“˜Molly’s Delicious’ peeks into gossiping small town

  The Group In "Molly’s Delicious," Alison (Christy
Keefe) must decide whether she will marry Jerry
(Jeremy Kent Jackson), the father of her
child.

By Barbara McGuire
Daily Bruin Senior Staff

Small town gossip is notorious for starting trouble, especially
when it is based on rumors that aren’t even exaggerations of
facts, but complete lies.

This is the problem in Pine City, Minnesota, circa 1965, the
setting for “Molly’s Delicious,” a theatrical
production now showing at the Lee Strasberg Creative Center in West
Hollywood. A small, yet expanding town, Pine City is one of those
places where everybody knows everybody and everybody meddles in
everybody’s private lives.

The story begins when Cindy Linda (Maryedith Burrell) tells Ross
Willoughby (Henry Lide), the town mortician, that she heard from
May Whipstat, who heard from someone else in town, that Ross’
son has a crush on her niece. Though this sequence of events may
seem probable, it’s not.

Cindy actually makes this rumor up from scratch in hopes of
finding a husband for Alison Farnham (Christy Keefe), her pregnant
niece. Pushing her nose into other peoples’ business seems to
be a hobby for Cindy, a hobby that gets her into a lot of trouble
with Alison as well her husband, Alan “Lindy” Linda
(John Apicella).

The trouble is that Alison already has a boyfriend and is
already in love, with her baby’s father, Jerry Fountain
(Jeremy Kent Jackson). Jerry, however, has been sent to Vietnam
with the Coast Guard and hasn’t written her a single letter
since his departure. Cindy believes that this means he isn’t
coming back and sets off on her mission to hook Alison up with the
mortician’s son, Alec Willoughby (Scott Venters).

  The Group Alan "Lindy" Linda (John
Apicella, left) deals with his wife Cindy’s
(Maryedith Burrell) meddlesome acts in their town
of Pine City. It is important for the audience to remember that
this play takes place in 1965, a time when it wasn’t proper
for a pregnant woman to be without a husband. Alison, however, sees
the world through different eyes and believes that it is perfectly
OK for her to be pregnant and unmarried. She is very in love with
Jerry and truly believes that he is coming back for her.

Cindy, the cynic, ends up being wrong about Jerry. On leave for
nine days, he comes back for Alison and proposes to her immediately
after discovering her pregnancy. He too is full of the
old-fashioned ideals that Alison wants to rebel against.

It’s too late for Jerry, however. Due to her aunt’s
relentless nagging, Alison eventually meets with Alec and, although
hard to believe, falls in love with him in a matter of minutes.
After he proposes to her, promising to quit his job as a mortician
and buy a farm to grow wild flowers. The small town saga
doesn’t end here, though. As the story continues, Alison is
forced to make a decision between two potential futures: one with
Jerry or one with Alec.

The ending is quite the shocker and seems a little unrealistic
as Alison becomes the domineering figure over both of these men,
getting things her way without any compromise on her part, but with
tons of compromise on the part of the potential suitors.

With “Fargo”-like accents, the cast of
“Molly’s Delicious” meshed well with each other.
The relationship between the bickering couple, Cindy and Lindy,
provides non-stop laughs for the audience, as the two seem tailor
made for their roles and for each other.

The setting is equally pleasing, filled with hundreds of
“Molly’s Delicious” apples, as well as a
realistic country home, complete with a white wooden swinging
bench. Written by Craig Wright and directed by Dan Fields,
“Molly’s Delicious” is a well-rounded play in
which all the elements, including wardrobe and lighting, seem to
fit perfectly together.

One minor detail, however, that presents itself multiple times
throughout the play, is the way in which Keefe’s body
language portrays her pregnancy. At times it appears as if she has
mastered the art of looking pregnant, the way women walk and sit,
but at other times she appears to not really be pregnant.
Additionally, the cast’s accents become a little tiring by
the end of the play, but the fact that they are maintained
throughout the entire 95-minute production reflects well on the
actors.

Through “Molly’s Delicious,” the audience is
given a peek into the bizarre happenings in a small, hick town. The
woman-power ending provides enough gossip for the people in the
town to flourish for years, as well as for the audience to ponder
on for a few hours. The play examines what happens when people step
away from the norm and find their own path to self-fulfillment and
happiness.

THEATER: “Molly’s Delicious” is the first
production in the inaugural season of “The Group at
Strasberg” and is currently showing at The Lee Strasberg
Creative Center, 7936 Santa Monica Blvd., West Hollywood, through
Dec. 3. Performances are Thursday through Saturday at 8 p.m. and
Sunday at 7 p.m. Tickets can be purchased by calling (323)
650-7777, or at the door, and are $20.00 for Thursdays and Sundays,
and $24.00 for Fridays and Saturdays.