CARE FOR A GAME OF GIN?

D.L. Coburn "tragi-comedy" launches NESE season

Starring veteran Equity actors Kathleen Huber as Fonsia and John Goodlin as Weller, this highly acclaimed "tragi-comedy" in two acts draws us into the lives of two strong-willed retirement home residents desperately fighting to maintain their dignity, self-esteem and sanity while navigating their complex current relationship and gradually revealing the secrets and sorrows of their pasts...Through the many games of gin that are played in each act, Huber and Goodlin amply display their formidable acting talents with the subtlest of voices, gestures and facial expressions. In fact, we found ourselves anticipating newly dealt hands to see what instantly flickering, nuanced facial expressions by each of them hinted at their value... As Director William Michael Maher explained in the program notes, "the play, at it's core, is a conflict of wills between two people trapped by their private circumstances. Their conflict is expressed through the gin game, not generated by it." Or, as D.L. Coburn has said, "The card game is a metaphor for fate and how the events of life are dealt to us. We have to play them as they come our way."
---Charles C. & Sue Bingaman, Eagle Times,  August 25, 2005
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A GEM...A PROVOCATIVE TREAT

Those who take advantage of the opportunity to see this gem are in for a provocative treat. We observers get to participate in what could readily be a version of our possible futures, if we don't take care to head ourselves off at the pass. The fine pair of actors, John Goodlin and Kathleen Huber, who comprise the entire cast, transport us into a struggling chronic care facility where affluence is short and days are potentially long and lonely... A card table is at the center of the action... The Gin game, his speciality, perhaps, is presented as the battleground between the sexes... He has no idea of how good a card player this woman might be... The intensity of their interaction keeps the audience riveted on how the game is played and on what sort of people these are, perhaps a look in on ourselves. Two strangers who somehow get to expose each other's inner lives, who appear onstage in housecoat and robe, let us see the artistry of people who are the heart of the theatre. He seems a reincarnation of the curmudgeonly Henry Fonda in "On Golden Pond." She exudes the epitome of long-suffering womankind, who wish to appear to have sacrificed their lives for the ungrateful, and are now abandoned. Shades of "Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf." There's more to this Gin game than a game of Gin! Don't
miss it!
---Dr. Donald W. Clark, New London, NH; August 20, 2005
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OUTSTANDING THEATRICAL EVENING

Following the successful 2004 summer production of Twelfth Night , NESE this summer has brought the absorbing play, The Gin Game, to New London and I heartily recommend this outstanding theatrical evening to you... Funny, with many humorous moments followed by absorbing pathos, from the beginning to the end of a great opening night performance, the two-person cast, Kathleen Huber as Fonsia Dorsey and John Goodlin as Weller Martin, held the audience spellbound with their superb acting ability.
---Carlton Bradford, New London, NH; August 23, 2005, Letters:InterTown Record
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LAUGHTER AND APPLAUSE FOR THE GIN GAME

Laughter and applause filled New London's Whipple Memorial Town Hall at last night's opening of D.L. Coburn's Pulitzer Prize-winning play, The Gin Game , demonstrating once again the magic of quality, live theatre, and its ability to challenge and entertain us and uplift our spirits... NESE is pleased and proud to bring Shakespeare and the classics to our community... With your support, Shakespeare and the classics will become a respected and valued addition to the rich cultural life of our community each summer.
--Morris Edwards, NESE Board Member, New London, NH; August 24, 2005, Letters: Argus-Champion
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