CONWAY — The Conway Community Arts Association and The Lantern Theatre will present Wrong Turn at Lungfish, by Garry Marshall and Lowell Ganz, as the final production of the year. Showtimes are 7:30 p.m. Dec. 2, 3, 8, 9 and 10, and 2:30 p.m. Dec. 4 and 11.
Carla Grant, a longtime supporter of community theater, directs the production, which features a streetwise volunteer who shows up to read to a blind, cranky and condescending ex-college professor in his hospital room. Grant said the story pits intellect against wit, and both of the characters end up in a new relationship.
All seats are $15. Tickets may be purchased online at conwayarts.org.
“I had never heard of the play,” said Grant, who is an administrative assistant for student orientation and student activities in the Student Center at the University of Central Arkansas in Conway.
“Ashley [Carnahan] found it and pitched it to the committee. I read it. They asked me to direct, and I agreed,” Grant said.
“It’s a little different for me. It was written in the ’90s by
Garry Marshall and Lowell Ganz, who had done several things together, mainly for TV,” she said.
“It’s listed as a comedy. It is funny, but it has its deeper moments,” Grant said. “The two lead characters build a relationship with each other. He is in the hospital; his character is blind. She is a volunteer reader. She comes in to read to him, and they start talking about their lives.
“I would say it is rated PG-13;
it does have some [profanity] and adult material.”
Grant has not directed anything at The Lantern since Same Time Next Year in 2011, which was the first show presented in the theater’s permanent home at 1021 Van Ronkle St. In 2014, she stage-managed Mrs. Mannerly, which was directed by Carnahan.
Cast members, who are all from Conway; include the following:
• Len Schlientz appears as Peter Ravenswaal.
“Here I am again, playing a crazy old man who ends up teaching life lessons,” said Schlientz, laughing.
“I had not heard of this play before, but when it was announced and I saw who it was written by, I decided to audition for it. Plus, I saw that Carla was going to direct it, and she and I have worked together for the past 30 years,” Schlientz said.
“My character has a brain tumor and has only been blind for a couple of months,” he said. “I give everybody a hard time, especially Anita, who has come to read to me. She is very sweet; I am not.”
Schlientz appeared in a similar role in 2010 when he starred in Tuesdays With Morrie,
by Mitch Albom and Jeffrey Hatcher. Grant directed that production as well.
Schlientz is a longtime supporter of community theater. He works part time for the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences and the University of Arkansas at Little Rock in the Standardized Patient Program, in which he portrays patients with certain symptoms or illnesses so medical students can “practice” their skills.
• Erin Henderson of Conway plays the part of Anita Merendino.
“I am the reader,”
Henderson said, smiling. “This character is a lot of fun. She has a very good heart and is genuinely a good person. But as the story unfolds, you find out she has a mean boyfriend who verbally abuses her.”
This marks the third time Henderson has appeared in a CCAA production. She made her debut with the theater troupe in January when she appeared in Almost, Maine; her second appearance was in Loss, Love and What I Wore, which was presented this past summer.
Henderson is a respiratory therapist at Arkansas Children’s Hospital in Little Rock. She graduated from Conway High School in 2002. She attended the University of
Arkansas at Fayetteville and graduated from the respiratory therapy program at UAMS.
• Miguel Castillo appears as Dominic de Ceasar.
“I play Anita’s boyfriend,” Castillo said. “He’s pretty much a thug for hire, … an enforcer.”
This is Castillo’s third time to appear in a CCAA production. A 2006 graduate of Conway High School, he made his debut at The Lantern in These Shining Lives in 2015; he also appeared in The Hammerstone. He now has his own tire shop in Conway.
• Rachel Loveless appears as the nurse.
“My character comes in and takes charge,” Loveless said. “She appears to like her job and does it well, but she really doesn’t like to work with people who can’t take care of themselves. But it is her job, and she does it.”
Loveless said she normally works as a costumer for CCAA productions and is helping with costumes for this show. She has had acting roles in The Hammerstone, Mrs. Mannerly and Rabbit Hole, which was a Late Night at the Lantern production.
Loveless is a 2009 graduate of Conway High School and is finishing up her degree at UCA.
Wrong Turn at Lungfish is stage-managed by Ashley Carnahan of Conway, who graduated from UCA in 2001 with a degree in theater. She has appeared in several productions at The Lantern,
including These Shining Lives and Five Women Wearing the Same Dress, and has worked behind the scenes in several other productions. She also directed The Hammerstone and Mrs. Mannerly.
Charlotte Grant, a 19-year-old UCA student, is the assistant stage manager and the daughter of the director Carla and Patrick Grant.
Charlotte appeared in Mrs. Mannerly. Both she and her brother, Peter, who is a senior at Conway High School, have grown up with the community theater group, as their parents
have been involved with CCAA for more than 30 years.