‘Millie Monka and the Salmon Cannery’ @ Art Centre Theatre
—Jan Farrington
Holy jeepers, what do we have here, eh? A villain, a handsome fisherman, the girl he loves—and the Minnesota salmon cannery her family has run for five generations.
Things just have to go wrong.
The idea of “audience participation” can make people roll their eyes and sit ten rows back from the stage. But…you forget how much fun it can be—and in both directions.
Just lately, audiences and actors alike have been cutting loose at Plano’s Art Centre Theatre’s over-the-top “mellerdrammer” Millie Monka and the Salmon Cannery, an old-style show that pulls out all the tricks (minus mustache twirling, but more on that later). I caught the last performance—“caught,” get it?—and here’s the rundown.
Millie Monka is a fishy tale complete with villains and heroes, dupes and dames, boos, hisses…and all the popcorn you can throw. Not to mention the waves of jabs and wisecracks that travel from actors to audience (and back again), and the rounds of rowdy applause for anything good that happens to the characters we like.
And was it F-U-N? You betcha.
After a while, I stopped throwing popcorn (and talking back!) long enough to realize I was truly caught up in the craziness—a bit breathless, and my pitching arm was a little sore. I was all in for ACT’s silly saga, and willing to wade through wacky plot points for the ultimate happy ending.
Directed by Sam Baker, the play by Flip Kobler and Cindy Marcus is full of scripted “ad libs” to the audience—but Baker lets the lively cast create their own smarty-pants comebacks as well. Kayla Bonina and Byron Frazier play Millie Monka and Fisher Cutbait—who are madly in love, but scared to tell each other. She runs the salmon cannery, he’s her best fisherman—but lately, the fish have almost disappeared from the river.
Folks at the cannery—stressed bookkeeper Bea N. Counter (played by Jamiee Gage at my show with assistant director Brenda Benevides rotating in the role), Gramma Monka (Jessica Short), mechanic Ratchet (Jimmie Jenson), and accident-prone cleaner Janet Orr (Siobhan Grantham)—are all worried sick. Gramma especially, who’s always sure she’s coming down with something: a heart attack…eczema…lupus?
Shockingly (well, not really), the cannery’s good-hearted employee Artie Fischell (Daniel Lunt) stops his gee-whizzing to tell us he’s actually The Villain of the story—and has the “muahahahaha” laugh to prove it. Though not the moustache; he shaved it off to get that nice-guy look.
Along with his glammed-up girlfriend Gladys (Sheri LeNoir), Artie’s put his own savings into the cannery, and wants the Monka family to fail so he can take over. And he’s hired a crew of fisher-folk (director Sam as Lure O’Mally, Ree Tredo as Helen Highwater, Christine Spades as Annette Caster, and Susan O’Brian as the easily-riled Bruiser) to go upstream and snatch the salmon before they swim down to the Monka’s fishing holes. The cannery’s newly-hired fisherpersons—Norma C (Diana Vides) and Norma D (Tara Nichole)—have great Minnesota accents, but seem a bit fuzzy about fish. (Sign Girl—Boo, Hiss, Applause—played by Adriana Whitney, and Sign Kids—To the River—by Malcolm & Reiner Grantham.)
And here comes Artie again. Cue the popcorn, the finger-wagging, the back-talk, the outrage.
Lunt makes a great Bad Guy, sneaking around corners, laughing the laugh, preening at how much Gladys loves his evil ways—and taunting the audience. (He’s copied down our license plate numbers, he warns us, so no snitching.) Popcorn isn’t enough—we want him to come close enough to get his shins kicked.
And Bonina and Frazier are funny and sweet as the shy lovebirds, especially in a nice back-and-forth when they stop to tell the audience (standing in separate spotlights by tech guy Daryl Gage) how they don’t have a thing in common—and then give us two “who I am” lists that are hilariously alike!
No, it ain’t Shakespeare. But in the 17th, 18th, 19th centuries, melodramas were a huge part of what theater offered: the wilder the story, the better—so long as there was someone to love and someone to hate onstage…and lots of drama before Things Worked Out.
Personally, I know I felt much better after chucking some popcorn.
Who needs yoga?
WHEN: January 10-18, 2025
WHERE: 1400 Summit Ave., Ste. E, Plano TX
WEB: Upcoming shows at artcentretheatre.com
