"The Birthday Party" at the Boulevard!

What a pleasure to wrap up such a strong season than with a Nobel-Prizewinning playwright’s work, The Birthday Party, featuring my long-time Milwaukee Irish Arts fellow actor, Kevin Callaghan, RSVP veteran, Cynthia Palpaczyk (whose character, after her boarder describes the breakfast fare as “succulent,” coyishly replies, “You shouldn’t say that word to a married woman”), Louisiana Purchase (Boulevard production earlier this season) stars, Joe Franzee, Liz Mistele (who ripped out an unbelievable shriek that you would never imagine could come from such an innocent looking person) and Don Devona, as well as veteran Boulevard playwright/actor, Howard Goldstein.  Fabulous cast – really strong acting/performances (in my humble opinion).  The show only ran for 9 performances due to the somewhat “absurd” nature of what Pinter dubbed, “the comedy of menace.”  Personally, I am a big Pinter fan, so this play was right up my alley, and AGAIN, attempts to push the envelope and act outside the box it seems we have built around our theatrical community against anything remotely considered to be “avante-garde.”  I’m sad to see the season come to a close, but am looking forward to 2006-07 and encourage any of you who have NOT taken in a show at the Boulevard (2250 S. Kinnickinnic Ave.) to make a point and try to catch one (if you can).