YOUNGSTOWN, Ohio – Ben Gavitt might be the area’s biggest fan of prolific Canadian playwright Norm Foster.
He has directed three of Foster’s works and will take on a fourth – “The Love List” – starting Jan. 31 at The Youngstown Playhouse.
Performances will be Jan. 31-Feb. 2 and Feb. 7-9 in the theater’s intimate Moyer Room.
“I’m an ambassador of Norm Foster plays,” Gavitt said.
He directed Foster’s “Here on the Flight Path” in the Moyer Room last spring, and “Office Hours” and “Looking” before that at other Valley theaters.
Foster has earned the nickname “the Canadian Neil Simon” because of his writing style and the volume of his output.
The production of “The Love List” at the Playhouse will be the Valley premiere of the play, and it represents the Foster canon very well.
The comic but thoughtful work follows two friends, Leon and Bill, who create a list of their top 10 qualities in a mate. However, when their “perfect woman” miraculously appears, they discover the pitfalls of perfection and start making revisions.
“They are striving for perfection,” Gavitt said. When the men get annoyed with their ideal woman’s personality traits and make changes to them on their list, the woman also changes to reflect the changes.
Gavitt describes it as “Weird Science” meets “Three’s Company.”
“It shows that no one’s perfect, so you’ll always be making tweaks, and usually a disaster follows,” Gavitt said.
“The Love List” is set in modern times in the apartment of one of the men.
“It’s a Valentine’s Day type of show, with a movie rom-com feel,” Gavitt said.
The director brought back the cast and crew of “Flight Path” for “The Love List,” since they already had built up onstage chemistry.
Brendan Boyle, Shawn Lockaton and Jaclyn-Sarah Senich comprise the cast. Gavitt is the director, and Marie Keene James is assistant director and stage manager.
The show is not part of the Playhouse’s season, and therefore Flexpasses cannot be used to buy tickets.
Gavitt had approached the theater to inquire about directing a show in the 2024-25 season. He was asked if he could fill the open winter time slot in the Moyer Room and figured “The Love List” would fit perfectly.
Curtain times are 7:30 p.m. on Fridays and Saturdays and 2:30 p.m. on Sundays.
Tickets can be purchased at YoungstownPlayhouse.org or by calling the box office at 330 259 6951.
“The Love List” has adult language and humor.
Pictured at top: The cast of “The Love List” is Brendan Boyle, Shawn Lockaton and Jaclyn-Sarah Senich.