In 1950, when a certain Ethel Savage inherited $10 million — nearly $100 million in today’s dollars — she embarked on a spending spree that infuriated her greedy stepchildren and the board of directors for her late husband’s estate. Sending 1,000 low-income children on a global cruise, purchasing a tombstone for the beloved horse of a flower peddler and buying her way into a role on Broadway are the antics of the leading character in Drama Dock’s next production, “The Curious Savage,” slated to open on Friday and run for two weekends at the Vashon High School theater.
Directing the play, written by John Patrick, is former Los Angeles director and actor Michael Barker. Barker moved to Vashon in 2012 from Whidbey Island, where he directed numerous plays for Langley’s thriving theatrical community. Barker knew he liked island life, but enjoyed the idea of being closer to Seattle. He also knew after living for 35 years in L.A. that urban life was not for him.
Since arriving on Vashon, Barker has founded “The Play’s the Thing,” a play-reading group held at the Open Space for Arts & Community, and directed a “Childs Christmas in Wales” for Drama Dock. When Drama Dock asked him to select and direct its next show, he agreed.
“I gave them three choices,” Barker said. “They picked ‘The Curious Savage,’ an old chestnut with a large cast of 11.”
The play is set in an East Coast sanitarium for the well-to-do, where Mrs. Savage’s stepchildren have committed her in the hope of controlling her vast fortune. Inside the sanitarium, the happy but batty Mrs. Savage finds sympathetic fellow patients in contrast to her devious family members as they bungle through schemes to acquire her money.
“The theme is who is crazier?,” Barker said. “It has a thoughtful message, but it has humor, with some ridiculous things that happen.”
Barker said they are producing the play as a period piece — right down to the nylons — as those details are an important symbol of the era when the play premiered, in 1950.
“I wanted to reflect the post-war innocence and how mental health was different then. One character does have the taste of someone with PTSD, which is the closest we come to talking about the war.”
The acting ensemble includes several fresh faces to the Vashon stage. Cynthia Perkins will play Ethel Savage with a strong supporting cast of Max Lopuszynsk, Elise Morrill, Sue DeNies, Marjon McDermott, Gregg Rocheford, Shannon Mahan, Jeffery Jones, Alexis Carleton and Kirk Beeler. Antonia Greene is the assistant director.
“The gang that’s performing have sunk their teeth into the play,” Barker said. “I’m a very demanding director, and they have stretched in a very good way. They are doing noble work … and bring tremendous enthusiasm to the project. This is sure to be an outstanding production.”
Show times are 7:30 p.m. Fridays and Saturdays, March 13 and 14, 20 and 21. Matinees are at 2 p.m. Sundays, March 15 and 22, at the VHS theater. Tickets are sold at Vashon Bookshop and at the door.
