I’ve spent the past few days having a wonderful time in Ventura County, California watching the premiere of my play “Fifteen Men at a Smoke-Filled Room” at Elite Theatre Company!

I was extremely impressed by the savvy, spot-on directing of Angela DeCicco, the lush, well-decorated, forest green set, and the extremely impressive acting of the actors and actresses. Jill Dolan was the best Florence Harding I have ever seen (and this after seeing the role performed by Equity actresses) and Bill Walthall played Harding’s campaign manager Harry Daugherty very smoothly (ditto for Sean Love Mason’s understated role as George Harvey). Scott Blanchard and Reign Lewis were very well-paired as Warren G. Harding and his mistress, Nan Britton (Scott did a great job making Harding a dynamic figure, zipping around the stage with abandon – a great counterweight to Harding’s tendency to mope) and Eric McGowan had a great time with the Waiter role, which was tweaked a bit and given a cleverly comedic flair.

I’m especially pleased by the depth that Angela and the actors brought to the show. The piece is very character-driven, very dense, and is none-too-easy to perform. Despite this, the play reached several moments of definite emotional intensity – especially in the second act. I had quite a few theater-goers comment that they found the piece touching and poignant and felt the tragedy at the heart of the play’s storyline. Jill Dolan deserves a special call-out for being able to kill someone with a single glance and Angela’s deft use of prolonged pauses (you could hear a pin drop at times) was extremely effective at emphasizing the high drama. Overall, the play seemed to flow effortlessly, and the energy and the enthusiasm of the actors seemed to get better every performance for which I was in attendance (August 31, September 1, and September 2).

From clockwise, upper-left: Sean Love Mason (George Harvey), Bill Walthall (Harry M. Daugherty), Eric McGowan (Waiter), Reign Lewis (Nan Britton), Scott Blanchard (Warren G. Harding), and Jill Dolan (Florence Harding)

A special shout-out goes to Artistic Director L. J. Stevens and Production Manager Stephanie Rice!

“Fifteen Men” runs for another four weeks, until Saturday, September 30th… check it out!