THEATER REVIEW - “Where There’$ a Will”

THEATER REVIEW

“Where There’$ a Will” - Produced by: Theatre Three - Port Jefferson

Reviewed by: Jeb Ladouceur

Phyllis March, Jessica Contino, & Mary Ellin Kurtz Going bananas in Sanzel’s ‘Where There’$ a Will’ 

When you accept the wacky premise of this farce, without actually knowing where it will lead, you’ve let yourself in for an outrageously funny experience in Theatre Three’s delightful old Port Jefferson playhouse. Why? Because as when viewing any theatrical charade, one must buy into its madcap hypothesis in order for the ensuing sight and dialogue gags to work. In short, such a play will tickle your funny bone, but only if you invite it to do so … and “Where There’$ a Will” is a perfect example of the phenomenon.

Most staged absurdities feature a small cast wherein four or five easily recognized characters come and go, as opposing doors open and close with perfect timing … or cases of mistaken identity and unannounced appearances abound. We of the audience are in on the bogus business from the outset, of course, and that’s the lynchpin that makes for a successful farce. Allowing ourselves to become Peeping Toms is the sine qua non behind any satisfying comedic travesty, after all, and therein lies the genius of “Where There’$ a Will.” 

Indeed, one of the most unique aspects of the laugh-out-loud chaos being staged at Theatre Three thru May 6^th is the depth of its seasoned cast. Who ever heard of seventeen actors … especially the likes of professionals such as Steve Ayle, Marci Bing, Michael Butera, Carol Carota, Jessica Contino, Ginger Dalton, Susan Emory, Sari Feldman, Jack Howell, Joan Howell, Skyler Quinn Johnson, Maryellin Kurtz, Phyllis March, Linda May, Steve McCoy, Maryellen Molfetta, and Ruthie Pincus … (whew!) … all performing in perfect synchronization throughout a single complex farce?

To my knowledge, such an ambitious undertaking has heretofore been unheard of in the legitimate theater. It out-Bards the Bard.

The story … actually written by Long Island’s premier actor/director/playwright, Jeffrey Sanzel, when he was but eighteen! … is this: A number of struggling actors have a chance to inherit half a million dollars each from a wealthy theater aficionado known as The Potato King. All they have to do is mount a production of his original play “Where There’$ a Will.” Staging the show sounds easy enough, but there’s a catch; nobody is bequeathed one red cent unless and until they perform the play exactly as it’s written … warts and all. The theater buff’s last will and testament might as well have been carved in stone … there are to be no exceptions … the deceased’s indomitable lawyer (along with his tight-fisted wife number four) sees to that! Accordingly, the heterogeneous acting company runs into more bumps on the thespian road than they ever imagined possible, and makes us privy to hilarious and poignant backstage maneuvering in the bargain.

It’s virtually impossible to distribute accolades in this critique with the even-handedness that such a large and expert cast of veteran players deserves. Certainly Marci Bing and Linda May, along with Jack Howell and Steve McCoy are as proficient as any acting quartet working in Long Island theater today. However, only the size of the cast prohibits an in-depth analysis of the troupe’s entertaining performances. Give each of them all the stars you’ve got in your basket of kudos.

The same goes for Randall Parsons, Chakira Doherty, and Robert Henderson (set, costume, and lighting designers respectively). They never disappoint Theatre Three audiences.

As for the play’s incomparable director Jeffrey Sanzel (assisted by Andrew Markowitz), those theatergoers who have followed Sanzel’s career surely are not surprised to learn that he exhibited so much keen theatrical insight at the tender age when he created “Where There’$ a Will.” Now that the local impresario extraordinaire has reached middle age with such cultured grace and élan, it can be justly noted that Sanzel’s legion of actors, patrons, and friends may count themselves privileged not only to know him … but even to have had a conversation with the man.

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Award-winning writer, Jeb Ladouceur is the author of a dozen novels, and his theater and book reviews appear in several major L.I. publications. His newest book, THE GHOSTWRITERS, explores the bizarre relationship between the late Harper Lee and Truman Capote. Ladouceur’s recently completed thriller, THE SOUTHWICK INCIDENT, is due next month, and will be introduced at the Smithtown Library on Sunday afternoon, May 21st. The book involves a radicalized Yale student and his CIA pursuers. Mr. Ladouceur’s revealing website is www.JebsBooks.com

SUFFOLK CLOSEUP - Lyme Disease

SUFFOLK CLOSEUP

By Karl Grossman

This could be a bad year in Suffolk County for Lyme disease—the malady of which residents here were among the earliest victims.

