Review: 'Folded' by the Warner Stage Company

TORRINGTON, CT - FOLDED is the next installment and the eighth production in the Warner Theatre's 9th Annual International Playwrights Festival. FOLDED is a one-act play written by award-winning playwright Bara Swain of New York and the Warner Stage Company production is beautifully directed by Sharon W. Houk.

Bara Swain’s plays have been staged in 165+ venues in 25 states and abroad; she writes that she is grateful to the Warner Theatre for sharing her stories. She shares the inspiration for this work: “I constructed the journey in response to a piece of artwork by Audrey Higgins entitled “Folded.” The southern voices are an homage to my husband (J.D. Swain, d. 6/09/95), born in Walnut, Mississippi and raised in Memphis, Tennessee.”

In this new dramedy, Bee reveals the truth about her nephew Crane’s namesake; the play explores family, loss and moving on. I found the piece to be quite dramatic, with a welcome dapple of comedic touches. The meaning of the title comes out towards the end of the action and is certainly on the dramatic end of the spectrum.

The character of Bee is brought to life by the wonderfully talented Isabel Carrington. As Director of Education for the Warner Theatre, she writes that she enjoys sharing her passion for the arts with members of the northwest CT community and beyond; this performance is truly a master class in acting, both comedic and dramatic. As the more “loquacious” member of the cast, I appreciated the tremendous amount of dialogue she had to master.

"This one’s for you, Daddio. Love, Isa.”

Ms. Carrington recently lost her father. “I so wish Dad had been able to see this, my latest performance. He never missed a performance of mine since I was 8 years old, and when my acting took a backseat to my current career of directing and teaching, he attended all of my students' productions.”

This actor/director/teacher has written four full-length stage plays: YOU BELONG TO ME, THE LOVE WE LEAVE BEHIND, THE BEAUTIFUL EMPIRE OF ORDINARY KINGS and STIFF COMPETITION (co-written with Gwendolyn Mileti). Her first children's book, “Where the Moon Meets the Sky”, will be released this spring. She is currently working on her next book.

Ms. Carrington is proud to share the stage with Reid Sinclair, who plays the role of Crane; his performance rises to the level of his co-star. He was last seen at the Warner Theatre in the 2014 production of A VIEW FROM THE BRIDGE and more recently as a cast member in the musical DOGFIGHT, which had to be postponed due to COVID-19. He is a member of SAG-AFTRA and is pursuing a career in acting.

I found the lighting of Mr. Sinclair’s corner of the stage to be very dark for most of his performance; this may have been intentional to indicate a dark garage, but I felt like I was missing some of the portrayal of his character. The costumes and props are perfectly appropriate for this contemporary piece and this one includes original music called “At The Creek” by James P. Luurtsema (2021) The very good videography is by Jeffrey B. Schlichter; the director shares in her virtual curtain speech that the filming was done with all COVID-19 precautions in place to protect the actors.

To watch the performance, click below.

This production will be available through Thursday, February 25, 2021 at 11:59pm. For the virtual playbill for the festival, please visit https://www.warnertheatre.org/wtipf_playbill.html

This production was made possible with a generous donation from THE MARINE FAMILY.