Adam Clough and Kimberly Furness in Hedda GablerDirected by David Bonde, the Curtainbox Theatre Company's Hedda Gabler starts off on a happy, frivolous tone. As George Tesman (Reader employee Mike Schulz) tells his Aunt Julie (Corinne Johnson) about the honeymoon from which he's just returned, they share smiles and hopeful, knowing glances. Yet several minutes into this, during Tuesday night's performance, I was a bit bored, wondering why the Curtainbox - which had consistently produced weighty, thoughtful material - was suddenly producing a script filled with such lighthearted but fundamentally pointless drivel.

And then Kimberly Furness made her entrance.

Jason Platt and Angela Rathman in Misery There was no lack of spectacular work done in area theatre this year, and the following list is hardly exhaustive. But if you were fortunate, you caught at least a few of these 12 performances in 2008; whether taking on a leading role, a supporting role, or (in one case here) the only role, these gifted artists commanded the stage. And, hopefully, your attention.

 

 

 

Kimberly Furness, Dave Bonde, and Corinne Johnson in Three ViewingsJust because Three Viewings - the area debut by the Curtainbox Theater Company, previously based in Los Angeles - is being staged at St. Ambrose University, and features St. Ambrose theatre professor Corinne Johnson among its cast, don't assume that this trio of Jeffrey Hatcher monologues will be any sort of academic exercise.

Jessica Denney & Earl Strupp in "Jacob Marley's Christmas Carol"After attending the New Ground Theatre's production of Jacob Marley's Christmas Carol, I wasn't much surprised to learn that Tom Mula's play has been broadcast on NPR numerous times now; a dramatization of Charles Dickens' Christmas Carol story through Marley's point-of-view, the show, with its blend of performance and frequent narration, seems tailor-made for radio. What I can't understand, though - at least based on New Ground's presentation - is what makes it a good fit for the stage.