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Have you ever fallen completely in love with someone only to find out they weren’t quite who you thought they were?
In Paul Slade Smith’s comedic play “The Angel Next Door,” young Oliver Adams has written an entire novel about his love for Broadway actress Margot Bell. But when they meet one weekend, well, he finds her not so angelic after all.
Billed as a “screwball romantic comedy,” the metatheatrical play is set to begin a three-week run this weekend at International City Theatre (ICT).
“It’s a comedy that’s in love with theater,” says playwright Smith. “About people in love with theater who, in pursuit of a surefire Broadway hit, might have to give reality a rewrite to arrive at a happy ending.”
ICT had staged Smith’s political comedy “The Outsider” last year to much acclaim, a play showing how the machinations behind political candidates can be hilariously vapid. Smith wrote “The Angel Next Door” in 2023, inspired by a 1920s comedy by Hungarian writer Ferenc Molnár.
In the play, Broadway playwriting couple Charlotte (Meeghan Holaway) and Arthur Sanders (Geoffrey Lower) invite young novelist Adams (Armand Akbari) to a Rhode Island mansion for the weekend, where actress Bell (Jessica Fishenfeld) and the vain, “empty-headed” (per ICT) leading man Victor Pratt (Nick Lunetta) are also staying.
All of them are exactly the kind of “theater people” that maid Olga (Sky Palkowitz) disdains. And the mansion’s thin walls do little to disguise Bell’s un-angelic antics, throwing the playwriters’ Broadway dreams for Adams’ story into disarray — unless they can somehow rewrite reality.
“Only the power of theater can save the play, the novel and — perhaps most importantly — the writer’s heart,” says ICT.
Award-winning director Cate Caplin, who is also a choreographer, took some time out from rehearsals to answer questions about how she’s working to make the show “exuberant and joyful fun” for audiences.
Q: How is staging a comedy different from staging other plays? What did you have to consider in terms of pacing and movement?
A: Because of my extensive dance background, I can’t help but be aware of how staging is telling a story and “painting a picture” without words. There is a whole language of movement and behavior.
All comedies are unique — some are more realistic, some more stylized and broad, some are about word play, some involve pratfalls and “spit takes” [where a character will literally spit food or drink in surprise]. But the rhythm and timing of setups and punchlines are like music, and the goal is to find out how the text, tempo and approach of the specific story we’re telling lands most effectively.
Some of the punch lines are “takes” to the audience, some are “asides” almost under the character’s breath. Other times, there’s physical comedy in the specific staging of the moment. It’s a puzzle a director needs to put together piece by piece and see how it all fits and what helps it flow.
Q: How do you get audiences to actually laugh, besides the funniness of the script?
A: Good question! Every audience is unique, and you just never know what’s going to tickle someone’s funny bone, or not.
I have another comedy running right now but it’s a story that’s laced with emotional, poignant and more serious thought-provoking story elements as well. Some nights audiences are laughing from the get-go and highly vocal from beginning to end, and other nights they are extremely quiet with just gentle laughs sprinkled throughout the play while watching, but they express their enjoyment afterwards.
The size of the audience also very much affects whether they laugh or not. Sometimes people just need to be “given permission” to laugh, and they are figuring out the tone of the play and if they are supposed to find it funny. It’s harder to navigate laughter when there is a mixture of tones within a story.
Q: What’s different or unusual about the comedy in this play?
A: Smith’s writing embodies a classic, smart style of quick quips and verbal word play in addition to built-in moments that invite broader, almost cartoon-inspired physicalizations.
I love this play. When a script is as well written as this one is, it’s all about following my instincts, listening and staying open to the actors’ and other collaborators’ ideas in the room, all while working through the beats of the play. That’s how we discover what feels best and “right” for the play and all of us together as a creative team.
I love the process I’ve had putting the play together with my actors and designers. I’m looking forward to seeing how audiences respond. I think they’re going to love it as much as we do!
ICT’s “The Angel Next Door” will perform at the Beverly O’Neill Theater, 330 E. Seaside Way, from June 13 to 29, with shows Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays at 7:30 p.m. and Sundays at 2 p.m. Tickets range from $44 to $59, with two lower-priced previews on June 11 and 12 and student and senior discounts available. For tickets and information, call the box office at 562-436-4610 or visit ICTLongBeach.org.