City Center Live presents Edward Albee’s ‘The Zoo Story,’ featuring Stuart Frazier and Jeff Bukovinsky, Saturday

“You fight, you miserable bastard; fight for that bench; fight for your parakeets; fight for your cats; fight for your two daughters; fight for your wife; fight for your manhood, you pathetic little vegetable!”

That familiar-sounding line comes from Edward Albee’s celebrated one-act, The Zoo Story, and it is spoken by a character named “Jerry” just as the show reaches its climax. In the play, Jerry is speaking to Peter, as they are the only two characters in the story. It is a tense moment that builds slowly as the two men converse on a bench in New York City’s Central Park, and Jerry’s awkwardness throughout is tangible.

That tangibility will be on full display at Charleston’s City Center at Slack Plaza today, Saturday, Sept. 26 as The City of Charleston, Taylor Books and Arts Amplified present Edward Albee’s “The Zoo Story.” The show is free to attend, and open to all ages. Performance begins at 7 p.m.

“It’s a show that explores the idea of human isolation, and the need to connect with other people – even if those people are strangers.”

Stuart Frazier

“It’s a show that explores the idea of human isolation, and the need to connect with other people – even if those people are strangers,” Peter-actor Stuart Frazier said while speaking with BBG on Friday. A Cincinnati-native and 20-year West Virginian, Frazier is a regular in Charleston-area community theatre. 

In taking on the role of “Peter” in the Albee classic – and taking direction from fellow Charleston man-about-town Jeff Shirley – Frazier says it was a natural fit.

“I was on Jeff’s ‘Three Things’ show a few years back and we had crossed paths a few times at WTSQ,” Frazier said. “Jeff reached out and asked me to be involved. This is a show that he particularly has a lot of love and affinity for.”

“It’s great to work with Jeff (Shirley) and Jeff Bukovinsky, who plays Jerry in the show,” Frazier continued. “Bukovinsky I worked with for many years in the improv troupe, the No Pants Players. I’ve known him for a very long time.”

Frazier further noted that while the No Pants Players improv troupe no longer exists, Bukovinsky runs the troupe’s successor, Factory Reset, at the Alban Art Center, in St. Albans. Frazier also added that today’s show marks only the second time he and Bukovinsky have shared the stage in a scripted performance. 

“I directed him (Bukovinsky) last year in a show I put on at The Alban, called ‘Inspecting Carol,’” Frazier said. “It was fun to get back in the groove of things and start working with him again. It’s been a great experience. It’s been great building this character, and building the story of these two individuals. It’s been great.”

While the three-person cast and crew began rehearsing weekly for the performance some three months ago, it wouldn’t be long before they were rehearsing three times per-week. But for Director Jeff Shirley, a longtime fan of The Zoo Story, that suited him just fine. 

“It was the first play [Edward Albee] ever wrote,” Shirley said. “It’s a one act play. It took him about three weeks to write.”

“Edward Albee also being best known for Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?” Shirley continued. “Oddly enough, the ‘Albee’ in the Keith Albee Theater is his great-grandfather.”

Shirley, the creator and producer of the long-running live talk program, Just Three Things, also serves as associate producer on West Virginia Public Broadcasting and NPR’s live performance radio show, Mountain Stage. 

“But The Zoo Story has always been a favorite play of mine,” Shirley said. “It just stuck with me. The theme of people’s innate desire to connect with other human beings, it will never be outdated. That desire will never go away.”

“This was written in 1958,” Shirley added. “And a lot of it still rings true.”

The Zoo Story is an all-ages show and is free to attend. Performance begins at 7 p.m. City Center at Slack Plaza is located at 182 Summers Street in Charleston.