Communication Breakdown

Psst. Want to hear a secret? Frame 312 wasn't Next Stage Theatre Company's first choice to open tonight at the Phoenix Theatre. Match, the previously slated production, hinged on cast members smoking on stage. Extinguished in the aftermath of the smoking ban, it was replaced with Frame. "We wanted to keep three of the actors from Match, and specific characters in Frame 312 really fit these actors well," says director Gene Kato.

Political maneuvers of another kind are at the core of Frame 312. Titled after the frame of the Zapruder film in which John F. Kennedy is clearly shot, the play tells the story of Lynette, an assistant editor at Life magazine who was one of three people to view the film before it was handed over to the FBI. The production jumps between young and old Lynette as — after keeping silent for three decades — she grapples with how to tell her family what she saw.

"The characters almost say more by what they don't say," says Kato. "The communication issues between the characters mirror what was going on between the government and its citizens after the Kennedy assassination."

Frame continues Fridays and Saturdays at 7:30 p.m. and Sundays at 2 p.m.; tickets are $20. The Phoenix Theatre is at 1124 Santa Fe Drive; for more information, call 720-209-4105 or go to www.nextstagedenver.com.
Fridays, Saturdays, 7:30 p.m.; Sundays, 2 p.m.; Mon., Aug. 13, 7:30 p.m. Starts: Aug. 3. Continues through Aug. 19