Coming Out Clean (2002)

L-R:  Marina Palmier, Clark Freeman, Abby Feldman, and Scott Duns share a
bed in Coming Out Clean.

Coming Out Clean, the first production from what would become the Sight Unseen Theatre Group, played at the Stella Adler Theatre in Hollwood from May 10th to June 6th, 2002.  This crash course in professional theatre marked the first collaboration between Clark Freeman (co-producer, co-star), Andy Mitton (co-producer, writer, director), TJ Moore (set design), and Mariah Sussman (co-producer, stage manager), all acting under the premature title of Merciful Productions (based on Andy's play Mercy that first brought Clark and Andy together at Middlebury College).  The rest of the cast included Scott Duns, Marina Palmier, Erin Leigh Price, Elliot Gray, Abby Felman, JJ Gleason, and the miraculous miracle additions of JJ Gleason, Dawn Hauser, and our own Mariah Sussman who, in a famous act of bravery, learned the role of Mona in 36 hours and performed for one weekend.  The show also featured lights by Andrew Wilder (former classmate of TJ Moore).

Most design aspects of this 1950s McCarthyism piece were handled by Clark, Mariah, and Andy as they ran all over town trying to find time-appropriate furniture, props, and costumes.   Along with TJ, they discovered they had a combination that allowed them to pull off the impossible and mount a show that may not have had the polish of future productions, but plenty of promise.  We look back on the production with disbelief and a shot of sheer terror, but also with a tremendous amount of pride in our first-born.

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