TIMON OF ATHENS --Theatre Artists Group and USCB Dept. of Dramatic Art & Dance

script: William Shakespeare
director: Risa Brainin
cast: Irwin Appel, Mike Zlotnick, Collin Tongue, Justin Gillman, Aja Naomi King, Jeff Mills, Zachary Appel, Richard Klautsch, Alexa Kahn, Martha Mintz, Ty Uranga-Foster, Ryan Lockwood, Shannon Sullivan, Shaun Hart, Amy Gumenick
scenic design: Tal Sanders
costume design: Dianne Holly
lighting design: Vickie Scott
composer/sound design: Brad Carroll
choreography: Christopher Pilafian
stage manager: Wendy Jones

Shakespeare's story of a philanthropist who believes the best in everyone, until his fortune runs out and he seeks a little help from his friends.

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This is not one of Shakespeare's finest stories -- there are problems throughout the plot, and underused characters (what is the purpose of Apemantus' character?), but it is always nice to see a good production of a Shakespeare play that is not generally so well known.

I have had the opportunity to see this play before (Broadway, with Brian Bedford in the lead role) and in many respects, this production was much better.

Director Brainin did a superb job of making this script accessible. It was quite easy to follow what was going on, and the hip, techno-style movements in the beginning did a nice job of setting the time and location for us. Some of her decisions seemed questionable, though ... why the obvious, stereo-typed salon scene? It felt very out of place with the rest of the scenes.

Most of the cast, as college students, did a fine job. Richard Klautsch,a guest artist, as Apemantus, was quite superb with what little he had to play with. Irwin Appel (also a guest artist), in the title role, seemed to be playing for a television camera -- he looked good, and he sounded good, but I never felt anything from him.

For the most part, the set worked well, though some of the shorter scenes seemed to require the most work in set change.

Costuming was wonderful.

This was the first play I managed to see as part of the Lit Moon World Theatre Festival. I thought it came across as a good college production (which, for the most part, is what it was), but hoped for much more from some of the other shows during the week.