For a look at two old pros doing what they do best onstage, one need only pay a visit to Moonlight's Avo Playhouse in downtown Vista, currently home to a quiet, touching staging of "Driving Miss Daisy."

Sandra Ellis-Troy and Antonio "T.J." Johnson

Copyright©2008 Ken Jacques

That's no slight to the superb Howard Bickle, Jr., who does a yeoman's job with the unglamorous, third-wheel role of Boolie Werthan. It's the other two actors in Alfred Uhry's 1987 drama about an unlikely friendship, though, that bear the brunt of the work.

Set against the backdrop of midcentury Atlanta as it moves from Jim Crow to Martin Luther King, Jr., "Driving Miss Daisy" is a poignant look at the relationship of a Jewish widow and her black chauffeur. It's a relationship that deepens along with the twilight of both of their long lives (when the play's 25-year timeframe begins, he is 60 and she is already into her seventies).

As the title character, local favorite Sandra Ellis-Troy proves herself even more of a trouper, perhaps, than Miss Daisy herself. Early in the matinee attended, the actress took a frighteningly audible fall in the darkness of one of the many scene transitions. A post-show visit to the doctor left Ms. Ellis-Troy with instructions not to put any weight on her ankle, which necessitated a complete last-minute restaging of that evening's performance.

None of that was known yet during the matinee, though. With a stubborn determination that would rival even Miss Daisy's, Ms. Ellis-Troy shuffled and hobbled through the rest of the performance, her movements becoming slower and more pained-looking as her character aged the 25 years laid out in Uhry's play.

Doing the driving of the title is Antonio "T.J." Johnson as Hoke, the chauffeur Daisy's son Boolie hires, despite her protestations, to help her out. Mr. Johnson succeeds in portraying Hoke's delicate position, one that is respectful but never fully subservient.

Uhry's script whizzes through the 25 years in 75 intermissionless minutes, and with its flurry of brief, episodic scenes, it's puzzlingly cinematic for a play that later became a hit movie (and not the other way around). Seldom have I heard an audience applaud so many separate times during a non-musical play, a credit not only to the fine performances of its actors, but to the multitude of its short, awkwardly transitioned scenes.

Director Dana Case has assembled a first-rate trio of actors, though, and while a few moments seemed rushed -- the time it takes to get in and out of an Eisenhower-era car, for instance, or the utter desperation Daisy must feel at being left alone for a few minutes on the side of a dark Alabama highway while Hoke goes to relieve himself -- the play ambles along at an unhurried pace, allowing Ms. Ellis-Troy and Mr. Johnson a full range of subtle nuances. The look of disbelief in Mr. Johnson's face at being asked if he knows who Martin Luther King, Jr., here speaks as much about, if not more than, Mr. Uhry's accurately painted dialogue.

Marty Burnett's set -- primarily the genteely appointed parlor of Miss Daisy, with its curious Roman columns, and the front- and backseats of her car -- does the job. Regarding that car (or rather, cars, as the piece serves as a succession of cars through the decades), much is left to the imagination, as the actors mime the steering wheel, rearview mirror, and doors that usually come along with a car. Their absence isn't so much a problem, but Jeff Polunas's sound design is strangely devoid of the sounds such things might make, notably the slamming of car doors (which in many of these scenes could nicely punctuate the verbal volleys of its driver and passenger).

In a similar vein, Ashley Jenks's lighting serves the interior scenes well but seems rather static for the changing shadows and light surrounding a moving vehicle.

Howard Bickle, Jr., and Sandra Ellis-Troy

Copyright©2008 Ken Jacques

Roslyn Lehman's costumes take us right through the decades, though, down to Boolie's alligator-embroidered Izod golf shirt (which in the Fifties was still worn for just that purpose, to play golf).

"Driving Miss Daisy" seems a rather unadventurous way to begin Moonlight's indoor season, but if it gives us the chance to see this pair of finely tuned actors play against, and with, each other, this quiet adventure is worth the ride.

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