Circa makes the most of ‘Empty’ premise

By David Burke | Saturday, July 05, 2008

If you go

What:  “Empty Nest”

When: Through July 19; performances at 5:45 p.m. Wednesdays, Fridays and Saturdays, and 11:45 a.m. Wednesdays

Where: Circa ‘21 Dinner Playhouse, 1828 3rd Ave., Rock Island

How much: $44.20 Friday-Saturday, $41.60 Wednesday evening, $38.48 Wednesday matinee. Discounts for students (18 years and younger) and senior citizens (60 years and older)

Information: (309) 786-7733 or Circa21.com on the Web

I’m sure that when the stage comedy “Empty Nest” premiered (under the name “Alone Together”) in 1984 that it made some sort of statement about middle-aged parents and the feelings they have as their children move out of the house.

But a lot has happened in those 24 years, and any message about the changing chapters in parents’ lives has been diluted with time. With the exception of the final scene, there’s no meat in the two-hour performance that opened this past weekend at Circa ‘21 Dinner Playhouse in Rock Island.

That being said, director Patrick Kearns and the cast do the best they can with the material, which they have kept set in the early ’80s, turning it into a retro time capsule.

Just as George (Brad Hauskins) and Helene (Vrenda Lee) have sent the youngest of their three boys (Tristan Layne Tapscott) off to college, the other two make their way back home.

First there’s Michael (Adam Michael Lewis), an MIT math prof who walks away from an unsolvable math problem and a live-in girlfriend to return home, change his direction to life sciences and learn martial arts.

Then it’s middle child Elliott (Eddie Staver III), a philanderer who leaves his wife and job to move back home.

Added to the mix is Janie (Ashley Catherine Schmitt), whose character has crossed paths with Tapscott’s Keith. She dresses in low-cut, bare-midriff tops and short-shorts while extolling the virtues of celibacy.

It all sounds like a TV sitcom, and, for better or worse, that’s how it plays out. An oversized traffic light keeps track of who’s on what phone at what time, and an onstage map tracking each of the sons’ residences is more for reference sake. When Michael begins doing “experiments” in the back yard, you know there’s going to be an explosion somewhere.

Most of the humor from Circa’s production is generated by ’80s artifacts — a camcorder the size of a toolbox, Tapscott in a Ferris Bueller vest, Staver adorned in pastel “Miami Vice” threads and Schmitt wearing leg warmers. An ’80s soundtrack with plot-appropriate tunes in between scenes is a nice touch as well.

Circa rounded up three of the best young actors in the area to play the sons. Lewis brings a fresh reading to whatever he does, Staver gets a comparative break after heavier roles with Prenzie Players and Green Room Theatre, and Tapscott has a hand in about a half-dozen theater companies around town now.

Schmitt nicely takes the predictability off course with her take on the ditzy, life-trodden Janie.

Hauskins and Lee, co-stars from Circa’s “Smoke on the Mountain,” have a nice rapport as the early 50s-age couple, from a short stint of enjoying the house to themselves to coping (or not coping) with the arrival of their sons.

Even more admirable is the fact that Hauskins stepped into the role early last week, only two days before the production was scheduled to go on in previews. He’s a trouper in the thankless straight-man role, but deserves kudos for jumping in so quickly.

David Burke can be contacted at (563) 383-2400 or dburke@qctimes.com. Comment on this review at qctimes.com.