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A three-act special production set at the confluence of love, family, loss sports and friendship, as penned and directed by a Florida man, graces a Lockport stage this month.
Don Goodrum also stars in “The Boys of Summer (and Other Stories),” which runs from July 18-20 at the Bayou Playhouse.
The play opens with Spencer and Buster, friends of 50 years, arguing with each other over a baseball autographed by Roger Maris the year Maris broke Babe Ruth’s homerun record. Cranky and crotchety discussion masks apparent cheerful spirits as their talk about sport cedes to talk about themselves. Act Two jumps back seven years to a moment of familial tragedy and estrangement for Spencer, and Act Three moves forward two years ahead of the opening segment to present a conclusion.
“I suppose if I have to sum it up, [the play] is about the fact that life isn’t really over until you decide it is,” Goodrum said via an email interview. “Spencer and Buster are still going strong in their seventies, but we all know people who have given up in their twenties. Its like Spencer says in Act Three, “The Best Thing about living as long as we have is being able to look back on it all and smile.”
Goodrum initially penned the first act as a standalone play. “The Boys of Summer,” which was strictly Act One of the now-finished product, won Best Play in a writing competition sponsored by a local literary guild. Goodrum was later asked if he could expand the play.
Given that “Boys of Summer” would need “massive rewriting” if moved to Act 2 because it serves as an introduction to the characters, and with the nonlinear narrative structure of “Pulp Fiction” on his mind, Goodrum decided telling the “other stories” – specifically, the flashback “Pool Music” and flash-forward “The Best Thing – in non-chronological structure would best fit what he already had written.
“Most audiences seem to like the flip-flopping, however,” the author said. “I get a lot of ‘Oh, so that’s how that happened!’ People seem to enjoy it.”
Goodrum plays Spencer McLeery, David Chancellor is Buster Dagget and Mark Murphy is Authur McLeery. Goodrum stressed that he took the starring role because that’s the way the ages aligned. “Thankfully, none of us are nearly as old as Spencer and Buster (yet), but this is good training,” Goodrum said.
Goodrum said he has considered Chancellor and Murphy among his best friends since he was their director in a 2004 production of “Never Too Late.”
“For such a large and imposing guy, Dave has a real sensitivity and courage as an actor and a willingness to go out on a limb with a character that you don’t see much outside of the biggest theatres, while Mark has stop-on-a-dime comic timing that I would put up against anyone anywhere,” Goodrum said. “Their friendship and loyalty is what made this work.”
The play as it now stands premiered in Fort Walton Beach for a Stage Crafters Community Theater workshop. It was then – under the title “Avalon Hills Trilogy” – picked up by Studio 400 for the Pensacola Little Theater in 2007. After the Bayou Playhouse showing, the Musketeers will take it to the Seaside Repertory Theatre in Seaside, Florida.
With one set and three actors, it makes for easy traveling, but why the Bayou Playhouse?
“Well, of course anyone who knows anything about theatre in Southeastern Louisiana (and beyond) knows and respects who [Artistic Director] Perry Martin is and what he has accomplished and when he asked me to bring something in, I was honored and beyond excited to do so,” Goodrum said.
If Goodrum’s surname sounds familiar, that’s because Don’s youngest daughter Sara has clocked extensive work at the Bayou Playhouse, both as a production manager and a regular actress. Sara was last seen on stage reprising her role as the wicked stepmother Evangeline DeLaParish in “Cinderella Battistella” and as the pig Luzianne in “The Trial of the Big Bad Wolf.”
“Sara has worked for Perry for about five years now and he has been very good to her and I’m proud of what she’s learned and accomplished with him,” Goodrum said. “This was a nice way to say thanks for that and to find a new opportunity to expose people to my work.”
An author of roughly 20 plays ranging from monologues to full-length scripts – including an adaptation of “The Devil and Daniel Webster,” which Steele Spring will publish in August – Goodrum said he has found simultaneously directing and acting to be a challenge. But he finds assistance from his friends.
“When I’m trying to pay attention to character and my own work as a performer, it becomes really easy to lose sight of what else is going on,” Goodrum said. “Fortunately, Dave and Mark are talented and experienced enough actors who could both direct themselves (except they have better sense) and they help me keep any eye on things and keep them from getting away from me. Also, they are both unflinchingly honest when it comes to my work as an actor and help me make sure I do my best work as well.”
Mark Murphy, Don Goodrum and David Chancellor star in “The Boys of Summer (and Other Stories).” Goodrum, who resides in Florida, wrote and directs the play, which has a three-night run at the Bayou Playhouse this month.
