Coming to the Elks Performing Arts Center this month is Additional Particulars, a sharp, witty, and insightful play by Ed Simpson that shines a light on the lives of seemingly ordinary people, uncovering profound moments that shape their everyday existence.
The performance is as two one-act plays, the titular Additional Particulars and Fetterman, Unfettered. Directed by Albert Hendeaux, the production takes us into the lives of workers at a small-town department store. Each character reveals their hopes, dreams, and disappointments in an intimate conversation with just one coworker. The play explores themes of loneliness, friendship and the search for meaning in a world that often feels indifferent.
With the first act Hendeaux took a different approach, casting actors a little older than the author may have originally envisioned. “I just think it adds another element. To me, it makes it a little more sanguine. It’s like unrequited love, but it's not Romeo and Juliet, it’s their grandparents.”
Hendeaux and his production company, Thumb Butte Theatricals, have a special connection to Additional Particulars. This play premiered at Hendeaux’s theare in Burbank, California 24 years ago in a successful run that won it a Critic’s Choice Award from The Los Angeles Times, a Los Angeles Drama Critics Circle Award, and the Backstage West Garland Award.
Some of the best actors in Prescott bring their own energy to the production. Additional Particulars is the story of two retail employees at Save-A-Bundle, polite, hardworking Warren (Pat Buckley) and kind, lonely Brenda (Donna Bond). Fetterman, Unfettered takes us to the stockroom of Save-A-Bundle to meet former employee of the month Raymond (Bill Krauss) and his younger, good-natured colleague Kenny (Logan Wolfe). The script promises nuanced, resonant performances offering both laughter and reflection.
The setting, before people were so connected to mobile devices and social media, does not diminish the play’s immediacy for today’s audiences. Smartphones, Facebook pages and e-commerce would make a very different story. Says Hendeaux, “There's a whole lot of technology that's happened in 25 years that we're going to skip over by turning the clock back.”
With just three performances, the producers encourage patrons to secure seats early for a play that reminds us of the beauty in the details of life, where even the smallest moments can carry the deepest significance.
Additional Particulars will run November 21-23 at at 7pm. Tickets are available through the Elks Performing Arts Center website (prescottelkstheatre.org) and at the box office (928-756-2844).
