A Play's Special Interest Group

To D.C. Audiences, '40s Comedy May Not Seem So Dated

Audiences seeing "State of the Union," at Ford's Theatre Friday through Oct. 22, will very likely react to certain lines as if Howard Lindsay and Russel Crouse had written their Pulitzer Prize-winning political comedy yesterday instead of in 1945.

For example: "We can be sure of one thing. We can depend on the administration to keep on making mistakes."

Ha-ha -- except the characters are talking about Harry Truman's Democratic administration.

"There are quite a few lines like that that will get a response," says director Kyle Donnelly. "They would get a response anywhere, but I think particularly in D.C. . . . which is one of the fun things doing it here."

In the story (made into a film by Frank Capra in 1948 with Spencer Tracy and Katharine Hepburn), a team of Republican operatives grooms a politically naive but idealistic and progressive captain of industry to run against Truman in 1948.

"The humor is on all the things we have to do, all the spins we have to take to try to get someone nominated for president," says Donnelly, whose most recent Washington staging was "Born Yesterday" at Arena Stage. "It's sometimes ridiculous -- often ridiculous."

Donnelly will keep the play in its 1940s time period but frame it with visual references to "campaigns throughout American history." That way, she says, "when you come out of it, I think you should have the feeling of: Oh my God, things haven't changed that much."

Veteran stage and television actor Jim Abele plays the airplane manufacturing magnate setting his sights on the White House. "His political handlers get in the way of what his message is," observes Abele (pronounced ABE-lee). "Initially, he has things that he feels very deeply about . . . but his handlers tailor all that to appeal to the special interests so that he can court the votes, and he loses his way."

The actor, who lives in Los Angeles and has done guest roles on "The West Wing" and "Six Feet Under," says he traveled to see Donnelly at the University of California, San Diego (where she runs the actor training program) to lobby for the part. "It sounds a little trite, but it gives me an opportunity to say something that I feel strongly about as well," he says.

Abele adds that he identifies with "the naivete of someone who feels we can all get along. . . . It is a beautiful message, and it's nice to recognize what we should all be aiming for, even if we cannot attain [it]."

In conjunction with the show, veteran reporters Bob Schieffer and Helen Thomas will take part in a panel discussion at Ford's on Monday titled "Presidential Politics: Pundits, Personalities and the People." The event, at 7 p.m., is free. Call 202-347-6262.

Synetic Style

During rehearsals for Synetic Theater's new adaptation of Mary Shelley's "Frankenstein" (at the Kennedy Center through Oct. 1), Dan Istrate, playing flawed genius Dr. Victor Frankenstein, accidentally poured a bit of vinegar into the eyes and mouth of Irakli Kavsadze, who plays the Creature he is trying to re-animate.