“What am I getting myself into,” I ask myself as I am getting ready to go seeThe Apocrypha of Theodore Roosevelt play at Tampa Prep.
I have not taken history since high school and even then i found it to be a bore. How was I supposed to make it through a almost two-hour play? When I made it to the showing, I noticed, at 23-years-old, I looked like the youngest person there. For a moment, I wondered if I had made the right decision, but I was soon to find out I had made the right decision by going.
Ned Averill-Snell, the star of the one-man-show, plays Theodore Roosevelt. The show is based on Roosevelt talking about his life, while at the same time struggling to get connected through to the White House via telephone to talk to President Woodrow Wilson to see if there are any updates on his son, Quentin Roosevelt, who went MIA in the Great War, aka World War I.
Using minimum props, Averill-Snell drew me in with his booming voice, who never broke character. Thinking that the play would be boring, Averill-Snell adds some humour to Roosevelt, with lines such as:
"What do you call Theodore Roosevelt with no clothes on?"
"Teddy Bear."
Averill-Snell does a amazing job delivering his lines with such confidence and emotion, which is something that presents a challenge when performing a show solo. His delivery will draw you in from the first time he speaks, whether you are a history buff or have no knowledge interest in history at all.
At the end of the show, I walked away satisfied with my decision to attend and the words that were repeated numerous times by Averill-Snell throughout the play,
“Take action. Seize the moment.”
Go see this play.
Today at 3 p.m. at Tampa Preparatory School, 727 W. Cass St., Tampa; $14. tamparep.org.