The Triangle

Issue date: 2/27/09 Section: Arts & Entertainment

Media Credit: Dave Hernandez

The War on Terror, rising tax dollar, and emission of fossil fuels do not serve as a threat in Michael Hollinger's comedic world; there, it's all about nuclear warfare, the secret inter-workings of Soviet spies, and the increasing divorce rate. Infidelity and shotgun weddings aren't the only stoppers of love and devotion in his comedy "about marriage and other explosive devices." In Hollinger's "Red Herring," which opened Feb. 25, his characters Lynn, James, Andrei ("Mr.") and Mrs. Kravitz, Maggie and Frank hardly have the time to focus on their relationships in the midst of espionage and murderous deceit.

"Red Herring" takes place in 1952 where "the hard-boiled attitudes and underworld environments" inspired Hollinger's six main characters: FBI detectives, Soviet spies and murderers, who pull their loved ones into the perilous, twisted web which connects them all. Hilarity ensues over government-issued misunderstandings and legal assumptions depicted by an ensemble of 11 very talented Drexel Players, starring Emily Kleimo, Andrew Leib, Rachel Semigran, Dmitriy Duytin, John Turnbach and Katie Lynch.

Of his characters, Hollinger said, "I'm very fond of them all, for very different reasons: Maggie's obsessive drive, Frank's utter honesty, Lynn's impulsive sexuality, James's misguided idealism, Mrs. Kravitz's no-nonsense pragmatism [and] Andrei's rueful wisdom."

The playwright likens James and Lynn - "Red Herring's" lustful and ignorantly excitable fiancées, tangled in undercover work involving the handing off of blueprints to a bomb - to himself and his wife when they were younger, calling them by the Hollingers' own middle names.

As expected, a timelessly strong relationship is difficult to upkeep, especially when one is engaged in suspicious affairs, still lawfully bound to a husband left unmentioned, or pronounced as dead, illegally taking on the name of a recently murdered man. With this fragmented image of marriage and commitment, audiences are able to "see and hear about it from all sorts of angles," the articulate author of "Red Herring" commented. "The idealistic, the cynical, the pragmatic, the romantic."

Hollinger recounts the extreme differences in his own mother's weddings, the first being the conventional '50s movie-script ceremony, resulting in an ending caused by infidelity three years later. With the second, his mother was married - in a foot cast, pregnant and with two small children - in a police station. The product of this atypical marriage was 45 faithful and happy years until his mother passed.

Hollinger draws from his mother's experiences to allow "Red Herring's" characters the freedom to grow and be humbled in trust and honesty; but only after a number of hilariously sticky circumstances and misinterpretations of withheld information.

Hollinger is a local playwright, hailing from Philadelphia where "Red Herring" was originally produced and performed at the Arden Theatre. Presently, Hollinger is working on three musicals, a full-length play, and quite a few short plays.

"Like a chef in front of a big stove, I turn up and down the heat on each project, stirring as necessary, until each comes to completion," Hollinger said.

"Red Herring" will be playing at the Mandell Theater from Feb. 26 to March 1 at 8 p.m. Tickets are $5 with student ID and $15 for the general public. Michael Hollinger will appear at a special reception following Friday night's performance.

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