Playwright returns to direct 'First Night' at Majestic

Thursday, January 06, 2005

By RONNI GORDON

rgordon@repub.com

'First Night," Jack Neary's first play, is scheduled for its 20th anniversary production starting tonight at West Springfield's Majestic Theater.

The Theater Project is presenting the two-person romantic comedy through Jan. 23. Neary, a steady presence in the Pioneer Valley theater scene, will direct.

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Neary said that when he last directed the show 10 years ago, he vowed to take a break.

"I had directed it too many times," he recalled last week during an interview in the Majestic's lobby cafe. Then he learned that Theater Project Producing Director Danny Eaton planned to do the play. Neary was free and signed up to direct it again.

He makes changes each time. "This is about the 49th version of it," he said.

He said he's making the play funnier and giving it a more involved and complicated ending.

"I think I'm a better writer than I was 20 years ago," he said.

The play takes place on New Year's Eve. Danny Fleming (Steve Gagliastro) is about to close up the video store where he works. His only prospect in the coming year is managing his own video outlet, a far cry from his dream of owning an old movie theater where he would show classic films. In walks Meredith O'Connor (Stephanie Carlson), his friend from grade school. A former nun, she has left the convent and sought Danny out. As the night progresses, both realize they need to pursue their dreams.

"It has always been about a guy who refused to acknowledge change and a woman who showed him how to do it," Neary said. "It still speaks to two people who really belong together."

He calls it a classic love story with a lot of honest laughs and two interesting characters. He said the character of Danny has a lot of Neary in him, "but I made the situation up."

The play was first performed in 1986 at the former Mount Holyoke College Summer Theatre in South Hadley, featuring valley favorite Phil Kilbourne. It had a successful run at the Merrimack Repertory Theatre, followed by a 1991 production at the Theatre Lobby in Boston.

In 1994, it was presented Off-Broadway at the Westside Theatre. In his director's note at the Majestic, Neary called that production frustrating. He cut the play in response to problems with the actress playing Meredith, and the result was not the best. The play closed after two months.

"'First Night' is back, with all the good stuff restored, and even some new good stuff added," he wrote.

He said the current production has an excellent cast. Both performed in Neary's adaptation of "A Christmas Carol" at Worcester's Foothills Theatre, and in other productions there. Gagliastro also performs frequently with the Foothills Children's Theatre. Carlson has performed in Western Massachusetts with the Pioneer Valley Summer Theatre, the New Century Theatre and The Commonwealth Opera, and around the Northeast at other regional theaters.

Neary, meanwhile, has kept busy directing and writing. "I do whatever I can to stay in show business and make a living out of it," he said.

His latest play, "Beyond Belief," was seen this fall at Springfield's City Stage. He's currently working on "Kong's Night Out," a 1930s show business farce that takes place in the hotel room next to the one where King Kong takes the Fay Wray character out of bed. It's his riff on the classic 1933 movie, which he's seen 15 times. The action will involve a glimpse of the gorilla's giant thumb.

"It's a set designer's nightmare ... or dream," he said.