Members of the Eatonia Oasis Players act out a scene from their recent production held over three night on Jan. 24-26 at the Eatonia Community Hall. In the above scene from the play called Allocating Annie by Rick Abbot, Tracy Tucker (Cora Knutilla), second from right, tries to tell her brother Dr. Clifford Tucker (Dion Swan), left, that the baby he inherited and is holding is actually an astoundingly lifelike doll, but he is too caught up in seeing it for the first time. Cliff’s lawyer, Jake Putnam (Matthew McKinnon), second from left, and actor Langdon Barnett (Bryan Somerville), right, a virtual stranger to others, watch as the drama unfolds.
Kenneth Brown
of The Crossroads
A rare version of a love triangle played out on stage last week in Eatonia where the community theatre group put on a show for crowds on three nights.
The Eatonia Oasis Players theatre group performed its rendition of the play “Allocating Annie” by Rick Abbot over three nights from Jan. 24-26 at the Eatonia Community Hall. The group gave audiences plenty to laugh about during the two-act performance of the comedic play.
Kim Becker, the mistress of ceremonies, welcomed people to the hall for the performance on Jan. 24 and she thanked them for getting out to support the event. There was a lighter crowd for Thursday than for the Friday and Saturday performances, a regular occurrence.
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People enjoyed a tantalizing roast beef supper prepared by the Community Catering group in Eatonia. People were also treated to live music prior to the play by a singing group calling itself Blueberry Cola featuring Dion Swan, Laura Hayes and Brett Becker.
A familiar song for several people was used at the start of the play – the theme song for the sitcom Friends. People are first introduced to Tracy Tucker (Cora Knutilla), a housekeeper for her adopted brother Dr. Clifford Tucker (Dion Swan), who is a world famous plastic surgeon living in New York City.
It is the day before Cliff’s wedding day and the play is set in his luxurious Manhattan condo. Tracy grills Cliff about his bachelor party the previous night and while he did lost his wristwatch, he insists he did not get drunk.
The siblings discuss the wedding and Cliff’s bride to be, and it is clear Tracy is not a fan of his fiancé. Cliff does his best to defend his fiancé, who is from a wealthy family, and Cliff believes her riches will help him to set up a clinic. Enter Bobbi Ralston (Delia Massey), the fiancé.
Bobbi leaves after giving Cliff a list of orders and after Cliff had just told his sister he would not let Bobbi push him around, Tracy sarcastically tells him he handled it well. The doorbell rings again and it is Jake Putnam (Matthew McKinnon), who is Cliff’s lawyer. Jake is wearing sunglasses to hide the effects of the bachelor party.
Jake is about to turn Cliff’s world upsidedown. Cliff is upstairs getting dressed and when Tracy asks Jake why he is there, he tells her he came with a bequest. The bequest is from an inventor named James Fesco from Cleveland, a complete stranger to Cliff.
The lawyer says anyone could leave anything to another person, and it becomes known that Fesco was a huge fan of Dr. Tucker. Tracy asks what the stranger left to her brother, and Jake says it is not money. He says Fesco left Cliff his child.
People soon learn Bobbi is an anthropologist, Jake is secretly in love with Bobbi and after the wedding, Cliff and Bobbi are heading to Antarctica for their honeymoon because Bobbi is fond of penguins, or so people are made to believe. Tracy and Jake have a talk about love or the lack thereof and after her brother and Jake leave, Tracy’s love life soon picks up when the next cast member comes along.
Tracy answers the phone and tells the person her brother is not looking for a roommate, and then a second person calls to ask about an ad for a roommate. The doorbell rings and that is when people are introduced to Langdon Barnett (Bryan Somerville), a struggling actor going by a stage name due to his real name Lionel Barrymore.
Langdon tells Tracy he is responding to the ad for a roommate and instead of telling him to leave, she drags him into the condo. The relationship on stage between Somerville and every other cast member gave people plenty to laugh about. The doorbell rings again.
Enter Annabel Fesco (Maryanne Becker), the inventor’s grown daughter, who’s carrying a small child wrapped in a tiny blanket. To make it brief, her father left Cliff an invention. The invention is a prototype of an amazingly lifelike doll, and the doll causes several hilarious situations.
Jake returns to meet Annabel and he finds out about the child being a doll, but soon Cliff returns and his enthusiasm once he holds the “child” prevents him from letting everyone tell him it is not what he thinks. It leads to more good comedy.
News of the baby sends Bobbi into an uproar and she storms out of the condo only to return much later with her wealthy mother Rebecca Ralston (Debbie Kroeker). Before the reunion with Bobbi and Rebecca, Cliff ends up telling Annabel she and the child could live with him forever. He still has no idea the child is a doll, a toy the inventor had no luck selling to toy companies before he died.
The second act starts with Tracy and Annabel at the dining room table, and then Langdon comes out of the kitchen wearing an apron. His appearance drew a good chuckle from the audience. The doctor, who is still clueless about the doll, and adult Annabel declare an affection for each other.
Bobbi calls and says she believes there was a misunderstanding, so she is coming to the condo with her mother. The call sets off a flurry of hilarious activity. The third richest woman on the planet is coming, so Tracy races to get ready, Cliff freaks out, Langdon is sent to a deli to get food and Annabel has nothing to wear.
None of Tracy’s clothes fit Annabel, so Langdon tells her he has a dress he wore in a play that might fit. The dress made her look like a Christmas tree and it had a desired effect on the audience. Bobbi and Rebecca soon arrive, but only after a twist.
Jake shows up in a suit and tells Cliff he sold little Annie and he no longer has to marry Bobbi because his money troubles are solved. The whole debacle, other than the bequest being real, was orchestrated by Jake in hopes of stopping the wedding. Cliff starts shaking Jake, but he still believes the doll is real.
Everything is explained to Cliff, but now he has another problem because his fiancé is coming with her mother and they are expecting to meet a child. The situation results in lots for people to laugh about later in the play.
To sum up the ending, the whole truth eventually comes out and even though Bobbi admits she does not love Cliff and Jake declares his love for Bobbi, Rebecca insists on Cliff marrying her daughter. Jake took steps to make it appear as though there never was an engagement, but Rebecca has a photo of Cliff proposing to Bobbi taken by a private eye.
The photo reveals Cliff’s birthmark that resembles the hammer and sickle symbol of the former Soviet Union, and Rebecca changes her tune and says Bobbi cannot marry Cliff. It turns out Cliff is the son Rebecca gave up for adoption.
The three new couples of Cliff and Annabel, Jake and Bobbi and Langdon and Tracy celebrate the end of the madness. The cast worked together nicely on stage and the crowd gave the cast, along with the crew and first-time director Krista Stevens, a stirring round of applause.
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