Honey and George (Jess Schafer and Lee Alucci) are oblivious to the advances being made on Nick (Tim Solarek) by Martha (Joelle Witner).

Honey and George (Jess Schafer and Lee Alucci) are oblivious to the advances being made on Nick (Tim Solarek) by Martha (Joelle Witner).

PTPA presents thought-provoking, emotionally draining Albee play

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<p>George and Martha (Lee Alucci and Joelle Witner) laugh over drinks in their study.</p>

George and Martha (Lee Alucci and Joelle Witner) laugh over drinks in their study.

As the first act of “Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf” draws to a close, a middle-aged and very drunk professor named George skips around in a circle, pulling a young woman named Honey with him as he sings the title of the play to the tune of “Who’s Afraid of the Big, Bad Wolf.”

Honey also has had too much to drink, and runs dizzily from the room to throw up.

Now, you might think, what a bizarre thing George just did. Was that any way to treat a guest?

But if you watch the entire Edward Albee play, which the Pennsylvania Theatre of Performing Arts will present Sept. 24 through Sept. 26 in Hazleton, you’ll see that George and his wife Martha are quite an unusual pair and they seem to take particular pleasure in fighting with each other in front of Honey and her husband, Nick, who came over for a nightcap after a faculty party.

“They’re almost like prey,” Tim Solarek of Freeland, who plays Nick, said of the younger couple. “They’re like pawns in this sick, twisted game.”

If it’s a game that George and Martha are playing, one of the rules seems to be the more venom they can spit out, the better.

When asked during a recent rehearsal break about some of the most insulting lines they deliver, Joelle Witner of Drums said Martha tells George: “I can’t even see you. If you existed, I would divorce you.”

And Lee Alucci of Kline Township said George tells his wife: “You’re a spoiled, self-indulgent, willful, dirty-minded, liquor-ridden …”

The audience doesn’t get to hear the noun that would have completed the thought, because George is interrupted.

Playwright Albee wrote dialogue that is extremely realistic, director Adam Randis said, in the sense that characters change thoughts in mid-sentence, overlap and interrupt each other, just as people do in real life.

“At the same time, he uses very precise language,” Randis said. “And the play provokes some pretty deep thoughts about the human condition.”

Comparing the play to a roller coaster ride, Witner said she feel emotionally drained by the end of each rehearsal.

And to stage manager/production assistant Kristi Gallagher of Weatherly and sound and light technician Tina Becker of Walnutport, who had been unfamiliar with the play — it all seems a bit surreal.

“I thought maybe it was a dream,” Gallagher said, “or something from a mental hospital.”

“You come in and you thought you had problems,” Witner said. “Then you see these people.”

Despite all the quarreling and hard drinking — Alucci estimates the characters consume “about eight fifths” of liquor in one evening — Randis said there is evidence George and Martha really love each other.

“There’s a sense that they’re broken,” the director said. ” But also a sense of reparation, that they can move forward.”

The play is similar but not identical to the 1966 movie version that starred Elizabeth Taylor, Richard Burton, George Segal and Sandy Dennis. All four were nominated for Academy Awards for their performances; the two women won.

“It really would have pushed the boundaries (in the 1960s) of what you could talk about,” Alucci said.

“Even today,” Randis said, “it still has the power to shock.”

Editor’s Note: The play was to have opened Sept. 17, but due to unforeseen circumstances, the opening has been postponed until Sept. 24. Shows will be 7 p.m. Sept. 24; 1 p.m. and 7 p.m. Sept. 25; and 3 p.m. Sept. 26 in the J.J. Ferrara Center, 212 Broad St., Hazleton.

For more information call 570-454-5451 or contact [email protected]/. Tickets are $22 for adults, $20 for students and seniors. Please note: This production has mature themes, strong language, and fake smoking onstage.