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Stepping things up

Clockwise from upper left, Greg Pschirrer as Geoffrey, Angela Snyder as Andy, Danae Lowman as Mavis, Carolee Young as Dorothy, Becky Moonitz as Mrs. Fraser, Nicole Hicks as Rose, Kathie Doyle-Lipe as Vera, Evelyn Renshaw as Sylvia and Lei Broadstone as Maxine in Interplayers Ensemble's
By Jim Kershner jimkershner@comcast.net
Clockwise from upper left, Greg Pschirrer as Geoffrey, Angela Snyder as Andy, Danae Lowman as Mavis, Carolee Young as Dorothy, Becky Moonitz as Mrs. Fraser, Nicole Hicks as Rose, Kathie Doyle-Lipe as Vera, Evelyn Renshaw as Sylvia and Lei Broadstone as Maxine in Interplayers Ensemble's

This backstage comedy – a kind of “Noises Off” with dancing – is about eight women and one man who show up for tap-dancing lessons in the basement of a local church.

To their horror, they discover that they have been signed up to appear in a charity revue. Insecurity mounts, tempers flare and comedy ensues.

Interplayers is counting on the same magic in 2006 as it opens this Troy Nickerson-directed version, beginning with previews tonight.

“It’s big, fun, splashy, and hopefully it will sell some tickets,” said Nickerson. “So hopefully, (Interplayers) can do their next season the way they want to.”

This season didn’t turn out quite the way Interplayers had planned. Financial struggles and the departure in December of artistic director Nike Imoru (who has still not been replaced) forced the theater to scrap the last half of this season and search for less-expensive plays with the potential to fill a lot of seats.

Nickerson offered to help out.

“They were talking about what they were going to do, and I thought of this,” he said. “It has a really strong group of women.

“It’s not a musical, but it’s a lot of fun. It has a couple of big tap numbers and a really charming and motley crew of people.”

So Interplayers signed on for this show, which meant that Nickerson and choreographers Kathie Doyle-Lipe and Greg Pschirrer had to put the production on a fast track.

“We’ve been working pretty diligently, and we have put the whole thing up in three weeks,” said Nickerson. “Kathie has been having tap classes nightly.”

Nickerson’s cast includes a number of people who have worked with him at the Spokane Civic Theatre, including Doyle-Lipe, Pschirrer and Becky Moonitz (who is also the musical director).

The show, while not a musical, does have music to accompany the tap-dancing. The music is provided by Moonitz, who portrays the piano accompanist of the class.

Other cast members include Lei Broadstone, Nicole Hicks, Danae Lowman, Evelyn Renshaw, Angela Snyder and Carolee Young. Tom Heppler designed the sets.

“Stepping Out” originally was a hit in 1984 in London, where it won the London Standard Best Comedy Award. It hit Broadway in 1987 in a short-lived run directed by Tommy Tune and in 1991 was made into a movie starring Liza Minnelli, Shelley Winters, Bill Irwin, Julie Walters, Andrea Martin and Nora Dunn.

The original play was set in a London church, but Nickerson has chosen to switch the setting to New York to avoid accent issues.