RSVP Productions’ ‘New Century’

Paul Rudnick’s TheNew Century follows a simple format: Introduce three different charactersin three different sketches and have them all meet in a fourth short at the endof the show. The four-part format, combined with Rudnick’s comic sensibilities,should make for highly polished comedy. Rudnick’s The New Century, which debuted in New Yorka few years ago, makes its Milwaukeepremiere in a staging with RSVPProductions at the Milwaukee Gay Arts Center (MGAC) from Nov. 5-21.

RSVP’s last production was also a piece by Rudnick, Regrets Only, and it made for anexceedingly enjoyable trip to the theater in May. RSVP Artistic DirectorRaymond Bradford is having a lot of fun with this show as well. The New Century gives the director anopportunity to work closely with three individual actors while still leavingroom for them to converge in the final scene.

Perhaps the most intriguing and original bit in theshow is called “Pride and Joy,”featuringSharon Nieman as a mother proudly speaking about her three openly gay childrenas she addresses the Massapequa chapter of Parents of Lesbians, Gays,Bisexuals, The Transgendered, The Questioning, The Curious, The CreativelyConcerned and Others.

“Sharon’s role has qualitiesof my late mother, who was not as accepting as the role Sharon plays… [She’s] how I wish my motherwould have been,” Bradford says.

“Mr. Charles, Formerly of Palm Beach”features Off the Wall Theatre’s DaleGutzman as an aging homosexual who has been thrust out of the New York Citytheater scene by younger gays who are concerned that he is too much of aflamboyant stereotype. Gutzman’s unique stage presence should move the workbeyond the obvious, surface-level humor.

The comedy is considerably more sophisticated in“Crafty,” in which Kim Ballou plays a woman who loses a son to AIDS and hidesher pain in various crafts and cake decorating projects. Rudnick’s humor canoften be very obvious, but with “Crafty” he seems to be exploring the darker, subtlerend of comedy.

The intimate space of the MGAC should help to createan interesting dynamic when these three pieces converge in the final short.