Neil Simon's comedy Fools, directed by Mary Leigh Filippone, was presented last month at the Center for Performing and Fine Arts.



Fools takes place in the town Kulyenchikov, Russia which has been cursed with stupidity by the Count Yousekevitch's ancestor. It's up to the new school teacher, Leon Tolchinsky, to break the curse by making Sophia Zubritsky become intelligent and fall in love with him. If he fails the only way to break the curse is for Sophia to marry the count.



The cast did a wonderful job of staying in character as the audience lost control in laughter. Wilder Troxell as Leon Tolchinsky, Emily Ludwig as Lenya Zubritski and Sara Barnes as Dr. Zubritsky did an exceptional job of balancing comedic timing with in character. An example of their outstanding work can be seen in one particular scene where the three in are the living room of the doctor's house; Leon is reading the history of the curse. During his reading, he mentions “Yousekevitch,” at which the Zubritski couple trembles while speaking, “Tremble, tremble, tremble, tremble, tremble!” Eventually Leon gets past this name and then reveals that the people were also cursed to tremble at the name “Yousekevitch.”



Troxell, Ludwig and Barnes are not the only ones who stole the show. Maren Wood, who played the dumb shepherd Snetsky, did a wonderful job of setting the stage and introducing all the towns folk as “stupid.” The townsfolk of Kulyenchikov did an excellent job continuing in stupidity: Evangeline Young as the beautiful Sophia Zubritsky, Becky Rickert as the Magistrate, Isabel Gusinde-Duffy as the “slow” mail-carrier Mishkin, Jeremy Paul as the butcher Slovitch, Erica Barnes as the confused merchant Yenchna and Andrew Boyd as sinister Count Yousekevitch.



The production set was simple, yet detailed and fantastic. There were four sections of bent walls creating three buildings. Two of the walls created the walls of the Zubritsky's house, revealing to the audience their living room. Stage right was a bridge-like structure that allowed the characters to make entrances from far stage right. Stage left was a balcony that came from Sophia's bedroom. The set was truly creatively conceived.



The lights, microphones, and sound effects were remarkable. The actors did not wear any microphones. Their diction and projection was strong; everyone could understand what they were saying. The lighting was also simple, but wonderfully staged just the same. The sound effects of the thunder were perfectly timed.

There were, however, some moments where things did not go as planned. There were some points in the play where the characters could have cheated their bodies out more. Leon also stumbled over a few lines.

All in all, Fools directed by Mary Leigh Filippone is a hysterical play and the middle schoolers at the Center for Performing and Fine Arts did an excellent job performing it on the wonderful stage bearing many endless hours to create. This play showed the audience it is great to be a “fool” every now and again.