Okay, here's the lowdown on Squabbles, which, according to Nobel 
Prize-winning director William Ball, is "playing at the Gainesville 
Community Playhouse now through February 7.  Buy your tickets today!"

Plot summary:  I'll keep this one simple.....Boy meets girl, boy 
marries girl, girl's father has heart attack and moves in with boy 
and girl, boy's mother's house burns down so she moves in with boy 
and girl, girl's father and boy's mother hate each each other so much 
that there's no possible way they won't wind up getting together by 
the end of the play, boy knocks up girl, 8 months pass, boy takes 
girl to hospital to have baby while leaving boy's mother and girl's 
father alone in the house, power goes out in house, old people get 
jiggy wid' it, girl runs up the barricade and gets shot, the end.

Acting summary: David Minnich and Jennie Stringfellow both deserve 
Apples for their portrayal of the two in-laws, Abe and Mildred.  
This, of course, means, that their chances of winning one are in serious 
jeopardy.  Kristin "The Artist Formerly Known As Tims" Mercer is 
great as Abe's daughter Alice, and Marc Stalvey is solid as Mildred's 
son Jerry.  Brett Demmi works very nicely as Hector the Puerto Rican 
handyman who's forever using the Sloans' bathroom.  Bert Bortnick is 
good as Abe's friend Sol Wasserman, a retired pharmacist who invents 
a clinical test for syphillis.  The truth is, though, that Minnich 
and Stringfellow outshine everyone, which is as it should be 
anyway.....

Set: Basically, the set is a beautiful suburban-type home that is WAY 
nicer than anything you personally will ever live in during your 
lifetime.

Bottom line:  This season at GCP has been nicknamed the "Season of 
Sex", and for good reason.  It started with "Our Town", which was 
essentially some mediocre acting surrounding 2 teenagers--George and 
Emily, played convincingly by Erik Viker and Chris Huey--trying to 
have sex in turn-of-the-century New England (or Mississippi, 
depending on whose accent you go by).  Then we move on to "Little 
Shop of Horrors", the touching story of a young boy struggling to 
come to terms with his vegisexual attraction to a plant that 
ultimately destroys him.  And don't even get me started on 
sex-kitten-extraordinare Karin Fielding and her breathlessly 
passionate performance in "Miracle on 34th Street".  (Well, okay, you 
can get me started, but don't expect me to stop anytime soon).
And looking ahead to the GCP's next show, "Man of La Mancha"....well, 
when you consider that "La Mancha" is Spanish for "The Muncher", you 
don't have to use much imagination to know how THAT one is going to 
go.......
But in terms of raw sexual energy, "Squabbles" beats them all.  From 
the opening announcement--made by Cafe Risque job applicant Jenny 
Slattery, wearing a zip-up blouse zipped up maybe to her navel, and 
sporting a look that says "I've been naughty....I need a spanking.....
*now*!"--to the final, frenzied, prelude-to-a-group-orgy ending, this 
show screams SEX SEX SEX.  The references are everywhere: Jerry and 
Alice recalling the night where they drank a little too much and she 
ended up riding him like a mechanical bull.  Maybe she couldn't last 
8 seconds, but that's okay, because neither could he.  And the sexual 
tension between Abe and Mildred is the driving force of the whole 
show.  When they finally do the nasty (on stage, but during a 
blackout, to comply with local ordinances), the energy is released 
like a supernova, blinding the audience and causing more than one 
spectator to observe that those lights at 100% immediately after a 
blackout are really damn bright......
And it doesn't stop with the cast.  Oh no, not by a longshot.  During 
the scene changes, we are treated to a gorgeous, sultry Cristine 
Antolak, whose aura of beauty and sexiness shines through the 
blacked-out stage like the brightest of stars.  Later, after the 
show, when I learned that Cristine was suffering from an incurable, 
terminal illness (pinkeye), I thought to myself, "Dear Lord, however
many days she has left, let them be spent naked in my bed...."

In sum, this is another classic sex comedy, expertly directed and 
wonderfully acted, much like the films 'To Kill A Mockingbird" and 
"Cannonball Run II".  Go buy your tickets now.


Squabbles:  "See it with someone you love.  And if you can't see it 
                    with someone you love, see it with someone you're 
                    with.......or something."

8)
-john