If Jon Jory, producing director of Actors Theater of Louisville, is indeed the pseudonymous Jane Martin, playwright, as many believe, his/her Anton in Show Business is a smashing valedictory for his soon-to-end 31 years heading the renowned institution. (Jory resigned to take a tenured professorship in the School of Drama at the University of Washington in Seattle.) The hilarious premise -- that Anton Chekhov's The Three Sisters is to be played in San Antonio, Texas, by a no talent TV star (Caitlin Miller, an Ellen DeGeneres look-alike), a third grade teacher with dramatic aspirations (Monica Koskey), and a worn-out "Queen of Off-Off-Broadway" (Gretchen Lee Krich) -- provides opportunities galore for the playwright to take jabs at the foolishness, pretensions, hypocrisy, cynicism and politics that go with the territory. Yet a strong love of the business (or art, if you will) and the pull it exerts on actors and audiences alike also come through. Laughter explodes nonstop, often followed by applause, as Martin skewers directors, actors, playwrights, producers, audiences, critics, corporate underwriters, culture vultures, multi-cultural casting, gender bending and the undeserved dominance of TV and film over theater. Seven women portray all roles (16 of them) and they're all terrific.
While never missing a laugh line they also manage to bring out the pathos -- avoiding sentimentality -- in the lives of their characters. To quote Martin's priceless dialogue is tempting, but that would spoil things for audiences who see Anton in Show Business in this year's Humana Festival of New American Plays. This brilliant valentine to theater is a major delight destined for success in many other venues as well.
