Local theater premiering two-person play
Larry Adams and Jaime Johnson have shared stages on various community theaters, but the two will now make their Westfield Playhouse debut as they premiere “The Dealer Smiles,” a two-person, one act play written by Adams.
“We’ve done umpteen shows together the last 20 years,” Johnson, a veteran actor of 25 to 30 shows, said. “It’s a comfortable experience, a couple of friends getting together doing something they enjoy. We are confident we have each other’s back.”
Adams is the son of Jean Adams, a well-known local community actress, who he credits for his involvement in theater.
“I started my last year of residency because my mother had started doing it two to three years before then and had so much fun,” he said. “I’ve seen my mother do shows here. I guess I had to write my own show to get in this place.”
Since his first show, Adams has been involved in community theater for more than 20 years and been in approximately 40 shows.
“This is the most nerve-racking experience. I’m wondering how people are going to react to it. It’s more personal for me since I wrote it,” he said. “The acting part is not at all a worry for me because of the amount of time we’ve done shows together.”
Adams started writing “The Dealer Smiles” in 2010, but has been working on it for the past 10 years.
“This journey began years ago in a local library, where I sought out every book on the historical Jesus I could find, but along the way was led to authors, scholars and clergy who applied the same probing, questioning attitudes of historical research to matters of faith and who dared to look at Christianity and the great theological questions of life in ways I had never imagined,” he said.
In the show, Adams’ character, Matt, is recently divorced and searching to get his life back on track. While in the self-help portion of the bookstore, he meets Johnson’s character, Josh, and strikes up a conversation about a variety of serious issues.
While writing the show, Adams didn’t tell Johnson that he was writing his part specifically for him to perform.
“I knew it was Jaime I wanted to do that part,” he said.
“He was writing with my deliveries, style and timing. He certainly played to my strengths,” Johnson said. “He’s been very generous in giving me more of the comedic lines.”
Johnson said being the actor to originate a part is a “neat experience” for him.
“I’m the first to take it on. When you do shows, there’s always someone you are compared to who is remembered for the role. I get to be somebody they are comparing it to. I get to be that guy,” he said.
The Basics
“The Dealer Smiles” is a one act play. The show runs about an hour and will be followed by a question-and-answer session for anyone who wants to stick around and discuss it with Adams and Johnson. “The Dealer Smiles” will be performed at 7:30 p.m. Friday, Saturday and April 19, 20, 26 and 27; and 2:30 p.m. April 21 and 28 at Westfield Playhouse, 1836 W. Ind. 32. Tickets are $12 for adults and $10 for students and senior citizens. For more information or reservations, call 896-2707.
“The Dealer Smiles” has been performed in front of a live audience just once at Zionsville United Methodist Church. Adams said the show was recorded and DVDs were sent to directors, reviewers and boards of local theater groups. Main Street Productions was the first to contact Adams about performing the show at the Westfield Playhouse.
“It’s a very good organization with people who are very actively involved,” he said.
Both actors said the church provided a test audience and makes the theater premiere much easier.
“I know the lines fairly well. Since we’ve ran through it live once, we know what worked and what really didn’t work. I’m happy with the rewrites,” Adams said.
“There’s always something about being in a theater. It was nice at the church, but it’s fun to do a show that’s never been done,” Johnson said.
Adams said the purpose of the show is just to make people think and discuss.
“The show is about religion, but I would not call it a religious show,” he said. “The aim of this production is not to provide answers or even to endorse any particular beliefs but to raise questions, and in doing so to stimulate both personal reflection and respectful discussion.”
“It’s about how theology addresses everyday life and how we cope with it,” John Sampson, Main Street Productions Board president, said. “It takes hard situations and you laugh about it. You see the dichotomy of good and evil.”
Sampson said “The Dealer Smiles” was not on the official schedule and will be a fundraiser for the small Westfield community theater group because Adams is not charging royalty fees.
“All proceeds come back to the theater,” he said. “We had enough space between two shows that we were able to fit it in.”
The show also marks the second Central Indiana premiere the theater has performed, the other being “Personal Honor” in 2010.
“I’d like to have a premiere every three to five years of a local playwright,” Sampson said.
The next scheduled MSP production is “Monkey Business” in May.
