all for One has been producing full-length plays for the Fort Wayne theater community since 2002. So it should not be surprising that we have begun to repeat ourselves from time to time in recent years. Particularly when we feel there is something new to say, or that we have more wherewithal now to present the story well, we have found that we enjoy revisiting a play we’ve staged before.
Almost as soon as we arrived in the ArtsLab in 2015, I began to think of plays we had done which would work even better in the intimacy of a black box theater. A Peculiar People was one of them.
Set in a First Century jail cell in a town just outside Rome, the play requires a small stage and a cast of only five. This makes it ideal to perform in a theater small enough to give the whole audience some sense of the claustrophobia the prisoners are feeling.
Written by Los Angeles playwright and personality Rick Najera, A Peculiar People revolves around a case of mistaken identity. Newly imprisoned Justinian finds himself between a rock and a hard place as he begins to understand the implications of his dilemma, a situation which is by turns comical and terrifying.
For the first time in nearly nine years, a married couple play our leads. Connor Beer (Justinian) was Romeo in afO’s 2017 production of Shakespeare’s classic Romeo and Juliet. He also appeared in 2018’s Bentley, studies Brazilian jiu-jitsu as a hobby, and is also an experienced stage combat choreographer, so our fight scenes are rather more intense than in our 2012 production.
His wife, Adrienna (Mariam), is making her afO debut.
Rounding out the cast are Tim Johnson as the Centurion, afO regular Nate Chen as the villainous prefect Philius, and Tomax Apfel as the Roman guard.
Costumes are by Mary Swerens and lighting design is by James Oakry.
afO has been presenting unusual, thought-provoking and inspiring theater in Fort Wayne more than 20 years. We hope that you will take a chance to experience something different and spend an entertaining evening with us!
A Peculiar People, which runs from April 21-30, is rated PG for thematic material.
