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West Moon Street

Presented by Houston Family Arts Center at Houston Family Arts Center

July 30-August 15, 2010

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Houston Family Arts Center (HFAC) is proud to present the Off-Broadway hit West Moon Street, Rob Urbinati’s comedy adapted from Oscar Wilde’s short story “Lord Arthur Savile’s Crime.” All performances of West Moon Street will be held at the HFAC Garza Mainstage, 10760 Grant Road, Houston, TX 77070 and will run July 30 – August 15, 2010.

Young Lord Arthur is deliriously happy and engaged to the lovely Sybil when a palmist at Lady Windermere's party predicts that he will commit a murder. As a proper English gentleman, he now reluctantly feels he must carry out his “Duty” before his nuptials, with hilarious results!

“He had lived the delicate and luxurious life of a young man of birth and fortune, a life exquisite in its freedom from sordid care, its beautiful boyish insouciance,” Wilde writes of Arthur, processing the news. “And now for the first time he became conscious of the terrible mystery of Destiny, of the awful meaning of Doom.”

West Moon Street tells the tale of young Lord Arthur (Joshua Clark), who’s on cloud nine—he’s just down from Oxford and engaged to be married to the appropriately aristocratic Sybil (Melissa Kihneman). His naïve happiness is smashed to smithereens by an evening spent at the residence of his confidante Lady Windermere (Stephanie Thaine), at which a mysterious palm-reader Mr. Podgers (J. Blanchard) foretells a deadly turn of events.

Wilde’s original is filled with wit and subtly subversive humor. Urbinati’s adaptation takes Wilde’s lead and runs with it, making clear things that would have been taboo in Oscar’s day and subtly suggesting things that are still subversive today. Urbinati transforms Herr Winckelkopf (J. Blanchard) - merely a German “revolutionary” with “Russian” leanings in the original - into a frankly acknowledged anarchist, and gives him lines that underline political and social points only hinted at in Wilde’s story.

Urbinati's adaptation is deft, using the source material to its fullest and fleshing out beautifully several minor characters only alluded to in passing in the original story - Arthur's elderly Aunt Clem (R. Hahn), a giddy and fashion-obsessed country cousin Jane Percy (Lauren Belmore), and the devoted valet Charles (J. Scott Reeves).

The New York Time’s exclaims: “Oscar Wilde’s short story ‘Lord Arthur Savile’s Crime’ is a clever mystery, written to indict the fate industry with whom late-19th-century aristocrats seemed so enthralled. The writer Rob Urbinati has molded the story into a briskly paced comedy of manners true to its author’s greater spirit. A complete delight!"

Directed by Lisa Garza, West Moon Street provides patrons an opportunity to see the performances on the new HFAC Garza Mainstage – a beautifully designed, 3256 square foot theatre equipped with state-of-the-art lighting and sound equipment. This 150-seat, intimate theatre, features comfortably upholstered theatre seats in a raised stadium seating configuration, a mid-sized 30-foot by 20-foot proscenium stage, two dressing rooms and a scene shop.

Creative Team
Director - Lisa Garza
Assistant Director - Tracy Clayton
Stage Manager -  Brendis O’Sullivan
Asst. Stage Manager - Olivia Clayton
Producer - Bob Clark

About Houston Family Arts Center
Houston Family Arts Center (HFAC) is a non-profit 501(c)3 organization, founded in November 2005 to provide a fun outlet for creative community involvement through the production of high-quality, family-friendly, affordable entertainment. Each year, HFAC produces family-friendly musicals, comedies, and dramas. The HFAC Actors’ Academy provides numerous acting, singing and dancing classes and workshops for children, teens, and adults. 

For more information please visit www.houstonfac.com  or call 281-685-6374.