E.P.A.C., Elwood, and Gaska, Combine Genius, In Amazing, "Of Mice and Men"!!!!!!

E.P.A.C., Elwood, and Gaska, Combine Genius, In Amazing, “Of Mice and Men”!!!!!!

When I first met Matt Gaska, I wasn’t sure how I felt about the huge persona of a Man! Then, not a year later, I met Dallas Elwood.  Couple guys, couple agendas, couple personalities, and they caught my eye! 

These two men had already, during my hiatus from theater to raise my first two children, grown from young local performers, to well established, and known actors, singers and all-around entertainers, little to my knowledge at the time.

Watching Matt create the Engineer during a few rehearsals, I attended, of Miss Saigon, I knew there was an unleashed talent, still building inside, soon to burst forth and take control of the industry, at large!

In Dallas, I had the great pleasure of playing his “Dad”, in Danny Kermidas’s, Golden Days, winter of 2015, and got to see this young talented entertainer, hone his several growing crafts, for over a 3 month period.

They both can sing, dance, and most of all SMILE!!! Do you want to meet two of the kindest, gentlest, and soft-natured theatrical leaders you could possibly meet, at yet, young ages?  Dallas Elwood, Director, “Of Mice and Men”, and Matt Gaska, co-director, are the two you want to sit and have a conversation with. You don’t even need to say anything, because you’ll just want to sit and listen to their acute wisdom, theatrical knowledge, and educations, and quality ideas about the world, life, and stage concepts. 

Now, do I ever shat-up enough to hear them…I do try…I try real hard…but, I suffer from a nervous condition, where I think people are bored with me, or don’t like me, if I’m not trying to create conversation…lol…truly a demon to battle with, I tell you…but, anything I can pick up from these guys, is ingenious, and usable. Their ideas, can be useful for life, persona, or theater!

What the heck does this have to do with the show? A lot really!! Dallas Elwood said, “I have dreamed of this whole thing for at least 5 years now…. planning it all…”!  Matt Gaska, spoke with me outside, to my utter splendatude, and shared a few of his philosophical thoughts on the story! Including the unfortunate of some in previous eras, due to lack of knowledge, education, and other worldly views, that John Steinbeck throws into his intricately weaved web of disaster, and tragedy, in a way that canvases many Shakespearean plays.

The Endicott Performing Arts Center’s cast of, “Of Mice And Men”, did nothing, except blow the entire audience out of its’ seats, every notch higher the plot climbed, until it reached the heart-wrenching climax, that, I am quite sure, without doubt, the Incredible John Malkovich, never realistically obtained, in my opinion, the way that Mr. Colin Cook did in this soul-digging, knee bowing, worshipful performance, of an actor that has been busting at the seams, literally, to show off his incredible acting talent. Colin, as he might attest to, has been approached by me, and others as well, about his very astute ability in singing, acting, and causing both huge laughter in an audience, to incredible pouring tears, from those who have known him a long time, a small amount of time, or never known him at all. Colin Cook, go to NYC now, and audition for plays with a Lenny scene, please!! Do us all the huge favor, of us getting to say, we knew you when, before you become a huge TV and/or Movie star. Just Do It!

In no special order, but for the simple reason, that his Uncle, John M Cook, got to look onto his nephew, closely envelop himself, excruciatingly at times, into the character of Lenny, while having to hold back surely, actual emotions of elation, joy, pride, and respect, for his amazing relative, who is definitely a chip off the old Uncle's block, do I mention him now. For no less reason either, do I have to point out that John Cook can maintain a stage on his own, and tug your heartstrings like a fine string player.  John carries the story along in many scenes, and hits his character climax, when he releases his long-time pal, and friend, his dog to be put down. Mr. Cook, handled this with such tenderness, and calmness, that my blood boiled to see him have to face such an injustice of choice in life, and to have it pushed upon him by others of different thinking. This is just one of the smaller levels, in which Steinbeck shows us the unfortunate developments in life, that either we can do nothing about, or that we aren’t educated enough yet, to know how to handle. Such as the modern concept of living in space, on other planets, and with other possible beings outside our Earthly galaxy. Things, that just aren’t understood yet, such as the need to put an animal out of misery, if actually showing signs of severe pain, and disability.  Steinbeck softly touches this tough choice in life, that even children must face at an early age, about their first pet fish, cat or dog, or harmless mouse, that doesn’t know any better.

Peter Layland, as George, was so impressive in his character development, and background history, which easily came across in his Voice and Speech, and perfect beats of timing, in the delivery of his lines!  Peter, absolutely captured the innocent ignorance of the times, this play take place, the tough aspects of farm living in the west, and the resiliency and tough, but soft heart in taking care of someone probably just happened upon many years ago, and didn’t have the heart to see taken advantage of. Peter, has performed for over 10 years in Pittsburgh, PA, at Brigham Young University, and most recently, EPAC’s fantastic performance of RENT! Peter had down the drawl, the facial expressions, and the perfect amount of anger in his character, that is symbolic of George to a capital T.

