Premiere One Acts
were presented in October/November 2001. The production opened with a curtain-raiser, Steve LaRocque performed a selection from his own Eight p.m. at the Dreamland Café. The Stage Premiere of Horton Foote's The Rocking Chair followed, featuring James Archie, Morgan Aronson, Dana Ballard, Andy Greenleaf, Gay Hill, Erika Imhoof, Rob Peters, Lori Murray Sampson, and Brook Soden, directed by Jack Sbarbori. The program ended with the World Premiere of Steve LaRocque's While We Have the Light, featuring Colleen Estep, Andy Greenleaf, Beatrice Judge, Martha Karl, Steve LaRocque, Michele Osherow, and Vanja Scholls, directed by Sharon Dodd.
One night, two powerful plays...The Rocking Chair is a rare treat, a "new" work that adds another chapter to (Foote's) semi-autobiographical stories of small-town Texas. Directed by Sbarbori, Peters and Hill give quiet, understated performances that nonetheless are powerful enough to draw you into Foote's world of people trying to bridge the gaps between themselves and the rest of the world. The second premiere is a new play by Bethesda playwright and actor Steve LaRocque, While We Have the Light...a look at our links to the past and is a fitting match to the Foote play. ...(there is a) standout performance by Vanja Scholls as the young Miriam. Her engaging characterization of the bright, energetic acolyte contrasts nicely with the acerbic Klaus (LaRocque) in their flashback scenes. ...LaRocque deftly recites a scene from his Dreamland Café, a look at racism in a story set in the days (before) the Negro Baseball League. Quotidian has assembled an original, thoughtful, and thought-provoking program, unusual in scope for a small theater company and deserving a look.
--Michael Toscano, The Washington Post
Three fine ones...the Quotidian Theatre Company tackled three heavy subjects -- racism; retirement and growing older; and intolerance and respect for the past - and came up shining with two one-act play premieres and a reading, performed at the Writer's Center.
--Louis Levy, The Review
