2016 Harp Play is a Golfing Farce

By Gerald Partridge

This year?s Harp Players?/Washington Community Theater?s charity play is The Fox on the Fairway, a comedy about love and marriage and golf. Story. Every year golf teams from the Quail Valley and Crouching Squirrel country clubs compete for bragging rights of who is best. Confident that this year?s team will break its five-year losing streak, Mr. Bingham (Mike Tschantz), the manager of Quail Valley, bets Dickie (Tom Dawson), the manager of Crouching Squirrel ,$200,000 on the match. Dickie, a bachelor, is a notorious womanizer who was once married to Quail Valley?s most prominent member, a socialite named Pamela (Gina Bennett). Mr. Bingham, fearful that another loss to Crouching Squirrel will get him fired, is fighting for survival in a loveless marriage to a seemingly mean-spirited, domineering woman named Muriel (played by Ed Colby?yes, Ed Colby). Completing the cast are Louise (Brandi Glaspie) and Justin (Michael McNurlen) two of Quail Valley?s employees. They are in love.

Tschantz is perfect as the worrying, conniving, sometimes hysterical, (and at one point very intoxicated) club manager whose future hinges on the outcome of a very complicated and unpredictable golf match.

Bennett?s Pamela skillfully navigates through the widest emotional range of anyone on stage: one moment conspiring to fix the golf match, next unloading a string of venomous insults about her ex-husband that would make a sailor blush, later becoming Louise?s confidant, and finally getting sloshed with Mr. Bingham.

McNurlen and Glaspie are superb as the romantic leads. Their portrayals of Justin and Louise, which were a combination of the passion of young love mixed with emotional instability and plain stupidity, were magnified to hilarious proportions by their wonderful energy, creativity, and stage presence.

Tom Dawson has been a WCT treasure for many years and is always entertaining. Tom is perfect as the larger-than-life ?Dickie,? who, when he wasn?t scheming to win his bet with Bingham, was dodging his ex-wife?s incredibly aggressive verbal assaults.

Ed Colby plays Bingham?s wife Murial. This is not the first time Ed has portrayed a woman on stage. It may be the first time he has portrayed a woman this well. Seeing him kiss Tom Dawson was worth the price of admission.

Credit the set designers, construction personnel, and decorators for creating a realistic-looking country club lounge. And special recognition to Melody Lockard for painting the massive mural that was used in Act II to depict the fairway on the 18th hole at Quail Valley.

Kudos to Lisa Hughes and Lena Adams for the costumes, which were perfect. Lisa Hughes actually knitted the bright ugly sweaters for Tom Dawson?s character.

The technical aspects of the play (lighting, sound, stage management, etc.) were flawless.

The Fox on the Fairway, which is probably not entertainment for children, was funny, fast-paced, and well-performed. Great fun for golfers and non-golfers alike.

The play is dedicated to the memory of Wayne Gamon, a pillar of the Washington theater community and longtime friend and supporter of the Harp Players. The charity chosen for this year?s play is HACAP.

Performances of The Fox on the Fairway are 7:30 p.m., March 11-12 and 18-19. Box office: 653-5175.