The Catch

The Catch, which had its World Premiere at the DCTC, looks at several issues in modern sports. The story revolves around Darryl Love, a baseball star, who is on his way to breaking the record for home runs in a season.

Gary Zipnik is a young man, who has had his share of failure in his life. He lost his .com company, when the bubble burst at t he end of the 90's. In this he also lost his wife and house. He now has come up with a plan, where he will be the one to catch Love's record breaking ball. With a lot of research he his figured out the location where the ball will probably fall.

On the final game of the season, Love hit the record breaking home run. Gary catches the ball, but loses it when jumped by the crowd. Michael Normura came up with the ball. Both men lay claim to the ball; a law suite decision forces the sale of the ball, and the splitting of the income.

On the day of the auction it is revealed that Love may have been involved in a steroid scandal. This causes the ball to sell for a lot less than was hoped. Also at home, Gary reveals that he was the winning bidder; in hopes of driving the price up, he had obtained a loan and made a bid for the ball.

The play was an enjoyable evening. It had a nice combination of humor and drama.

Corner Bakery

The Corner Bakery

1147-16th St.

Denver, CO 80202

303-825-0525

http://www.cornerbakerycafe.com

The Corner Bakery is a fairly good place to get a quick meal. Its panini sandwiches are good, particularly the Club and Ham and Swiss sandwiches. The Carbonara is also good. They have a variety of sweet baked goods too.

A Midsummer Night's Dream

Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream is one of my favorite plays by the Bard. It is an easy play to follow and enjoy. This performance of it was an enjoyable evening.

There are two stories that are presented in the play. The first is the story of two pairs of young lovers. Hermia is in love with Lysander. However, her father, Egeus, wants her to marry Demetrius. To add to this, another woman, Hellena, is in love with Demetrius.

Lysander and Hermia flee into the forest, and are followed by Demetrius, and Hellena. This brings them into contact with a group of fairies. Oberon, King of the Fairies, decides to play a trick on Demetrius to have him fall in love with Hellena. However, his minion, Puke, mixes up the instructions, and puts the spell on Lysander, who falls in love with Hellena. To fix it, Puke cast a spell on Demetrius, who, also, fells in love with Hellena. This leads to a sever bout of confusion. Oberon, after he is amused, has all the spells reversed.

The second stories involve of a group of craftsmen, who want to entertain the Duke of the city at his wedding. Lead by Quince, Bottom, Flute, Snout, Snug, and Starveling develop a play they present to Duke, his bride, and the two pairs of young lovers. The play they produce is a hilarious mix of mistakes, and over acting.

The actors were all up on their parts. Michael Wartella was a wonder Puke; he presented an athletic, and sometimes over the top performance. Lawrence Hecht is wonderful as Bottom, one of the craftsmen.

Over all a nice performance.

Maps of Heaven

Map of Heaven by Michele Lowe is being premiered by The Denver Center Theatre Company. Lena Gates is a painter, who is preparing for her first showing; she is working with Rebecca Marks on the project. Her husband, Ian, who is a medical doctor, is going through a period of burn-out in his profession. It appears that he has missed placed a woman's mammogram, which delayed her diagnosis and possibly lead to her death.

The woman is Rebecca's sister. The show is canceled, and Lena is forced to rethink her relationship to her husband and the direction of her painting is moving.

The actors' performances were all good. They were able to develop the tension between the characters as it was need need in the plot of the story. It was a very good performance.