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by BOB GOEPFERT
Thursday, January 19, 2012

LATHAM — There's a reason to brave the winter weather to go to the theater. That reason is "Next Fall," playing through Feb. 11 at Curtain Call Theatre.

"Next Fall" is a funny, touching and thoughtful play that places decent people in a moral conundrum. It's the kind of work for which the cliché, "I laughed, I cried," was created. Except, with "Next Fall," you could add, "It made me think and care."

Though it does have an agenda, the strength of the play is that it does not make its emotional or political points through the use of villains or heroes. There are certainly a number of people with whom we'll disagree and even dislike, but playwright Geoffrey Nauffts is very careful not to stack the deck against them. This is a play in which we can understand (if not accept) all points of view.

Luke and Adam are a gay couple who have been together for five years. Luke is an actor in his 20s and is a devout Christian. He offers a prayer of thanks before consuming any food and says a prayer asking for forgiveness after an act of sex. Being gay causes him guilt, but he believes his God forgives him. Luke is deeply closeted with his ultra-religious family, but he does intend to "come out" to them next fall.

Adam is a 40-year-old cynic who not only doesn't believe in God, but he doesn't believe in himself either. He is smart, witty, personable, a hypochondriac and an under-achiever. He not only doesn't share Luke's faith in a higher power, he is threatened by it.

Luke's problem is his comforting beliefs cause him emotional conflict. Adam exists in a void because he believes in nothing.

When Luke is near death because of a serious automobile accident, he is placed in intensive care with visits granted only to immediate family. This places Adam in an untenable situation. Should he tell Luke's parents the nature of their relationship or should he be loyal and suffer the agony of not being able to see or comfort the man he loves? Continued...

Kris Anderson gives a dominant performance as Adam. During the course of the play, he is funny, touching, scared and hurt. Most importantly, every one of these emotions seems organic and never contradictory. It's a remarkable, shaded and natural performance. As Luke, Patrick Rooney is more passive. He creates an ingenuous person content with accepting that which cannot be proved. It is the ideal counterbalance often found in good relationships.

Director Chris Foster makes sure the supporting characters do not get lost. His insightful direction makes clear this is an ensemble production and every character is important.

Holly is a self-declared "fag hag" and Joanne Palladino is a delight as she plays her as caring, supportive and earthy. Carol Max as Luke's mother, Arlene, quickly and humorously establishes the woman's outsider credentials and later has a revealing monologue that explains her estranged status with the family.

David Robert Orr does not try to hide the fact that Luke's father, Butch, is a Cretan, but he also is able to suggest that his ostrich approach to life is a protective device. Luke's best friend, Brandon, exists mostly to offer a different perspective on the cost of living a lie, but Jed Krivisky does great things with the underwritten character.

The various locations of the play are solved in a clever way by set designer Carolyn Mraz. While it's an ingenious use of the small Curtain Call stage, it's ironic that the solution would be better fitted to a larger performing space.


Next Fall @ Curtain Call Theatre
by Michael Eck, The Times Union

LATHAM – “Next Fall,” now onstage at Curtain Call Theatre, opens with the sound of a car crash, the first of many. But the initial clash of glass and steel is literal, the ones that frame it metaphorical.

The accident — a cab rolling through a light and up on to the sidewalk — has put Luke (Patrick Rooney) in the hospital, silently clinging to a life that can’t last long. Friends and family gather, but the sides haven’t met before and each holds secrets. Such is the stuff of theater, and director Chris Foster has assembled an excellent cast for his excellent production of this regional premiere.

Playwright Geoffrey Nauffts is in no mood to make “Next Fall” an easy ride. Luke is a young, closeted gay man. He is also conservative and deeply religious. And he’s an actor. Adam (Kris Anderson), his partner, is much older. He’s an atheist and a teacher. Nauffts delights in making his characters contradictions, but those very ironies make them real.

Luke’s mother Arlene (Carole Max) is a southern hippie with racist tendencies and an arrest record. She leans on the Bible when she has to. His father, Butch (David Robert Orr), is just racist and he leans on the Bible all the time. He’s also clearly a smart man who cares deeply for his son, if not so much for his long-divorced wife. The cast is rounded out by Luke’s friend Brandon (Jed Krivisky), whose secrets run even deeper than his compatriots, and the couple’s friend Holly (Joanna Palladino), who runs a candle shop while trying to figure out the rest of her life.

Here and there, Nauffts leans toward the stock, with some of Butch’s lines, in particular, ringing like clichés. But overall, his script feels fresh, his characters alive. “Next Fall” is decidedly dramatic, but it’s wonderful how funny it is, and on many levels. In a way the play is old school. You’ll laugh, you’ll cry. But it’s subject matter and the handling of such that keep it new.

