Published: March 4, 2017
UW-WC instructor’s show opens Thursday
By NICHOLAS DETTMANN
ndettmann@conleynet.com 262-306-5043
If it weren’t for Rick Ponzio, senior lecturer at the University of
Wisconsin-Washington County and UWSheboygan County, one Minnesota
theater company would’ve gone under.
It was 1984 and the company was Commedia Theatre Co. in Minneapolis.
“The company I was working for was in a little bit of debt and the
people had left and the board of directors was thinking about shutting
it down,” Ponzio said. “So the director came to me and I said, ‘Give me a
week and I’ll have a plan.’” In one week, he wrote the basics of a
show that Ponzio still produces to this day: “Love in Naples.”
Opening Thursday, “Love in Naples” will premiere at UWWC in West
Bend with 7:30 p.m. shows Friday, Saturday and Sunday. Tickets are $15
for adults; $13 for senior citizens (62 and older) and children (17 and
younger).
The story is a
slapstick comedy set in late Renaissance Naples. Leandro, played by
Shaun Kempf, was lost at sea. His fiancee, Beatrice, played by Megan
Bell, is forced to marry Leandro’s father, Pantalone, played by Frank
Maraihazy Jr., by her mother, Dottore, played by Abbey Reinke, to
provide an heir for the two families.
Disguised as a young boy, Beatrice runs away only to be challenged on a
street by the unrecognizable Leandro. Defeating Leandro, Beatrice
recognizes him as he pines for her aloud.
With the help of servants Truffaldina, played by Bailey Mahnke, and
Francischino, played by Matt Fichtner, the young lovers plot to trick
their parents into admitting their past love for each other and tying
the knot.
That show saved saved Commedia and was a springboard for the rest of Ponzio’s career.
“It’s funny,” Kempf said. “There’s a lot of fun things I think everyone can appreciate.”
This is Kempf’s 19th production through several local community
theater groups, including the Hartford Players and the Kettle Moraine
Players.
A show like this is in Kempf’s repertoire.
“I love doing comedies,” he said. “I love to hear the audience laugh.”
This kind of script isn’t a surprise to those who know Ponzio for several reasons.
“He’s a very funny guy,” Kempf said.
Bell said, “He’s very talented.”
And because it’s an original script, it gives the cast an opportunity
to take the audience on an unknown journey, thus enhancing the overall
experience.
“I love how witty it is,” Bell said. “There’s some subtle humor in it too and there’s a
quirkiness to it I think the audience is going to pick up.” When
Ponzio finished graduate school at Bowling Green State University
in Bowling Green, Ohio, he was fascinated with Italian comedy of
the late Renaissance. A lot of it was slapstick comedy. He read
several books and plays from that time period.
He said he read one book a day.
“In a week, I wrote the entire scenario, what happens in each scene,
who the characters are and came up with a budget with how little I can
do it in and they said, ‘OK,’” Ponzio said. “It revitalized the
company.”
That script wound up getting performed throughout Minneapolis and eventually the U.S.
“Then I wrote some other plays for them to tour,” Ponzio said.
Other plays he’s written include “Pantalone’s Plan,” “The Island of Riddles” and “Curtains.”
With “Curtains,” that was produced by the University of Alabama in
Tuscaloosa. The school brought him to campus to work with the students
in several areas, including playwriting.
“That was a very nice experience,” Ponzio said.
Since 1991, he has been touring his show “Folk Tales from Around the World” to schools, libraries and festivals.
Ponzio, a Kenosha native, started in the performing arts in high
school, doing a lot of singing. He was also a stage manager at
UW-Parkside in his native Kenosha, where he got his undergraduate
degree.
After graduate school, he moved to Minneapolis and auditioned for a show and landed a part as a doctor.
“It was great fun,” Ponzio said.
He went to Minneapolis to act because “L.A. and New York would’ve
swallowed me up, but Minneapolis was this growing and thriving theater
location. It wasn’t that big. I thought, ‘This is doable.’ “Plus it was
closer to home. It was a place to get started.”
Thirty-plus years later, he’s written more than 10 full-length plays
and several short plays — most shorter than an hour — for all audiences.
“The thing is you have to be ready for the opportunity because when
it’s there, you have to be ready to jump at it,” Ponzio said.
When the opportunity to come up with “Love in Naples” came, Ponzio didn’t flinch. He was right on cue.
