No easy play to crack No easy play to crack (September 16, 2005)

Pear Avenue Theatre takes on Tennessee Williams' 'Night of the Iguana'

By Katie Vaughn

In perhaps its most ambitious endeavor in its three-year history, Pear Avenue Theatre offers Tennessee Williams' last masterwork, "The Night of the Iguana."

The play centers on the Rev. T. Lawrence Shannon, a defrocked Episcopal minister who leads bus tours in Mexico and other locales. Emotionally unstable and desiring an escape from a young vacationer he seduced, Shannon seeks refuge in a decaying hotel he has frequented over the years.

"He's been here many times before," said director Jeanie Forte. "He comes here basically to have a breakdown."

Only this time, the hotel's owner -- and Shannon's longtime friend -- is not there to console him. He has died, leaving in his place his libidinous widow Maxine.

"The widow makes no bones about wanting Shannon," said Mark D. Messersmith, who plays the reverend.

Also at the hotel is Hannah Jelkes, a poor New England spinster who cares for her grandfather, a 97-year-old poet suffering a mental and physical decline. Diane Tasca, who plays Hannah, said although her selfless character is also drawn to Shannon, her desires are not as physical as those of Maxine.

All of the play's action takes place on the veranda, and its adjacent rooms, of the Costa Verde Hotel, a seedy but colorful oasis near the lush seaside town of Puerto Vallarta. Condensing the drama further is the fact that the play runs over a single afternoon and evening during World War II.

Tasca, who also serves as The Pear's artistic director, said "The Night of the Iguana" has been on the theater company's wish list for years. However, she feared the large cast and complicated set -- not to mention the complexity inherent in a piece by Williams -- was too demanding for the small Pear.

"It's something we've been wanting to do for awhile," Tasca said. "But it always seemed quite daunting."

But staging a few complex pieces not usually attempted in a small setting last season gave Tasca and her colleagues the confidence to take the risk.

"Suddenly, it seemed quite doable," Forte said.

Additionally, they cut down the number of characters in the production, relegating a group of German tourists to offstage voices. The latter move was not that dramatic of an action, especially considering that Williams rewrote "The Night of the Iguana" several times since the 1940s, almost entirely removing the Germans by the 1970s version.

But that's not to say producing the play has been easy. No character is straightforward, and a good deal happens within the work's confined space and time.

"The script is just layers and layers and layers of emotional content," Forte said. "Each time we go through it, we're discovering something new."

A unique challenge of this play was creating its detailed setting. While most of The Pear's sets have taken the form of abstract boxes and nonspecific pieces of furniture, the staff took great care to make a steamy coastal veranda in the small theater space. They built a large wooden deck, painted it to give a weathered look and added lots of greenery, colorful hanging lights and a hammock in which Shannon spends much of his time.

"We wanted to create the feeling of Mexico," Tasca said. "It's really quite a realistic set."

Messersmith said that in addition to making good use of The Pear's limited stage space, the veranda enhances the theater experience for audiences, putting them closer to the actors than ever before.

"If anything it will create a more intimate experience," Messersmith said. "We use every inch of space."

While "The Night of the Iguana" may not be as well known as "The Glass Menagerie" or "A Streetcar Named Desire," the play shares some similarities with Williams' other works, namely in its sexual overtones. However, it is a striking departure from the earlier dramas in many ways.

"It's not just about love and lust, it's about hope, fighting fear and despair and trying to find a little respite," Forte said.

Indeed, by incorporating humor, forgiveness, healing and acceptance, the play entertains a more optimistic tone than others by Williams. It even ends on what could tentatively be called a positive note.

"There are unusual spots of humor," Messersmith said. "It's not necessarily such a dark piece."

"It's basically positive," Tasca said. "It's definitely a play that leaves you feeling very cautiously hopeful about the world."

INFORMATION: What: "The Night of the Iguana" presented by Pear Avenue Theatre Where: 1220 Pear Ave., Unit K When: Through Oct. 2, with performances at 8 p.m. Thursday to Saturday and 2 p.m. Sunday Contact: Call (650) 254-1148 or visit www.thepear.org

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