South St. Players present 'Theatro Pazzo Spaghetti'
BY PATRICIA YOCZIS Correspondent
While the main course will be spaghetti and meatballs, generous portions of mystery, craziness and entertainment will be on the menu, too, as the South Street Players present a dinner theater entitled "Theatro Pazzo Spaghetti" (Crazy Spaghetti Theater).

"It's wild, crazy and a wonderful dinner theater experience," said Charleen Blevins, Freehold, the script writer and coordinator for the production. "In celebration of our 25th anniversary, this production will use a relatively new concept called layered theater."

Blevins described layered theater as one layer consisting of a set of scripted actors interacting with another layer of actors who have no script. All the while the actors are surrounded by an audience that is served dinner by a wait staff in character, too.

"Add singers, dancers and musicians to the mix and you get an idea of what the evening will be like," she said. "From the minute the audience arrives to the minute they leave, all the actors and support staff will remain in character."

Blevins's first contact with layered theater came from a production she attended in California.

"I adapted this production and it contains three main characters," said Blevins, a member of the theater company for more than 15 years. The characters are "The Crazy Chef" (Louis Palermo, Freehold), "The Director" (Tony Cipriano, Freehold) and "The Master of Ceremony" (Travis Hoxie, Point Pleasant).

She said other characters include five divas who will escort the guests to their tables and "not until the very end will the divas' true purpose be known."

The pre-dinner entertainment, Blevins said, will include a magician and a juggler. Dinner entertainers include jazz guitarist Joseph Heary, Whitehouse Station, and harpist Marjorie Mullanuer, Colts Neck, who accompanies opera singer Kristen Butcher, Middletown, during two Puccini arias.

Modern ballet will be performed by Kelsey Canta and April Mezzadri, both of Colts Neck, and ballroom dancers from the American Ballroom Company, Mark Schaub, Hamilton, and Julie Gawron, Freehold, will entertain as well.

A homemade dinner of spaghetti and meatballs promises to entertain taste buds, too.

"The sauce is a recipe from my grandmother, RoseAccisano," said Blevins. "The meatballs are handmade. There will be garden salad, iced tea, coffee and dessert. It will be a night of good food and great entertainment for the whole family. Come and enjoy a different dinner theater experience."

While the play's material is suitable for children, Blevins cautioned that the production runs about two hours with only one intermission. Some children may become restless, she said.

"Theatro Pazzo Spaghetti," directed by Robert J. Lamb, the company's artistic director, will be held at the Priedaine (New Jersey Latvian Society), 1017 Route 33, Howell, on Feb 9 at 7 p.m.

Tickets are $25 for adults, $22 for seniors and $10 for children 12 and under. Reservations are required by Feb. 5 and may be made by calling 1-866-700-7797 or click on www.southstreetplayers.org.