This is your last chance to see Matthew Vaky in a performance of Lee Blessing's 1999 play Chesapeake, a one-man show about the vicissitudes of politics and the arts now running at the Bay Theatre Company to Sunday (5/22).  Perhaps I should say a one-person show, since I last saw Holly Twyford in a most memorable performance of the play over 10 years ago in DC.   Mr. Blessing's edgy work has been featured in the past at the Contemporary American Theater Festival in Shepherdstown, WV and will doubtless seem almost current.

Chesapeake is directed by Gillian Drake who was previously involved at BTC in a stellar production of Terrence McNally's Lips Together, Teeth Apart; this time around, she is guiding Mr. Vaky through an assortment of multi-character (read oddball) roles ranging from a U.S. senator to a pair of dogs - not necessarily the antipodes of intelligence.  The actor - no stranger to expert handling - is a former company member of Joe Dowling's Guthrie Theatre and has worked with the likes of Joanne Akalitis and Garland Wright.  Ms. Drake in her day job runs a legal consulting firm specializing in preparing lawyers and witnesses in performances in front of juries - audiences of the last resort.  For theatergoers, this dream team is sure to gain your vote of acquittal!