“Forbidding Forecast for Lyme disease in the Northeast,” was the title of a report last month on National Public Radio’s “Morning Edition.” Neither that program nor NPR are prone to exaggeration.

“Ticking time bomb…Lyme disease is set to explode in the U.S. this year,” was the headline this month of an article in a publication also known for careful journalism, New Scientist.

Both told similar stories. The NPR report began with findings of ecologists Felicia Keesling and Rick Ostfeld who have studied Lyme disease for more than 20 years, she at Bard College, he at the Cary Institute of Ecosystem Studies, both in the Hudson River Valley upstate. 

“The Hudson River Valley experienced a mouse plague during the summer of 2016,” related NPR. “For most people it was just a nuisance. But for Keesling and Ostfeld, the mouse plague signaled something foreboding. ‘We’re anticipating 2017 to be a particularly risky year for Lyme,’ Ostfeld says. They can predict how many cases there will be a year in advance by looking at one key measurement: Count the mice the year before. The number of critters scampering around the forest in the summer correlates to the Lyme cases the following summer, they’ve reported.”

“Mice are highly efficient transmitters of Lyme,” NPR continued. (Mice and deer are the prime transporters of ticks carrying Lyme disease.) “So that mouse plague last year means there is going to be a Lyme plague this year…Ostfeld says, “He’s not exactly sure which parts of the Northeast will be at highest risk. But wherever Lyme exists, people should be vigilant, says epidemiologist Kierste Kugeler of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention [CDC].”

The New Scientist piece, quoting Mr. Ostfeld extensively, says of the “coming outbreak”—“Thanks to a changing climate it could be one of the worst on record: the ticks that carry the disease have been found in places where it has never been before been a problem—and where most people don’t know how to respond. The danger zone isn’t confined to the U.S.: similar signs are flagging potential outbreaks in Europe.”

Suffolk folks were hit early with Lyme disease. That could be expected considering the disease was named for Old Lyme, Connecticut where it was first identified in 1975. Old Lyme is across the Long Island Sound, 10 miles from Plum Island. The 2004 book “Lab 257: The Disturbing Story of the Government’s Secret Plum Island Germ Laboratory” by attorney Michael Christopher Carroll links Lyme disease to the release of ticks in experiments there. Plum Island Animal Disease Center officials deny this. 

Initially, in the early 1980s, the leadership of the Suffolk Department of Health Services  downplayed the seriousness of Lyme disease. In most instances it can be cured with prompt treatment with antibiotics.  But ticks carrying the disease are miniscule and signs of infection don’t always appear. Some people end up with chronic Lyme disease with its profoundly debilitating impacts. It can be fatal if it gets to the heart or brain. 

Lyme disease has spread widely. In the U.S., as a map in the New Scientist article depicts, it is now in all the New England states, all over New York State and extends through New Jersey and Pennsylvania and into Maryland and Virginia. It has jumped to the Midwest affecting Indiana, Illinois, Wisconsin and Minnesota. And there is Lyme disease in Florida, and also in California and elsewhere on the West Coast.

Ms. Kugeler of the CDC said in the NPR report: “We think the true burden of Lyme disease in the U.S. is [yearly] about 300,000 cases. Lyme disease is quite a big public health problem.” 

Suffolk government has come far on Lyme and is now fully aware of the gravity of the disease. There is a Suffolk County Arthropod-Borne Disease Laboratory headed by Dr. Scott Campbell. A county lawmaker leading in the fight against Lyme has been Legislator Brigit Fleming of Noyac who last year got the county’s Tick Control Advisory Committee (now chaired by Dr. Campbell) reactivated and $100,000 in county funding for a tick testing program.

On the state level, in 2014 a bill of Senator Kenneth LaValle of Port Jefferson and Assemblyman Fred W. Thiele, Jr. of Sag Harbor allocating $500,000 for “Lyme Disease and Tick-Borne Prevention and Treatment” was enacted. Mr. La Valle is a member of the Senate Task Force on Lyme and Tick-Borne Diseases though which he has been able to obtain money for anti-tick efforts in Suffolk. But an initiative spearheaded by Ms. Fleming and sought this year by Messrs. LaValle and Thiele for $500,000 for a Lyme disease “surveillance and management program” in Suffolk failed to be included in the new state budget.

