NEW PLAY AT INVISIBLE THEATRE ISNEW YORK BOUND

• By Chuck Graham
  TucsonStage.com

"In the Mood" by Kathleen Clark has been a work in progress, and it may still be one. Clark isn't sure. Invisible Theatre's own Susan Claassen is directing the production of "In the Mood" that opens here Sept.7 to kick off the venerable company's 41^st season.

Early last month the play had its premiere performance at the Berkshire Theatre Festival in Massachusetts. 

"The actors, the director and I collaborated a lot in rehearsals at the Berkshire," said Clark. "Then as soon as I got home after the run I made more changes.

"I'm a constant rewriter," she chuckled. "I could make some more changes after this run in Tucson.

"The plan is to see if I want do more changes and then see if I want to take it to New York. Or maybe do it someplace else first. Because, in New York, you only get one chance so I want to be sure it is ready."

Clark is no stranger to success. She's had off-Broadway productions of "Southern Comforts," with Dixie Carter and Hal Holbrook, and "Secrets of a Soccer Mom." Michael Learned will appear this autumn in "Southern Comforts" in Los Angeles at Garry Marshall's Falcon Theatre.

IT presented "Southern Comforts" in 2009 with Maedell Dixon playing the Southern lady who finds love in New Jersey. Claassen became big pals with Clark in the process.

"When Suz saw a mention of 'In the Mood' in the Times early this year, she asked me about it and I sent her the script," recalled the congenial Clark.

That was then and this is now.

"It doesn't always happen that way, but I'm not complaining," Clark laughed.

 "In the Mood" is not a musical, though it does include an actor who plays piano. 

"I love that song, 'In the Mood,' and it is so in the style of the play, so it was an easy choice." Clark says "Long Ago and Far Away" is another song on the play list.

"I'm a big fan of Alan Ayckbourn. He wrote that 'Life is comedy interrupted by tragedy, and tragedy by comedy.' 

"This play kind of evolved like that. I started out writing a comedy, and then it just evolved."

Clark also likes those bantering romantic comedies where a quick wit can pack the power of a swift uppercut. She likes the way Claassen also appreciates this kind of comedy, where the laughs come from situations, rather than from jokes.

"We're both fans of that Katharine Hepburn and Cary Grant chemistry in movies like 'Philadelphia Story'," Clark continued.

"In the Mood" is set in a very upscale penthouse apartment with its own private elevator. The story begins with a woman (Betsy Kruse Craig) planning a surprise birthday party for her husband (Kevin Black). When the elevator gets stuck with her unsuspecting husband inside, the dominoes begin to fall.

This high-rise tale turns on mistaken identities, infidelity, a stressed out marriage and love lost…then found. "In the Mood," is described as "a charming comedy that sings with witty repartee and sparkling humor."

Also in the cast are Jack Neubeck, Lori Hunt, Bruce Morganti and Polly (Bourke) Schlitz.

Clark will attend the opening night performance at Invisible Theatre on Sept. 7, then on Sept. 8 lead a post-show discussion describing how her play made that evolution from the page to the stage.

Performances begin with a 7:30 p.m. preview Tuesday, Sept. 6; opening Wednesday, Sept.7 at 7:30 p.m.; continuing Wednesdays through Sundays to Sept. 25 at Invisible Theatre, 1400 N. First Ave. The post-show discussion with Kathleen Clark will follow the performance on Sept. 8. Tickets are $25 general admission, $18 for the preview. For details and reservations, 520-882-9721, or visit www.invisibletheatre.com