The direction, scenery choices, and staging all fell perfectly in line with the connotations of each intricate scene. One, might have actually been able to watch this show, still be interested, and not get what’s going on underneath the main storyline, it was so well directed! But, due to its self-lulling nature, and the “minimalist” nature of the staging, the story could not have gotten lost too easily in most people’s minds, I imagine.

There were many great acting choices, physically, such as George’s way of throwing away the mice, after taking them back from Lenny. It seemed as though, he was doing it out of wrote, or habit, from tossing potatoes, or some other farm type object, he had worked on farms so long, and didn’t think much of the little creatures that Lenny loved so much!

Curly, Jordan Gagnon, currently a mechanical engineer at Lockheed Martin, was either so wound up from working for a government entity attached business, or he is one hell of an actor! At first, I had a hard time hearing him, but after his second entrance, it was no longer a problem. Didn’t seem to be a mic problem, except maybe his volume was down on the mic slightly, or something. Really, honestly, if I’m supposed to find something wrong with a show, that was about it…lol. On with what was important. Jordan made me hate Curly a lot! So, yeah, he was really good!

Arthur Dashan!!! A-R-T-H-U-R – D-A-S-H-A-N!!! Go ahead, and shout out this guy’s name like a cheerleader, because he very much deserves it!  Arthur, as Slim, was an entirely engrossing character, that seemed to be so well developed, and deep, and personal, and emotional, and off-center, but soft-natured, that I thought they cut this actor out of a computer, and holligraphed him onto the stage! I had a hard time taking my eyes off every movement, every word, and every character engagement he took part in. A deep, and touching performance Mr. Dashan! Keep up the amazing abilities, and talent in all that you choose to do!

My final large mention, is the always amazing Megan Germond, whom anyone around here with a theater sense, knows well…. very, very well… Her typical voice, dancing abilities, and showmanship, were nowhere to be seen or found in her flawless performance as Curley’s Wife, her very first full play role! Megan completely endeared the audience with her charm, and sultriness, but at the same time, gave us her sassy, and intelligence, that the role calls for in spades!  Curley’s Wife, is one of the most under-developed, but perfectly webbed personas of “Of Mice And Men”, by John Steinbeck! In her, we can see reflections of our own selves, begging for someone to complete our lonely souls, and do anything kind to us, to make us complete!  Megan portrayed both sides of her mind very thoughtfully, and through her years of training, showed why she can be an even larger stamp on the professional stage of acting in theater, tv, and movies, if she so chose. But Megan, takes this bundled up package of talent, and doesn’t just store it in one place. She shares it with the world in many different opportunities, from writing, to working with very special individuals, to creating beautiful personal, and public memories, in her photography, video, and online expertise!

Honorable mentions must go to the rest of the cast who portrayed each of their characters with in depth analysis, and great choices, in stylistic performances, that gave us a mirror image of the times, that this important, social injustice, story takes place.

Christian Webb was downright hysterical as Carlson, with his Bowl Hat and all! I laughed uncontrollably at one point!

Jacob Weir, whom I’ve seen perform plenty of times, just continues to get better and better, as his roles grow and grow. I only wish I hadn’t been so sick, when I had the opportunity to work with the CVHS production of, All Shook Up, and Jacob as Jim Haller.  Mr. Weir is becoming quite well known with the patrons of EPAC, and I hope to see him continue to get good roles, and spread out further into the community’s other groups!

Our final entrance to the show, Crooks, was perfectly rendered by the always brilliant, David Blakney!  David is blessed with many, many talents, including hip-hop dancing, and other avenues, which I know he is known for in the Syracuse region, and beyond! A toned athlete, dancer, performer, singer, and excellent actor, David took us all back in time, to a terrible blot on our Nation’s History Books, and reminded us all, of how ignorance itself, can breed hatred and harm to others, and can create life effects that turn a person’s choices inside out, and causes them to live their dreams, shut down, with no reality ahead of them, except the end!

This is where I tie in the end of “Of Mice And Men” to Steinbeck’s main intent, which is to show the tyrannical outcomes of a society that ignores social injustice of those who need the help of healthier, or freer, or more powerful men, whom can help to make waves in the oceans of times, and disturb the sand dunes of appeasement, so to create a world of change for the better, for the innocent, for the needy, for the beautiful people of the world!

Now, look for my next article on a study of a 1000 users of Marijuana over a 40-year period, since the 70’s. Which, does not take into account the social and economic injustices, that affected each participant, therefore, in reality of the presence, nullifying its outcomes, as junk science, in this Degreed Scientist’s opinion!