Meanwhile, as was exposed by the 2009 documentary “Under Our Skin,” an Academy Award semi-finalist and winner of 20 film festival awards, the health insurance industry has manipulated medical boards into denying the existence of chronic Lyme disease—the industry doesn’t wasn’t to pay for the expensive treatment needed. In 2014, a sequel to “Under Our Skin” was released. Visit www.underourskin.com for more details about this scandalous situation.

Karl Grossman is a veteran investigative reporter and columnist, the winner of numerous awards for his work and a member of the L.I. Journalism Hall of Fame. He is a professor of journalism at SUNY/College at Old Westbury and the author of six books.

Commack Man Arrested For Vandalizing Christ The King Church In January

Loucas RoussoSuffolk County Police today arrested a man for vandalizing a Commack church in January. A man knocked down the Christ the King sign, and shattered the glass window on the front door of the church, with a skateboard on January 26, 2017.

Following a lengthy investigation by Fourth Squad detectives, Lucas Rousso was identified as the individual who vandalized the property.

Rousso, 21, of Commack, was arrested today in Commack. He was charged with Criminal Mischief 3^rd Degree.

He is scheduled to be arraigned at First District Court in Central Islip on April 21.

A criminal charge is an accusation. A defendant is presumed innocent until and unless proven guilty.

Timothy D. Sini, Police Commissioner      17-72660

Suffolk County Police Department            RG/1928

SUFFOLK CLOSEUP - The highlight of my life

SUFFFOLK CLOSEUP

By Karl Grossman

It was a highlight of my life. 

Dennis Fabiszak, director of the East Hampton Library, sent an email last month saying: “I have great news. Your archive is now live. We currently have 3,401 documents included and we are scanning every day…Here is a direct link to the archive.” http://easthamptonlibrary.org/long-island-history/karl-grossman-research-archive/

What a thrill! After 55 years as a journalist on Long Island, all my files—thousands of articles and what historians call “primary documents”—are being digitized by the East Hampton Library to be available to anyone on Long Island and indeed the world.

They chronicle the modern history of Long Island which I’ve covered from 1962 to the present, for most of the years as an investigative reporter and columnist. My now nearly 50-year-old column, begun at the daily Long Island Press, has since The Press folded in 1977 run in weekly newspapers and now also on news websites. The material amassed derives, too, from my work as nightly news anchor on the island’s commercial TV station, WSNL67, and host of “Long Island World” on its PBS station, WLIW21.

It’s a great honor to donate all the material to the East Hampton Library. The title of the archive: “Karl Grossman Research Archive.” 

The East Hampton Library is famous for its Long Island Collection.

As the library notes on its website: “What was once a room specially built in 1930 to house the personal collection of historian Morton Pennypacker is currently a 5-room research and study area containing a vast array of original, historic, as well as contemporary materials that chronicle life on Long Island from the seventeenth century to the present day.”

The “Long Island Collection’s holdings include photographs, postcards, whaling logs, diaries, account books, deeds, wills, genealogies, maps, architectural drawings, oral histories and newspapers. Various items of note include Native American documents and artifacts, the 1599 Gardiner family bible, the original deed to Shelter Island, the Captain Kidd ‘cloth of gold’ [presented by the pirate on a visit to Gardiner’s Island], and materials relating to the Culper Spy Ring.”

I’ve had a front-row seat as Long Island has exploded in population and gone through many changes—while, so fortunately, preserving much of its beautiful nature and the charm of its communities.

Some examples of what you and others can now start to access digitally:

Robert Moses was hell-bent between 1962 and 1964 on building a highway the length of Fire Island but was stopped by creation of a Fire Island National Seashore.  I was in the middle of this story. All the documents—Moses’ declarations, the statements of Citizens Committee for a Fire Island National Seashore—and many, many articles, are all there. 

