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WILKES-BARRE — Everybody craves feedback, don’t they? Even if it’s not necessarily a compliment.

“We want people to like us,” King’s College student Mikayla Acree said earnestly, hinting theater folks — perhaps more than others — want to know what others think about the way they perform.

That desire looms large in “It’s Only A Play,” the Terrance McNally comedy King’s College will present Nov. 8 through Nov. 17 in the campus theater.

In the show Acree, a marketing major from Parsippany, N.J., portrays Julia Budder, a wealthy but “not the smartest” woman who, as producer, financed a play called “The Golden Egg.”

During an opening-night party that Julia is hosting, she and the leading lady, director and playwright of “The Golden Egg” wait for and subsequently cringe at the New York Times review of the show.

“It shows theater people at their best and at their worst,” said theater professor Sheileen Godwin, who is directing “It’s Only A Play.”

“It shows how cut-throat they can be.”

Whe McNally’s play was first produced, off-off-Broadway in the 1980s, it was still part of the era when theater folks might have stayed up all night, waiting for their earliest chance to read the early-morning editions of a fresh-from-the-presses newspaper. Maybe the paper would still feel hot. Maybe the ink would still be wet.

In this updated version, the cast reads the opening-night review on a screen.

They take turns reading it aloud because, apparently, one person can only work his or her way through so much poison-pen prose at a time.

Among the insults:

The aging actress wore out her welcome in her first scene.

The comic actor doesn’t come close to the masculinity of Harvey Fierstein (of “Torch Song Trilogy,” “La Cage aux Folles” and “Kinky Boots” fame).

The producer would have spent her money more wisely if she’d opened a mental hospital and had her head examined.

Ouch, ouch and ouch.

Audiences can watch the characters react to the barbs, and they can listen for the many references to the entertainment world that McNally inserted into the script, dropping names from Oprah to Kelly Ripa to “The Iceman Cometh.”

“We’re watching theater happen as it happens,” said Godwin, who admits the waiting-for-a-review premise is one with which she can identify.

“I miss it. I really do,” she said of the days when local newspaper critics reviewed community shows and college productions. “I still have all my clippings.”

Sometimes, she added, it’s the less than complimentary comments that stay with you.

“I still remember (a local reviewer) said my voice was annoying when I was Jiminy Cricket,” she said, pretending to be miffed. “I was trying to be annoying.”

“It’s Only a Play” wil be presented Nov. 8 through Nov. 17 with shows at 7:30 p.m. Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays and 2 p.m. Sunday in the college’s George P. Maffei II Theatre in the administration building on North River Street.

Tickets are $12 for general admission, $7 for senior citizens, and $5 for King’s alumni and non-King’s students. For more information on upcoming performances or to reserve tickets, call the box office at 570-208-5825

In the King’s College production of ‘It’s Only A Play,’ a producer hosts a party for all those concerned with the critical reception of a new play.
https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/11/web1_play1.jpg.optimal.jpgIn the King’s College production of ‘It’s Only A Play,’ a producer hosts a party for all those concerned with the critical reception of a new play.

Actor, actress, playwright, producer, director, coat-checker and another theater critic all await the review from a prestigious publication in ‘It’s Only A Play,’ set to run Nov. 8 through 17 in King’s College Maffei Theatre.
https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/11/web1_play2.jpg.optimal.jpgActor, actress, playwright, producer, director, coat-checker and another theater critic all await the review from a prestigious publication in ‘It’s Only A Play,’ set to run Nov. 8 through 17 in King’s College Maffei Theatre.

By Mary Therese Biebel

[email protected]

IF YOU GO

What: ‘It’s Only A Play’

Where: George P. Maffei II Theatre, King’s College administration building, 133 N. River St., Wilkes-Barre

When: Nov. 8 through Nov. 17 with shows at 7:30 p.m. Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays and 2 p.m. Sunday

Tickets: $12 general admission, $7 senior citizens and $5 for King’s alumni and non-King’s students.

Info: 570-208-5825

Reach Mary Therese Biebel at 570-991-6109 or on Twitter @BiebelMT