Maumelle Players to present See How They Run

Appearing in the upcoming Maumelle Players’ production of See How They Run are, seated, from left, Mary Boyer as Miss Skillon, Erica Monday as Penelope Toop and Mike Crosson as “The Man” (Russian Spy); and standing, Ed Boyer as the Rev. Arthur Humphrey, Erica Hlebinsky as Ida, Lauren Nicholas as the off-stage voice of a choir boy, Victor Werner as Sergeant Towers, Aaron Woodall as Cpl. Clive Winton and Atherton Hiett as the Bishop of Lax. Not shown is Ron Selby, who plays the Rev. Lionel Toop.
Appearing in the upcoming Maumelle Players’ production of See How They Run are, seated, from left, Mary Boyer as Miss Skillon, Erica Monday as Penelope Toop and Mike Crosson as “The Man” (Russian Spy); and standing, Ed Boyer as the Rev. Arthur Humphrey, Erica Hlebinsky as Ida, Lauren Nicholas as the off-stage voice of a choir boy, Victor Werner as Sergeant Towers, Aaron Woodall as Cpl. Clive Winton and Atherton Hiett as the Bishop of Lax. Not shown is Ron Selby, who plays the Rev. Lionel Toop.

MAUMELLE — “See how they run” may be a line from the nursery rhyme Three Blind Mice, but these words also describe the onstage antics of the Maumelle Players in their next production, See How They Run, by Phillip King.

See How They Run will be presented at 7 p.m. Friday and Saturday and again Oct. 10 and 11, and at 3 p.m. Oct. 12 at the Little Scholars Academy, 10910 Maumelle Blvd.

A visit to a recent rehearsal found the actors jumping around, falling down and running all over the stage.

“This play has more physical stuff in it than any show we’ve ever done, ” said Erica Monday, a veteran actor with the community theater group and secretary of its board of directors.

Described as a “farce in three acts,” See How They Run is set in rural England in the 1940s. Victor Werner, president of the Maumelle Players’ board of directors and a charter member of the organization, directs the play. He is also cast as Sergeant Towers in the play.

“We wanted to do something funny and different,” Werner said. “This play has mistaken identities, several vicars and a Russian spy. It’s great fun for all audiences.”

The cast includes the following:

• Erica Monday of Maumelle portrays Penelope Toop.

“I play the lady of the house, the vicar’s wife,” Monday said. “I have more lines than I’ve ever had before.

“I start all the trouble in the play. My character, Penelope, used to be an actress and is now the wife of the vicar (the Rev. Lionel Toop). I meet with an old friend of mine when the vicar is away, and the village busybody comes by and sees me. That’s when the trouble begins.”

Monday is a physician’s liaison at Arkansas Children’s Hospital in Little Rock.

• Ron Selby of North Little Rock appears as the Rev. Lionel Toop.

This is Selby’s second time to appear in a production with the Maumelle Players. He was in the spring production of The Mikado.

Selby is a veteran musician of more than 34 years. He has worked as a choral director, a band director and an orchestral director, and has been a soloist with the Arkansas Choral Society and the River City Men’s Chorus. He is an elementary-school music teacher with the Pulaski County Special School District.

“I did not know this play before, but it has turned out to be so much fun,” Selby said. “It’s an opportunity to get to work in a play where timing is so important.

“It’s a farce, a comedy. As one [actor] exits, one is entering another door. It can be chaos, with everyone getting piled up as we all try to run the route.

“It’s fun, too, trying to get the timing of your words just right.”

• Aaron Woodall of Maumelle plays Cpl. Clive Winton, who is Penelope Toop’s old friend.

Woodall, the 17-year-old son of Jeff and Cindy Woodall, is a senior at Maumelle High School.

This is his first appearance with the Maumelle Players. He assisted with the Maumelle Youth Theater’s production of Treasure Island, which was presented during the summer.

“It’s a lot of fun,” Woodall said of the play.

• Erica Hlebinsky of Conway plays the part of Ida, the maid.

“I’m the sassy, dimwitted maid,” Hlebinsky said with a laugh. “She definitely takes control of the situation. She’s very humorous with a nice cockney accent.

“There’s never a dull minute in this play. It’s a very well-written play. We have to keep ourselves from cracking up.”

Hlebinsky is director of the Maumelle Youth Theater and teaches second grade at Academics Plus Charter School.

• Mary Boyer of Conway portrays Miss Skillon.

“We’re having a blast with this play,” Boyer said of her and her husband, Ed’s, participation in See How They Run. (Ed Boyer plays the Rev. Arthur Humphrey.)

“I’ve never played anyone who drinks cooking sherry,” Mary said with a laugh. “My character is the busybody in the village. She has a holier-than-thou attitude and tattles on everyone. She goes from this holier-than-thou character to someone who’s drunker than a skunk.”

• Ed Boyer of Conway plays the Rev. Arthur Humphrey.

“I’m having fun,” Ed said. “My character is confused. He’s supposed to be a timid man, somewhat befuddled. Things are happening that make him even more confused.”

This is the first time for the Boyers to appear in a production by the Maumelle Players, but they are not new to community theater. They have appeared in productions by the Conway Community Arts Association and the Rialto Players in Morrilton.

Mary is employed by

Brinkley Mortgage Corp. in Conway, and Ed is employed in the maintenance department at Hendrix College.

• Mike Crosson of Maumelle plays the role of The Man (a Russian spy).

Crosson is retired from the Union Pacific Railroad and is a member of the Maumelle Players’ board of directors. He has appeared in several productions with the local theater troupe.

“He’s an interesting character,” Crosson said of the Russian spy whom he portrays in this production. “I like it because I get to do a different accent and because I get to be a little ‘wild and crazy.’ That’s the kind of character I like to do now.”

Crosson said this is the fourth time in his performances with the Maumelle Players that he has had a different accent.

“I go to the Internet, listen and see what I can come up with,” he said as he explained how he develops the accents. “I work at it and hope I get the main part of it right.”

• Atherton Hiett of Little Rock plays the Bishop of Lax.

This is the first time Hiett has appeared with the Maumelle Players. He is a Web administrator in the College of Business at the University of Arkansas at Little Rock.

“My character is very serious,” Hiett said, “but he’s also very confused by all that goes on in the house.”

Hiett said he was “familiar” with See How They Run.

“I was the sound manager for the same play at Indiana State University when I was a student there,” he said with a smile. “That was back in the ’80s.”

Eloise Kalb of Maumelle serves as the creative consultant for See How They Run. Kalb is a founding member of the Maumelle Players and has directed many of its productions since it was founded in 2005.

Lauren Nicholas of Little Rock is the props manager/stage manager for the production, as well as the offstage voice of a choirboy.

Werner said tickets to the play are available online and at the door.

“The Little Scholars Academy is an excellent venue for watching a stage play, and if you have never seen one of our productions, you are in for a treat,” Werner said.

Tickets are $15 for adults, and $12 for senior citizens 65 and older, students, and children younger than 12.

For more information, visit www.maumelleplayers.org or call (501) 492-9851.

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