Grant Neale works with a student on the play set.

Last weekend Stoneleigh-Burnham hosted New York City actor and designer Grant Neale, who came to help build the set for the upcoming winter production of The Good Person of Szechuan by Bertolt Brecht. Accompanying him in this effort was Instrumental Director Dr. Greg Snedeker; Chinese instructor and Assistant Director Sara Tsou; and actor Kermit Dunkelberg, junior Zoe Mancuso Dunkelberg’s father.

Grant taught the students stage-painting techniques including “scrumbling” and “spattering,” and for the more sturdy-hearted and steady-handed how to use simple power tools. Over the weekend the students also hand-painted a cityscape and created panels with a poem written in Chinese calligraphy.

While measuring, sawing and painting, Grant and Kermit discovered they had something slightly unsettlingly, but amusing, in common: they had both recently performed the roles of dictators and performed those roles in Europe! Grant recalls,  “I first started acting at the age of 15 while I was working as a stable boy at an all girls' summer camp in Vermont (where Greg Snedeker and I met). They needed any of the laboring boys who wanted to be in the plays and, as it was a great chance to spend more time with the girls, I gladly acted in any show for which they wanted me.”

Grant has performed in more than 200 plays, Operas and films. He was a member of the Jean Cocteau Repertory Theatre for three years where he performed in 15 Classical plays under the direction of Jonathan Bank, Robert Hupp, David Herskowitz and the late Eve Adamson. He also had the good fortune to be a member of the legendary Ridiculous Theatrical Company for five years under the direction of Everett Quinton. Since then, he has had the pleasure of playing many of New York’s great downtown theaters including the Ontological-Hysteric, P.S. 122, LaMama, the Ohio, Walker Space, The Actors Playhouse, and The Kitchen. Outside of New York, Grant’s work in plays and Operas extends from San Francisco, Los Angeles, Seattle, Santa Fe, Milwaukee, Philadelphia, New Haven, Phoenix, to Edinburgh, Berlin, Hamburg, Hanover, Bucharest and Sibiu. It was an honor and a pleasure to have Grant Neale here with us at Stoneleigh-Burnham.

About the Play - From Theatre Director Kim Mancuso

I have always been drawn to the work of the brilliant German playwright Bertolt Brecht, and to that end have directed several of his plays for the stage. Originally Brecht planned to entitle the play "Die Ware Liebe," meaning "love as a commodity." The title would have been a play on words as in German the word for "true love" is pronounced in the same way. I believe that the story, with its emphasis on what a failing economy can force the individual to do, is very pertinent at this time in our history. We are working with an international cast including 16 students from China.

The story follows a young prostitute, Shen Te, as she struggles to lead a life that is "good" according to the terms of the morality that is taught by traditional gods and to which her fellow citizens subscribe. Sezchwan is a mythical city teetering halfway between Chinese tradition and westernization. Shen Te struggles to survive without allowing herself to be abused and trod upon by those who would accept and, more often than not, abuse her goodness. Her impoverished and out of work neighbors and friends prove so brutal, Shen Te is forced to invent a male alter ego to protect herself - Shui Ta. Shui Ta becomes a cold and stern protector of Shen Te's interests. During the course of the story Shen Te realizes she must operate under the guise of both the masculine and feminine in order to live a good life. The play leaves the audience to question whether our morality is linked directly to our economy.

Three performances:
Friday, February 26th at 8 PM
Saturday, February 27th at 8 PM
Sunday, February 28th at 2 PM
Performances are free and open to the public.