On Stage - "Stepping Out"

My pal Dave Lavender files this excellent story about the show Stepping Out, which opens tonight in Huntington:

It’s not nice to laugh at people’s mistakes, right?

Well, this weekend, it’s more than OK to laugh “with” and “at” the beginning dance class at ARTS Renais­sance Center as Arts Resources for the Tri-State puts on the dance­packed comedy, Stepping Out. Molded by the dynamic duo of Coni Anthony (choreography) and Gene Anthony (directing), Step­ping Out, Richard Harris’ laugh­out-loud comedy about eight stu­dents’ journey in a beginning dance class, runs at 8 p.m. Friday and Sat­urday, June 15-16 and June 22-23 and at 2:30 p.m. Sundays, June 17 and 24 at the Renaissance Art Center, 900 8th St., Huntington.

Tickets are $10. Call 304-733-ARTS for tickets or get them at the door.

Corralling the eight beginning dancers for the past three months, and tacking on a good 2 1/2 weeks of tech rehearsals for the show has been a labor of love for the theatri­cal couple.

Gene Anthony, veteran TV and film actor (”All My Children,” “Blues Brothers,” “Law and Order”) and retired Marshall University theater professor, said he had a nice two year break from theater after retir­ing from Marshall.

“I’m such an avid reader I had to get two Kindles that year because there are that many great books out there, “ he said. “And then that year turned into two... and also even more rewarding than all of my years as a professional artist is the fact that I have 10 grandchildren that hang on me like Christmas ornaments.” But when Bil Neal became a new leader at ARTS he persuaded Anthony to jump back in to direct a show.

Anthony said he had fallen in love with Stepping Out”years ago but that the show with such varying characters of different ages, never felt quite right at Marshall.

Like the Bad News Bears of a dance class, the eight dancers are a pack of awkward clashing personalities that include the bashful geek and only male, Geoffrey (played superbly by Michael Naglee) to the spastic, one-step behind Sylvia played by theater veteran Jane Modlin who gets tangled up in the curtains and who has the classic quip, I can't move and think at the same time — it’s not natural. Taught by a former show-girl, Mavis (played by Amy Browning), this once-a-week community tap class learns how to tap in the course of the play, and the play ends with the group doing a public, costumed performance for a charity event.

Anthony said Stepping Out”is packed with great dialogue, movement and a true to life sweetness that shines through.

They all have personal baggage, and all of these dancers are not good dancers but as their dancing improves so do their lives and that is the sweetness of the play,” he said.

Linda Reynolds, who plays Rose, said it was like taking a master class in dance to get to take tap from two of the best theater and dance teachers in the region.

Andrea Parkins, well known all over the region as a Celtic dancer, has been driving in from Ripley, W.Va., for the opportunity to work with the Anthonys.

Parkins, who last starred in ARTS’fall production of Jekyll and Hyde, said she did not know the show and had never performed in a comedy but knew she wanted to work with the Anthonys.

They have this way of telling you exactly what they want and then give you freedom to try it for yourself in a way that they really pull it out of you,”said Parkins, who plays Dorothy.

For more information, go online at www.733arts.org.