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I never thought I'd get to see so much cleavage at Circa '21 Dinner Playhouse -- typically home to safe, conservative family entertainment.
That's not to say that "Nana's Naughty Knickers" -- with newly minted college grad Adelina Feldman-Schultz in the revealing, uninhibited role -- is raunchy, daring or shocking. Far from it, though it winks lovingly in those directions. But like a swirly, brightly colored serving of cotton candy, the zany, good-natured farce is light and sweet and eager to please.
Written in a college play-writing class by the now-24-year-old Katherine DiSavino and premiered in 2010 at her parents' Pennsylvania dinner theater, "Knickers" finds the young law student Bridget (Ms. Feldman-Schultz) moving in for the summer with her 83-year-old grandmother, Sylvia (Sherry Konjura).
Hilarity ensues when she finds that her Nana'sManhattan apartment has been doubling as a makeshift (and illegal) boutique, selling racy lingerie to area senior citizens. Sylvia and her wrinkled sidekick, Vera (Nancy Evans), are the kind of sassy senior spitfires who seem mainly to exist on TV or the movies. They have boundless energy and drive and are more sexually frank and socially adventurous than Bridget.
Sylvia, a childlike, pixie-ish widow in a rent-controlled apartment, hides the fact that she's got collections of colorful unmentionables ready to wear. She loved working for Maidenform years ago, and she revels in this hot hobby. Little does Bridget know early on when she declares, "I feel like this is going to be an interesting summer." Yes, indeed.
A big fan of comedic farce, the author crafted this brief play (under 80 minutes in two acts) as a defining example of the genre: unlikely, improbable and absurd situations, hidden aspects, mistaken identity, obvious sight gags and physical humor, and a fast-paced, frantic plot with broad, one-dimensional characters who strain to get away with something.
And true to classic farce (which always seems to have slamming doors and people hiding behind them), "Nana's" boasts seven (!) doors, not including a display case that hides some of the naughty goods -- bringing to mind a "Scooby Doo" bookcase that swings open and, voila!
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