The Benzie County Players presented Skin Deep at the Mills Community House for five showings in January. Debbra Eckhout, Rachel Evans Higgins, Josh Stoltz, and Mark Vandeperre starred in this new comedy written by Jon Lonoff and directed by Steve Elrick.

Reviewers’ summary: The play was about a spinster woman whose botoxed, conniving sister sets her up on a blind date with a sheepish restaurateur. What follows is a host of insecurities and humorous misunderstandings which happily lead to the conclusion that beauty is only “skin deep.”

Thomas Votruba: OK, so, one thing that was kind of weird for me, which I might just be like, having a brain fart, or something, but when all four actors walked out onstage, I almost expected more actors to come out, and bow, and take the flowers, and everything. And then I realized, wait, there really were only four actors in this play. So, watching this play, you might get the feeling that there are more actors than there really are.

Jennifer Wilkins: Unless … You realize that there are only four actors in the play. And they did a fantastic job—

TV: And they did a fantastic job. But I’m just saying that—

JW: The only other actors were the guys, in the middle, changing the sets in the dark and fumbling around—

TV: Yeah—

JW: That was their own little … Pixar show, in between scenes—

TV: The acting was so good that, that you almost felt like there were more people in the play than there really were… Do you know what I’m talking about??

JW: Not really. Like a sitcom, you mean? I don’t know what you’re trying to get at.

TV: I expected to see more people on the stage at the end of the play.   Ψ

Seen something cultural around town? Send your one-minute interreview as an audio file or transcript to elberta.alert@gmail.com.