Relations Unknown

Review by Wendell Brock, Atlanta Journal-Constitution

Topher Payne's semi-autobiographical play traipses out high heels and wigs and plenty of references to the epicenter of gay life in Atlanta -- the corner of 10th Street and Piedmont Avenue. In the tradition of Armistead Maupin's "Tales of the City," the Process Theatre world premiere documents an incestuous circle of gay and straight friends who are transformed by love, death, Harry Potter and sperm-bank visits.
While the plot twists can be improbable and the emotions maudlin, the play buzzes along on the energy of Payne's crackling dialogue and loopy characterizations. Narissa (Cherise Jefferson) used to date Owen (Larry Davis), who is now the partner of Chris (Joshua Howland), who's dying of cancer and whose former boyfriend Shep (Dan Balmer) is HIV-positive. Into the chaos steps confused researcher Ms. Eckles (the delightful Marcie Millard), Chris' Mississippi mama, Dorothy Jean (Betty Mitchell), handsome hustler Cliff (Theroun Patterson) and an offstage drag queen named Reba McFlatTire. On the night we saw the show, Payne substituted for an injured Howland. His naturalistic performance merged with the facts of his life in moments of dark comic poignancy. At 23, this playwright seems wise beyond his years.

True Fake

"Credeaux Canvas"

Review by Curt Holman, Creative Loafing

You can almost feel Atlanta Classical Theatre's delight in decorating the set of The Credeaux Canvas. Keith Bunin's comedy-drama takes place in the tiny attic apartment of impoverished New Yorkers, and every detail is perfect: the hot plate, the stacks of empty pizza boxes, the arty postcards over the unmade bed, the rec room wall paneling.
Canvas finds humor in the plight of poor artists: "Did you get a clean glass from the tub?" But it also shows keen insights into the emotional risks of devotion, whether to art or to other people.
Jamie (Theroun Patterson), the penniless son of an art dealer, comes up with a get-rich quick scheme: to have his art-school roommate Winston (Topher Payne) paint an original work in the style of Jean-Paul Credeaux, a long-dead (and fictional) painter sure to be the next big thing. Jamie will pass the forgery off as a "discovery" to a credulous art collector (Michele McCullough).
What complicates the play isn't Jamie and Winston's fraud, but their friendship, especially when Jamie suggests that his girlfriend Amelia (Kimberly Jurgen) be the model. The tension in the nude posing scene is both erotic and comic, especially when Winston offers to make her more comfortable by removing his clothes. But as Amelia quizzes Winston about his work and his love life, the artist begins to feel "revealed." The scene has an intriguing dynamic of exposure and intimacy, although admittedly the talk would be less interesting if the actors were fully dressed.
Payne seems to play most of his roles in the same mild-mannered style, but it's a rewarding choice for Winston. By playing the part as sheltered and tentative, Payne makes the character seem unsure of his own feelings, as if he's not as remote as he'd like to be. The Credeaux Canvas pushes the humor a little hard but proves a surprisingly poignant drama, with Winston, who avoids emotional entanglements, turning his own self-portrait into a still life.

His Family Still Going to the Beach

Now they sit in the audience for play 'Beached Wails'
BY SANDRA OKAMOTO, Columbus Ledger-Enquirer

Topher Payne sat nervously in the technicians' booth.
It was a year ago, and about 40 of the playwright's relatives had come from Mississippi to watch the premiere of "Beached Wails" in Atlanta.
"On opening night, I sat in the booth and I was able to observe both shows -- one on the stage and one in the audience," said Payne, 23. After watching that run, he immediately went to work and rewrote the second act. That version premiered in Atlanta in October.
"It was a new play," he said. "It's done for now."
"Beached Wails" is now playing in the Garret Theatre of the Playwright Cafe -- its first run outside of Atlanta.
"We're thrilled about it," Payne said.
For as long as Payne can remember, his mother and her three sisters would go to the beach every year. That week "was as firmly rooted as Christmas. When I grew up, I was surprised other families didn't do that."
He was intrigued about the four sisters' trips. "The way they talked and communicated with each other" made him want to be a fly on the wall.
Asked if he'd ever been on one of those trips, the answer came quickly: "Good Lord, no."
The motto in his family is that the play is "loosely based" on the four sisters. "My mother is very quick to point that out," Payne said.
His mother and his aunts liked the play very much. "They tease each other," he reports. "Every time a character gets a laugh, they take credit for it."
Payne attended boarding schools in Connecticut and California -- the Taft School in Watertown, Conn., and Idyllwild Arts Academy in Idyllwild, Calif. "They could not have been more divergent," he said. "Taft School was more 'Dead Poets Society' and Idyllwild was 'Fame.' I was this lanky Mississippi boy taking it all in."
But he says he didn't learn to write in school. He was much younger when he started writing and performing.
"I will always remember my stage debut," he said. "I played a sparrow in the church Christmas play. I had one line but couldn't remember it. I was 4. The first thing I ever wrote was my own version of 'A Christmas Carol.' "
When he was in sixth grade, his parents bought him a video camera. "It was one of the greatest things for me, but one of the dumbest things for them because they had to sit through hours of my movies."
He said he has a "gloriously extended family," and his "endless number of cousins" became actors in his movies. Even then, he didn't have enough people. So he dressed up mannequins and disguised his own voice and turned the dummies around so people couldn't see that it wasn't a real person.
"I was a very odd child, but it all worked out in the end."