The establishment by New York State of Stony Brook University was mired in “town-gown” conflict with some in the nearby area objecting to the university and its students. This culminated in an army of Suffolk Police streaming onto the campus at 5 a.m. on January 17, 1968 in a raid I covered called “Operation Stony Brook.” The police put out a 107-page manual, in my files, identifying student after student as a purveyor of drugs, mostly marijuana. One of the cops whose undercover activities, hanging out with Stony Brook students, led to the raid would later remark: “We were the first police department that ever had the nerve to hit a university.”

There are voluminous records and articles on a huge Suffolk scandal of the 1970s—the $1 billion Southwest Sewer District project.  With sewering on again here, they offer lessons.

The Long Island Lighting Company spent decades seeking to build seven to 11 nuclear power plants with Shoreham the first. There are thousands of records of this ultimately defeated scheme to make Long Island what nuclear promoters called a “nuclear park.” I also wrote a book published by Grove Press on this nuclear push titled “Power Crazy.”

With development pressures intense, Suffolk created an extraordinary Open Space Program, the largest land acquisition undertaking of any county in the U.S., and a first-in-the-nation Farmland Preservation Program. Many documents and articles about them are in the files.

There were major campaigns for the secession of the East End of Long Island from Suffolk County to form a separate Peconic County, and there are records of these drives.

There was Charles T. Matthews, scion of a prominent Suffolk Republican family, bolting to run on the Democratic ticket for Suffolk DA in 1965 charging organized crime was in the midst of trying to take over the Suffolk GOP. He cited names and meetings. There are the records on this.

There was the scam about building a “deepwater port” in Jamesport. Excavation on a square mile of land along the Long Island Sound was proceeding full-tilt by 1970. But, in fact, what was involved was a gigantic sand mine, no port. I received the George Polk Award for my journalism’s role in stopping this. Then LILCO bought the land for four of its planned nuclear plants. And this was stopped in the 1980s. I was deep as a journalist in this phase of the saga, too. The land is happily now the site of Hallockville State Park.

If you’d like to support this archive project, please contact Mr. Fabiszak, at dennis@easthamptonlibrary.org, or call him at 631-324-0222, extension 7.  

Karl Grossman is a veteran investigative reporter and columnist, the winner of numerous awards for his work and a member of the L.I. Journalism Hall of Fame. He is a professor of journalism at SUNY/College at Old Westbury and the author of six books.

Smithtown's Horizon Counseling Center Named "Social Work Agency Of The Year"

Town of Smithtown Substance Abuse Counseling & Education Center Named Social Work Agency of the Year

Smithtown, N.Y., April 2017 – Town of Smithtown Horizons Counseling & Education Center was named “Social Work Agency of the Year” by the National Association of Social Workers, New York State Chapter, Suffolk Division.  All award winners will be honored at an event on Saturday, April 22, 2017 at 11:00am at the Brentwood Country Club.  The Town of Smithtown wishes to share in congratulating Horizons and the other award recipients as they are recognized with these prestigious awards.  Smithtown Town Supervisor Patrick Vecchio commented, “With the drug scourge so prevalent throughout Suffolk County and Smithtown, we are proud of the designation that Horizons Counseling has received as ‘Social Work Agency of the Year’ and we are proud of the good work they do on behalf of all our residents who may have a need for these services.”  This award acknowledges the exceptional social work services provided by Horizons to address the chronic and often tragic causes and consequences of substance use in the community.   

The Town of Smithtown’s own Horizons Counseling and Education Center, located at 161 East Main Street in Smithtown, has offered comprehensive substance abuse treatment and prevention services for adolescents, adults, and families since 1979.  Horizons regularly works with various community partners, including the Smithtown Youth Bureau, local school districts, hospitals/healthcare providers, law enforcement, and other community institutions to address substance use-related problems and provide prevention, education, and treatment programming.  Horizons and the Smithtown Youth Bureau have recently established the Youth and Community Alliance of Smithtown for the purpose of engaging and mobilizing residents and other stakeholders to work toward positive change in the Town of Smithtown communities, including a focus on substance use, bullying, and maintaining healthy family relationships.  To learn more about the services offered by Horizons Counseling and Education Center, please contact Matthew Neebe, Director at mneebe@tosgov.com  (631) 360-7578.  For information about the Youth Bureau and the Youth and Community Alliance of Smithtown, please contact Stacey Sanders, Executive Director, Smithtown Youth Bureau at ssanders@tosgov.com  (631) 360-7595.