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Peer Reviews The C.D.I and Other Plays Entire contents are copyright © 2007 Kate Barry. All rights reserved.
Opening night is the most exciting part of a production for cast, crew and director, no matter which production you perform. For The C.D.I. and Other Plays and Yahyawi Entertainment Services, also known as The Y.E.S. Group, Thursday, August 23, was opening night for both the show and the company at the MeX Theater at the Kentucky Center for the Arts. The Y.E.S. Group showed great charisma and energy, with five short plays about love and sex and one one-act about a father and son. With six plays, each actor had plenty of stage time to shine, especially when the plays had small casts. Notable performances were given by Evan Peters as Sam in The C.D.I., who charms the overworked, no-time-for-a-date Lisa (played by Carrie Cooke) into going on a date with him. Julia Leist was a crowd pleaser as Franny in the two parts of 2B or Not 2B. As Franny, she was a desperate yet embittered freshly-dumped woman who is whisked away by a bee to start a new life as the Queen Bee, only to return to her human life when meeting a piano player at a wedding. Petar Mandic, as the bee in the first part of this short, added some silliness with his makeshift bee costume and authentic accent. The Letter S gave a new spin on the speed-dating craze, as it involved a very jovial and chipper Sidney Hymson as the host of the speed-date with only two contestants. The Tunnel of Love gave a new spin on sexuality with another fine performance by Ms. Cooke as Susie, a woman undergoing surgery to receive female body parts. The ensemble of this short added some chuckle-worthy performances as nosy, meddling doctors with such names as Dr. Tulips and Dr. Beaver. Dan Halstead stole the night of plays as Gary, Susie’s boyfriend, who would break things and then fix them so he could have order in his world. His delivery and reaction to Susie’s medical procedure left the audience with smiles on their faces for intermission. In 2 Beers and a Hook Shot, Matthew Jones as Dexter Jackson gave a heartbreaking performance as the father of an angst-ridden son who is determined to leave home and never return. As the plays were performed in a black-box theater, the setting resembled studio theater, having minimal setting and simple lighting designs. Samer Yahyawi, the director of the plays and creator of the group, wrote in his director’s notes that the Y.E.S. Group is "a theater and film company devoted to developing quality entertainment," and with more productions like this one, there should be no problem doing that.
The C.D.I. and Other Plays
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