Stuffing a Wild Bikini

Kelsey Theatre puts on a ‘Psycho Beach Party’ that would make Annette Funicello and Frankie Avalon blush.

By: Anthony Stoeckert

TIMEOFF/ANTHONY STOECKERT

Nicole Patrick plays Chicklet Forrest in Psycho Beach Party at Kelsey Theatre.

   Kelsey Theatre will soon be filled with surfers, beehive hairdos, drag queens and a schizophrenic teenager — all for a good cause.
   A performance of Psycho Beach Party, Charles Busch’s 1988 off-Broadway spoof of 1960s-era surfer movies like Gidget and Beach Blanket Bingo, is the main attraction of the Fifth Annual James Tolin Memorial Fund AIDS Benefit June 22 and 23. For the play’s director, it’s a wonderful choice thanks to its gay-lesbian-bisexual-transgender themes, and because it’s a comedy.
   "We always try and do something funny," says Brian Bara, who’s directing his third consecutive play for the benefit (after acting in the first two). "James loved to laugh, and to honor that we try to do a comedy."
   It sounds like Psycho Beach Party fits that bill. The play follows the adventures of Chicklet Forrest, a tomboy who longs to fit in with the Malibu Beach crowd in the 1960s. Hindering that goal is a domineering mother and Chicklet’s multiple personalities.
   Those include an African-American cashier, a radio psychologist and an accounting firm. Oh, and there’s that dominatrix who wants to rule the world.
   Playing them all is Nicole Patrick of Columbus. Ms. Patrick graduated from Montclair State with a bachelor’s degree in theater studies last year and appeared in a production of The Merchant of Venice with the American Globe Theatre in New York.
   When asked if playing the part of Chicklet represents a challenge, Ms. Patrick is quick to answer "yes."
   "Playing a 15-year-old is always a challenge, but then on top it, (she’s a) 15-year-old with multiple personalities, not just one but a million," she says. "It definitely is a challenge but I’m having so much fun doing it and finding out who these other personalities are and how to (play) them and just have fun with them."
   One part of the play seems particularly fun, though difficult.
   "She has a scene in the second act where she flips out and becomes everybody at once," Mr. Bara says. "She has to switch between one character to another at the drop of a hat, so it’s very challenging. But she’s doing a great job."
   "Each personality of Chicklet’s is a trait of hers, whether it’s a very sexual person or athletic person or a psychological person," Ms. Patrick says. "Each personality is a different person, so each person has mannerisms and characteristics that need to be developed and used, including a different voice."
   Mr. Bara, of Levittown, Pa., expresses a fondness for Psycho Beach Party in part because of its twisted take on those ’60s beach movies. Character names include Kanaka (instead of Kahuna) and Starcat (as opposed to Gidget’s Moondoggie). The original production also featured the play’s author, Mr. Busche, playing Chicklet.
   Unlike Mr. Bara, Ms. Patrick had never seen those old movies. She watched them recently as research for her role and liked them, though admitted she found them "cheesy."
   One bittersweet element of the process is going through all the work that goes into putting on a performance, then only doing two shows. Mr. Bara says the cast and crew is going through as much rehearsal as they would for a six-week run.
   "So there’s this kind of, ‘It’s over already (feeling),’" he says. "But because of the nature of the benefit, that doesn’t matter. Everybody ends up feeling tremendously good about what’s happened."
   The most important aspect of the benefit is to raise money for charity in the name of Mr. Tolin, a theater student at Mercer County Community College who died of AIDS in 2002. Money raised from the benefit will go to the Open Arms Foundation, which helps New Jersey residents with HIV and AIDS. Some will go toward a scholarship for a performance arts student at MCCC and to a non-profit founded by Open Arms called Graffiti Productions, which provides performance arts education to inner-city students.
   "James was an actor," says Mr. Bara, who didn’t know Mr. Tolin but became involved in the benefit through friends. "He loved the theater as much as we all do. It all comes back to him,"
   To honor the fifth benefit, June 22 will also feature a red-carpet walk, celebrity impersonators, drag queens and a silent auction featuring items donated by Robin Williams, Carol Burnett and cast members of Desperate Housewives.
   "Friday night is going to be a huge, huge event," Mr. Bara says. "We’re really hoping people will come out and support us, support our causes and have a great night at the theater. It’s a funny, funny, funny play.
   "It’s a serious cause but we’re having a good time for that serious cause. And we think that’s what James would want, to celebrate rather than mourn. That’s the whole idea behind this, a celebration of him and what he was about."
The Fifth Annual James Tolin Memorial Fund’s Psycho Beach Party will play at Kelsey Theatre, Mercer County Community College, 1200 Old Trenton Road, West Windsor, June 22-23. Performances: 8 p.m. June 22 will feature a red carpet walk, silent auction and performers. Tickets cost $35 (June 22) and $25 (June 23); (609) 570-3333; www.jtmf.org