The Great Beyond
Gabrielle Reynolds, director of BCP’s latest offering, has been looking forward to this opening night for a long time. “I was thrilled with this script, when our house manager brought it to my attention. Steven Deitz is an award-winning playwright, and this script is tight, deep, thought-provoking and funny. I feel so lucky to have such a great play to work with and it turns out, a fabulous cast to boot.”
She is excited to work with a first-time actress in this show, someone well known in Boquete business. Guelda (Cukita) Paniza is a manager at Multibank, and often makes presentations to expat groups on banking in Panama. And as she has been rehearsing this show, it has become clear that she is also a wonderful actress. “I have been so amazed by her,” says Reynolds. “Fulltime job, single mom, and the one with the most lines to learn in this show – all in a second language for her. And she makes it look easy!”
The play explores aspects of family, secrets, compassion, apology, forgiveness – by turns heart-warming, chuckle-inducing and spine-tingling.
The show opens at 5 pm this Friday, July 25, at BCP’s 2nd Stage at Tapout, and runs through August 3. Saturday and Sunday shows are matinees with a 3 pm curtain. Tickets available at Tuesday and Thursday markets, Mailboxes Etc. online at TuBoletoYa.com or $20 at the door.
There have been a couple of reviews for the show from their final dress rehearsal.
The Great Beyond
Every family faces challenges when there is loss, divorce, and distance between family members. In The Great Beyond, two sisters, Monica (Guelda “Cukita” Paniza), and Emily (Kathy “Kat” Reeser), face the recent loss of their father, “the Captain“. Tensions mount between the sisters because Monica was caring for Dad while Emily was away from the homestead. Rex, (Greg Ginther) Monica’s ex-husband, does his best to calm the waters between the sisters. When Emily returns home, she has been on an ‘apology tour’, making amends for past transgressions. Emily is accompanied by Rene (Maya Gonzalez) who claims to be able to communicate with family members who have passed. The sisters are not only grieving because of the loss of their father, but they lost a brother under strange circumstances years earlier when he was a young boy. There is drama and laughter as the sisters argue about guilt, responsibility, and whether they should even have a seance. The Great Beyond explores issues all families face with drama and sadness, interspersed with humor and laughter. Guelda and Kat argue throughout the play like two real sisters. Who was the favorite daughter? Greg, as the husband cannot say as he is quite adept at walking the tightrope to keep the peace between the sisters. Maya is quite convincing as the seance facilitator, in her attempt to reach the great beyond. Mike Schwartz
“The Great Beyond” is a compelling look at grief, regrets, and the troublesome emotional tangle that family can be. Guelda Paniza stands out in her debut performance as Monica, the emotionally raw matriarch of her family after her father’s death. Surrounded by her empathic ex-husband Rex, bull-headed sister Emily, and Emily’s new partner, the supernatural Rene, they explore the nature of forgiveness and what any of us would do for family. “The Great Beyond” is touching, funny, and emotional. From Emily’s (Kat Reeser) “apology tour” to Rene and Rex (Maya González and Greg Ginther) trying desperately to reforge a relationship between the sisters, and Neal Klein as Coach Mayes, bringing a little catharsis to a home that is in great need of it, “The Great Beyond” aims for your heart, and doesn’t miss. Mitchell Brown
It constantly amazes me that in our small community of Boquete we have a grand array of outstandingly talented folks throughout the performing arts and beyond. And speaking of beyond, The Great Beyond – the new BCP play opening tonight at TapOut – is a prime example. I was lucky enough to be invited to the dress rehearsal, and was simply awestruck by the quality of the performances I witnessed on stage. It is a wonderful little play about love, loss, hope and redemption, and the actors – some of them their first time on stage – brought such pathos and humor and truth to their characters that I was hit hard emotionally. And isn’t that the purpose of art anyway? Technically, especially for us older folks, memorization is tough. I know the amount of work involved to fluently deliver lines – with a few hiccups here and there, but who cares? – and they had a LOT of lines to learn, but they did it and made it seem totally natural. (And to some of the cast, English is not their native language. I won’t single out any of the actors, because all of them were wonderful together as an ensemble. Call me impressed! But my guess is, you will be impressed too! A very enjoyable afternoon in the theater! Thank you, Gabrielle Reynolds, and BCP. Michael Halpern
