdrop, the audience can almost feel the motion of the ship as she wanders the floors of the boat, seeking her “missing” husband.
Sorry, Wrong Number is the classic story of a woman who is bedridden in her home. When as she tries to phone her husband at work, the phone lines are crossed and she hears a plot to murder a bedridden woman in her neighborhood. When she tries to report the plot by phone to the police, the phone company and others, she is thwarted at every turn. She realizes as she tries to report the situation that she may be the targeted victim. The backlit actors with the scenery of the phone operators and those at the police department switchboard, acted in profile, adds an unexpected addition of almost slapstick comedy as the phone calls for help get more serious as Renges Fabris as Mrs. Stevenson cries out desperately for help. The suspense continues to build in this well-known show as the expected ending is changed in an unexpected but so satisfying way for modern tastes.
Heisler Theater will bring two more Suspense Theater shows to the Tudor House next month, on April 25 to 27 – The Hitchhiker and The ABC Murders.
On Feb. 22 and 23, David Heisler presented his world premiere of No Way Out, accompanied by music from Rachel Murray and TJ Rogers. This one-man show is the impactful story of loss and a forced complete life change and the choices made afterwards to make an adaptation to new circumstances.
During the Memorial Day weekend of May 23 to May 25, the Heisler Theater will present “The Music Never Ends: An Evening of Duets and Monologues.” This night of music by Mark Lujan Trujillo promises to entertain and start the summer season of entertainment on the right foot.
The Tudor House is located at 800 Arrowhead Villa Road in the Arrowhead Villas section of Lake Arrowhead, just off Highway 18.
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