REVIEW: 'Foxfire' stirs up memories on Amana stage

By Diana Nollen

The Gazette

AMANA - “Foxfire” is such a gem of a show, and in the thoughtful hands of the Iowa Theatre Artists Company, its brilliance shines.

The Tony Award-winning play, written by Hume Cronyn and Susan Cooper in 1980, is set on a mountaintop in Georgia, where three generations have tilled the rocky soil, planting and living by the signs of nature. When the winds of change come blowing, however, Annie and Hector Nations cling tightly to tradition, while their son, Dillard, gently tries to pry them loose.

A real estate developer wants to buy the land to build upscale housing. But the simple wood-plank cabin has stood strong through all that life has thrown its way, just like Annie and Hector.

Cronyn and his wife, Jessica Tandy, starred on Broadway. I can't imagine they were any finer than Meg Merckens and Robert Gardner in those pivotal roles.

The play, embraced warmly by a small but appreciative audience Friday night, begins with the couple in their late 70s and lays open their lives through flashbacks. Both actors are adept at making the physical changes necessary to move the audience through memories of courtship and childbirth, life and death. Although theirs is a life of devotion, it is not without heartache for both.

Physical expression is Merckens' particular strength, and it serves her so well in this role. Audiences used to laughing at her antics in broad comedies will appreciate the subtle shifts she makes in this gentle, yet wrenching drama.

Gardner embodies the patriarch Hector with a roughness hewn from hard labor and traditions handed down through the generations.

Son Dillard, played with equal parts charm and frustration by Randy Sandersfeld, left the mountaintop years ago to pursue a career in country music, much to his father's disdain. Dillard has come home to play a concert in town, but more importantly, to see how his elderly mother is faring in her largely isolated life. He's horrified that she might die on that mountain. She's hoping to do just that.

Sandersfeld finds the right balance between love and frustration. His music adds color, as well, whether he's perched on a stool on the periphery, gently strumming his guitar, or taking the concert spotlight with an impressive cowboy cry in his voice.

The supporting characters help piece together the patchwork quilt of change. Tom Swenson as the oily real estate developer just makes your skin crawl. Marshall Nielsen has a small but pivotal role as a doctor bringing newfangled tools and ways to the mountain folk. And Coe College junior Taylor Eagan is the quiet hero, a sweet young schoolteacher who tends gently to Annie and sternly with Dillard.

This is a fine ensemble cast performing on a beautifully appointed backwoods set. All work in tandem to open a window on an earlier, simpler time where life was anything but simple.

“Foxfire” continues through Sept. 27 and Oct. 8 to 18 at the Iowa Theatre Artists Company's home in the former Barn restaurant, 4709 220th Trl., Amana. For tickets and details, go to www.iowatheatreartists.org or call (319) 622-3222.