Foster is more clear-eyed than ever in balancing the business and the truth. Max’s shtick with her coffee, for example, is kooky and eccentric, but Anderson’s dilemma in dealing with his partner’s parents is tensely realistic. Foster, in fact, has unveiled a fine dramatic actor in Anderson who is best known for his comedic roles. Rooney is perfect as his partner, both in loving and in sparring. And Krivisky, making his CCT debut, is a revelation.

Nauffts carefully weaves time in “Next Fall,” using a Pinter-esque unraveling of the past to bring us to the present. Carolyn Mraz’s set design and Lily Fossner’s lighting help Foster create that chronography. From the first screech of tires, you will know how this play is going to end. And you will have no idea. That, indeed, is the stuff of theater.

Theater review: 'Next Fall' has talent, focus, strength
Naufft's work explores human interaction
Saturday, January 14, 2012
By Matthew G. Moross, Daily Gazette

LATHAM — Who would want to leave the warmth of home to head out into the dark of a winter's night to see a play?

Sometimes you pray for a witty, provocative and insightful evening of theater to make the effort of donning the woolens worthwhile. Sometimes prayers get answered, as with Curtain Call's latest production, Geoffrey Naufft's "Next Fall," a modern play about love and faith. Bundle up and venture out — it is not to be missed..

"Next Fall" examines the nature and complexities of modern relationships as they wander through a painful passage. Drop the issues of religion and faith into the storyline and it sounds like a soap opera about a bunch of people trapped in a crisis during a presidential campaign. Naufft's play is nothing like that at all.

Moving between the present day and flashbacks, the play chronicles a four-year relationship between 40-year-old atheist Adam (Kris Anderson) and his 20-something boyfriend, Luke (Patrick Rooney), a conservative Christian. The play opens with Luke in a coma as a result of an accident, and Adam is left in the waiting room with Luke's parents, hippy-dippy Arlene (Carol Max) and fundamentalist Butch (David Orr); both appear to have cast a blind eye on their son's sexuality. Also present on death watch is Luke's boyhood chum Brandon (Jed Krivsky) and Adam's faithful support Holly (Joanna Palladino).

'Next Fall'

As Luke prays before every meal and after every sexual encounter, Adam puzzles over Luke's approach to his blind faith. How can Luke reconcile who he is with what he believes? How can he love Adam when he is told that this relationship is wrong? The playwright gingerly sidesteps controversy and arguments tinged with Bible verse and vitriol by focusing smaller — where it counts — on the human level. Naufft has not penned a "gay" play or one that creates heroes and villains. It's an honest and funny study of human interaction.

Strong Talent

No matter how good the script is, it would lie flat and comatose without good actors, and this production is chock full of talent. Deftly and smartly guided by Chris Foster's insightful direction, the cast sparkles, keeping the focus clear and the humor crisp.

As the Bible-thumping dad and the pill-popping mom, Orr and Max balance the bumble and bluster with moments of genuine loss and grief. Krivisky artfully keeps Brandon a silent cipher until he discloses his secret. Rooney manages to keep Luke sunny, warm and human without turning him into an Onward Christian Soldier.

As employer, friend and soulmate, Palladino's Holly offers a perfectly played sounding board and cattle prod to Anderson's nebbishy Adam. The scenes between the two crackle and spark, a friendship seething with love and frustration.

Whether dodging a hurtful barb from Adam or delivering one in return, Palladino finds all of Holly's compassion and fire and then some. Conversely, the actress finds each and every moment of compassion with precision — and her retelling of the meaning of Wilder's "Our Town" is spot-on devastating.

Naufft crowds act two with mini monologues that threaten to stall the story's momentum. Foster wisely steers his cast toward the honest simple delivery of these tiny reveals. The matter-of-fact presentation completely disquiets — and that's just perfect — maintaining a true emotional core. Max scores as she reveals to Anderson a memory of running away from her son as he offers her a comfort and understanding that she is incapable of accepting.

But don't just watch Max — watch Anderson. As he listens to her reflection, he silently discovers answers and comfort to his own questions with her revelations. It's a wonderful moment.

As a matter of fact, Anderson is flat out wonderful. Balancing the flip with anguish, he manages to make it look so easy, while it is nothing but hard. It is a flawless performance.

There is a blip, tiny but glaring. The setting by Caroline Mraz, while clever and functional, is less than attractive, allowing the bleakness of the hospital to creep back and overwhelm the happy moments of memory that cry out for color.

"Next Fall" is reassuring. It's well-crafted, warm, witty and contemporary. It tackles with grace, without pandering to either faction, the issue of faith in modern times. It's a good play — I'm a believer.