When Fairy Tales Become Self-aware 

The fourth wall is fully and gleefully disassembled from the moment you arrive at North Coast Repertory Theatre for Never After Happily. Doc and Ella welcome the audience personally at the box office while Card Girl enthusiastically waves her "Applause" sign. Young Prince Charming and the Priest hand out programs in the lobby. Goldilocks ensures everyone is comfortable in their seats. "Not too hot? Not too cold?" she sweetly inquires. The Priest even officiates a few unofficial weddings in the seats (including one for my husband and I). The entire atmosphere is welcoming, fun and completely irreverent.

When Doc takes the stage for pre-curtain announcements, we get the first taste of just how many roles everyone took on to make the production magical. Doc is played by Scott Q. Marcus, who also directs (or "conducts," as he claims in the program) and is a volunteer wrangler for NCRT. Protagonist Ella is a writer played by playwright Cindy Marcus, who wrote the play with her husband Flip Kolber. Not to be confused with Cindy (as in Cinderella), played by Denise L. Ryles. Marcus, Marcus and Ryles form a tri-cornered anchor that grounds the rest of the ensemble in the wild retellings of unrelated tales. Some of my favorite portrayals include the Godfather (Morgan P. Cox), the Dish and Spoon (AJ Hempstead and Noël August), the Witch (Willi Welton), Chicken Little (Alexandra Nilsen) and Jack Horner and his agent Brittany (Steven A. Santos and Kimberly Haile). Most of the ensemble play multiple roles and do a wonderful job of keeping each one unique.

As the play opens, Ella has had quite enough of fairy tales and their false promises. She decides more story is needed after the ending to shake up the unworkable standard of "happily ever after." But Cinderella isn't going to give up her happy ending so easily. In Never After Happily, Ella the writer is determined to bring some much-needed realism to the realm of fairy tales, while "Cindy" defends the importance of a traditional happily ever after. As they go back and forth over big questions of life, happiness and impossible expectations set up by fairy tales, Ella brings out familiar characters as examples of what might really happen after the end of the story and boldly pokes holes in the fairy tales' plots. Little Jack Horner hungers to break out of his corner and into the limelight. The Big Bad Wolf is a complex man with bad habits and good intentions. Rapunzel and her mother have issues to work though. Chicken Little has PTSD. There is no fairy godmother but we do get a Godfather. The after-endings range from rollicking fun to poignant vignettes.

Olivia Gambino's costume design is rich, bold and clear. The use of simple markers for each character helps keep them straight, and probably helps the actors with quick changes. An obvious chicken hat is all we need to be sure of who Nilsen's anxious and frantic Chicken Little is, and Little Red Riding Hood (Haile) wears her titular garment over simple black attire. Cinderella and her Prince Charming (David Hamilton) in their middle ages are resplendent in classic royal garb.

Brian Butler certainly has his work cut out for him as the lighting, scenic and sound designer, as well as set construction. The set is an excellent blank page on which to re-write stories. Butler uses a simple, black background with primary color accents, echoing the bold and simple concepts of the costumes. The set compliments and highlights the ensemble, allowing the myriad of tales to come to life and be dismissed without bogging them down with complex scene changes. The sound and lighting do what I think they always should: become an integral part of the story without drawing notice to themselves. Everything works together to keep the focus on the fluctuating action onstage.

NCRT has given local theater enthusiasts an opportunity to see an original play in its first run, directed (excuse me, conducted) by a first-time director. There is a great deal of risk in putting on that kind of show, which here is answered and rewarded by a great deal of trust. Perhaps Ella is right and life is too hard to believe in "happily ever after." but perhaps Cindy is right, too — love is all you need.

NCRT's Never After Happily continues Friday, Feb. 24 and Sat. Feb. 25 at 8 p.m., and Sunday, Feb. 26 at 2 p.m. Visit ncrt.net or call (707) 442-6278.

Doranna Benker Gilkey (she/her) has been making herself useful in the theater community lately. If she isn't backstage or in the house, she's probably working at Dandars' Boardgames and Books, her friendly local game store in Arcata.

COMING SOON

Redwood Curtain Theatre's production of Bull in a China Shop barrels onto the stage with sharp-witted back-and-forth based on turn of the century letters between Mary Wooley and Jeannette Marks. The comedy runs Feb. 24 through March 11. Visit redwoodcurtain.com or call (707) 443-7688.

Gatsby at the Ferndale Rep jazzes up Ferndale Repertory Theatre with adults-only variety Feb. 25 at 7 p.m. The Lost Coast Pride fundraiser features drag, belly dance, burlesque and more. Visit ferndalerep.org or call (707) 786-5483.