Farmington Players Present AS THE BEES IN HONEY DROWN

Get ready for a fast-paced caper to captivate audiences at the Farmington Players Barn.

As Bees in Honey Drown focuses on a high-society socialite who thrives on conning artists. A reviewer once called the play, "a deliciously outlandish satire on writers and their insatiable thirst for fame."

Alexa Vere De Vere promises to make first-time novelist Evan Wyler famous if he pens a screenplay of her outrageous life. Alexa shows Evan the best New York City has to offer. But Evan soon learns his new friend is a fraud when she disappears after having maxed out his credit cards. Eventually, Evan decides to launch a scheme of his own to exact revenge. This comic romp opens Friday February 8th and runs through February 23rd in Farmington Hills. Tickets are available at the box office (248) 553-2955 or at www.farmingtonplayers.org.

Playwright Douglas Carter Beane uses As Bees in Honey Drown to put a spotlight on society's thirst for fame. A reviewer of the original 1997 Off-Broadway production once wrote in Variety, "Bees is a smart and very funny vivisection of the greed for fame glamour and the good life... (or at least a new life)."

Director Mike Smith of Royal Oak says, "I think people will enjoy it because it's not the standard romantic comedy: boy gets girl, boy loses girl, boy regains girl. This story is more-boy gets fame, boy is screwed by fame, and boy regains fame from a different perspective." The play includes several well-written gay characters (including the main character Evan Wyler) which Smith finds "particularly gratifying, as a gay man and a writer."

The main conflict is Bees is an identity crisis between who we are at heart and who we think we want to be. Smith explains that "Evan has shelved his romantic side in favor of his art - his writing. This is important because when he finally tastes fame - the buzz, the hype - it seduces him. Fame in this case is played by Alexa, the femme fatale. So the gay man is seduced by a woman, then loses his identity completely. When he finds it again, he is changed and ready to accept who he is."

Bonnie Fitch of Southfield considers the play "a sophisticated comedy that is a little different than your usual run of the mill comedy." She plays seven supporting roles in the Farmington Players production, including two of Alexa's victims, and she says, "The audience is in for quite a treat."

The "bees" of the title are creative types lured by the sweet taste of stardom; writers, musicians, painters and more, who can all drown in their dreams if they're not too careful.

Fitch feels the play is about an absurd state of Hollywood and the bizarre price people pay for a shot at stardom. "The funny thing is, that in real life, we all strive in our careers or life for a chance to be recognized or accomplished. And perhaps we all need a little 'Alexa' in our lives," says Fitch.

Six actors play 22 characters in this Farmington Players production that Director Smith says will stimulate the senses with its "...thirteen rolling set pieces and six backdrops plus original artworks... and lush sound design."

Smith hopes audiences will "look at this show and think about fame and image-the hype, the buzz of being someone or something-and what the costs are in finding and keeping that."

Tickets are available online at www.farmingtonplayers.org or by emailing boxoffice@farmingtonplayers.org or calling the Barn box office at 248-553-2955.

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