Drama Guild Hopes Ragtime And Chekhov Mix Can Help Building Fund

by Debra Lawless

            What do you get when you mix ragtime music with three short farces by Anton Chekhov? "Hooked on Chekhov, An Evening of Hilarious Theatre and Ragtime Music," at the Chatham Drama Guild, that's what.

            "Because the plays are funny, they're off-beat, and that's what ragtime is," says Guild President Gary Mitchell. The April 19 benefit for the Guild's capital fund will feature syncopated music, comedy and dessert with champagne. 

John Williams, Lou Maloof and Tamara Harper in a scene from "Hooked on Chekhov," a benefit for the Chatham Drama Guild being performed April 19.

           Chekhov (1860-1904) is best known today for plays such as "The Cherry Orchard" and "Uncle Vanya." Chekhov wrote the three short farces of "Hooked on Chekhov" in the late 1880s, shortly after he qualified as a doctor in 1884 and before he wrote his long plays.

            "Ragtime tends to be light.  These plays are comedies," says Lou Maloof of Chatham, who will act in all three of the short pieces. "Chekhov was writing plays at the same time as ragtime was becoming a fact."

            In "The Bear," a landowner approaches a widow for repayment of money her late husband owed him. In "The Proposal," a hypochondriac landowner asks another landowner for his daughter's hand in marriage. And in "The Harmful Effects of Tobacco," Ivan Ivanovich stands up in a public hall to give a speech on tobacco—and instead talks about something quite different.

            "These three plays brought in quite a lot of money for Chekhov," Maloof says, quoting Chekhov as saying, "Before I treated my patients I made them laugh."

            While Chekhov's longer plays are also comedies, they're "quite heavy," Maloof says, and "these three are quite different from what you think of Chekhov."

            Pianist Art McManus will set the light tone by playing a ragtime piece before the curtain opens. He will then play more rags between the farces and at the end.

            Fundraising events are new for the Guild, which had previously supported itself through ticket sales, membership, and occasional gifts and bequests, Mitchell says.

            "This is beginning to be the fruition of [past president] Kay DeFord's thrust and her drive," he says. "We hope to have other events. A couple of times a year we should have some kind of event where people can meet and greet and have a good time."

            Last year after a joint fundraising auction with the Cape Cod Opera, the group was able to raise money to air condition the building with the help of a matching grant, and also repair a water heater.

             "Anyone who has an old house knows what a money pit it is," says Elsa Bastone, a director at the Guild who teamed up with DeFord and others to raise money. She cites a number of repairs needed by the 75-year-old Guild building which was donated by the long-gone Mattaquason Hotel and moved to the Crowell Road property in 1950.

            "The building looks nice from the outside," she says. But the back side is rotting and the wood needs to be replaced; the carpeting inside the door is falling apart; the roof above the entrance leaks; and with enough funds, one of two bathrooms could be made handicapped-accessible.

            In addition, "like everywhere on the Cape, we're faced with an aging volunteer force," Mitchell says. "We have handy people but nobody's going to lay carpet."

            "You can't make it just with ticket sales," Bastone says. "The arts have never been self-supporting."

            As for how much money they hope to raise from "Hooked on Chekhov," she says,  "We would love to fill the house."

            "Hooked on Chekhov" was staged in New York last spring at the Sharp Theater as a benefit for a children's charity. It will be performed at the Guild with the same cast, script and director.

            "Tobacco" is a monologue with one character played by Maloof, a retired executive vice president for a New York advertising agency who is frequently seen on the stage at the Monomoy Playhouse in the summer. The other plays have three characters each. In addition to Maloof, they will be played by Tamara Harper, who has been a teacher and director at the Harwich Junior Theatre for the past 10 years. She recently played the Mother in "A Christmas Story" there. And actor John Williams recently played a Dutch librarian in the one-man play "Underneath the Lintel" at the Cotuit Center for the Arts and at a fundraising evening at Maloof's house.

            Director Mary Arnault is the resident playwright for the Harwich Junior Theatre and has directed plays in many Cape theaters. Her husband Andrew created the spare sets for "Hooked on Chekhov." Scott Hamilton will do the lighting.

            The final line of "The Proposal" is "champagne, bring in the champagne," Maloof says. In fact, an "elegant buffet" of champagne, "delectable sweets" and savories will be served to theater-goers after the performance.

            "Hooked on Chekhov" will be performed once only on Saturday, April 19 at 8 p.m. Tickets are $100 for preferred seating and $50 for non-preferred seating. Proceeds will benefit the Chatham Drama Guild's Capital Fund and are tax-deductible. For more information or tickets call the Guild at 508-945-0510.