CAST & CREW
WILLARD MANUS (Playwright) Manus' THE PENIS MONOLOGUES recently concluded a five-month run in Los Angeles. His latest books are the novel THE PIGSKIN RABBI and THIS WAY TO PARADISE: DANCING ON THE TABLES, a memoir of the 40 years he has spend in Lindos, Rhodes — which, by the way, is where, in 1972, he first met S.J. Perelman and began a friendship that lasted until the latter's death 10 years later. This Way to Paradise contains a chapter on Perelman (and Nicola Sheara stops by as well.)

S.J. PERELMAN (Subject) “probably had the most extensive and arcane vocabulary of any English-speaking person ever, and his casuals in The New Yorker were masterpieces of mind-bending linguistic tongue-twisting, often involving some intrigue in a ice cream parlor. His personal tragedy was that this exquisite literary style didn't translate to the stage. He once wrote of himself that his pastime was the raising of turkeys, which he occasionally exhibited on Broadway.” - Al Herschfeld

NICOLA SHEARA (Director) I met Will Manus in 1963 when I was living in Lindos (on the isle of) Rhodes and he came to settle there with his Scottish wife, Mavis. Those times (and his life there) are deliciously described in Will's 1998 memoir THIS WAY TO PARADISE: DANCING ON THE TABLES. Don't ask. His first novel MOTT THE HOOPLE came out in 1966. The name was subsequently purloined by the rock group and I was alarmed to hear it bruited about on every AM station in America. Willard was then, and will always be, a matzoh ball. I met S.J.Perelman at a dinner party at Mavis and Will's when I returned to Lindos for a visit in 1975. Perelman was elegant and witty and charming and famous (although my 18 month old son seemed singularly unimpressed). He clearly deserved to have this play written about him. I met Lou Trapani in the very early '70's when we were both working Off Off Broadway in the beginning days of that fertile era. We appeared together, and separately, on the stages of the No Smoking Playhouse, La Mama and other lesser venues. Lou was a brilliant, charismatic and inventive actor and a scalawag. He remains a brilliant, charismatic and inventive actor. His current responsibilities may have curtailed the scalawag tendencies. It is my very great pleasure to bring these friends and acquaintances together at TheaterSounds for your delectation.

LOU TRAPANI (Sid) is artistic and managing director of The CENTER for Performing Arts at Rhinebeck and serves on The CENTER’s board of directors as chair of the programming committee. He also serves on the boards of the Rhinebeck Theatre Society and the Gilbert and Sullivan Musical Theatre Company and is the official mentor to the Rhinebeck Unplugged Student Theatre. In addition to directing The CENTER’s artistic and administrative affairs, Lou also teaches introductory theatre courses at the Bulkeley Middle School in Rhinebeck and at the Haviland Middle School in Hyde Park. Since becoming artistic and managing director of The CENTER, he has also taught scene study courses for adults and teens at The CENTER, has coached privately, and has produced/designed/directed/stage managed/and/or acted in 35 of The CENTER’s productions. Most notable among these were Gian Carol Menotti’s “The Medium” (designer/director), Moliere’s “Tartuffe” (producer/designer/director/actor), and Tennessee Williams’ “The Glass Menagerie” (designer/director). Lou recently appeared as Grumio in the Rhinebeck Theatre Society’s production of “The Taming of the Shrew” at The CENTER and is currently producing The CENTER’s own presentation of “The Threepenny Opera.”