It’s the 50th anniversary of The Great American Melodrama in Oceano, and its current production epitomizes much of what makes this venerable institution worth celebrating.
Shut Up, Sherlock (playing now through April 26) is not just a funny, fast-paced, packing-them-in production (Central Coast audiences know that’s always the case at the Melodrama). It’s also the world premiere of a two-act comedy written by actor and playwright Ben Abbott, who lives in Paso Robles with his wife and four daughters.
That means as a member of the audience, you are involved (whether you know it or not) in the making of a melodrama, and in helping an up-and-coming local playwright make his mark on American theatre.
“Eric Hoit [the director] and I have been collaborating closely for months,” Abbott says about Shut Up, Sherlock. “The rewrites continued through much of the rehearsal process, perhaps to the chagrin of the actors. It doesn’t help when I’m rewriting the ending—again—a week before tech rehearsal. We even made some changes after opening night based on how things were playing for the audience.
“I’m so lucky to have this wonderful cast,” he continues. “My gratitude to them is endless.”
Abbott is not a newcomer to playwrighting, and certainly no stranger to the Oceano stage.
I don’t think I ever had any better comedy training than at the Melodrama.”—Ben Abbott
“The Melodrama was my first professional acting job back in 2006,” Abbott says. “So it was formative for me as a performer. In spite of working in a lot of places around the country and getting a lot more education, I don’t think I ever had any better comedy training than at the Melodrama.”
He attended the Acting Conservatory at PCPA in Santa Maria and earned a bachelor’s degree in theatre and performance studies from UC Berkeley.
“I’ve told him this before, but getting notes from Eric Hoit after a preview performance is a master class in comedic timing and shaping an audience’s laughs. So the Melodrama is in my DNA.”
His other produced plays include Grave Mistakes: A Haunted Rom-Com (presented at the Melodrama in 2024), Nuptial Mass, and Buddies: A Bromantic Comedy, which saw its world premiere on April 4 at the SkyPilot Theatre in LA after a staged reading at Santa Maria Civic Theatre last fall. He’s hoping to see a full production of it on the Central Coast soon.
As an actor, Abbott also has written and performed original one-man shows at fringe festivals and on tour, and has acted in theatres around the country, including Utah Shakespeare Festival, Indiana Festival Theatre, Hale Centre Theatre, Pioneer Theatre Company, and SLO Rep (you may remember him playing the adult Ralphie for the last three years in SLO Rep’s holiday show, A Christmas Story).
I’ve worked mostly as a comedic actor, and getting laughs out of an audience is the greatest feeling in the world.”—Ben Abbott
So what inspired him to pick Arthur Conan Doyle’s fictional detective as a subject?
“I’ve always loved Sherlock Holmes,” Abbott says. “I’ve read all the novels and stories multiple times, and I’ve been in a couple of Sherlock Holmes plays at the Melodrama. So when I was thinking of doing a backstage murder mystery farce, Sherlock Holmes was an obvious choice.”
And, he’s quick to add, it’s the kind of play he likes acting in. “I’ve worked mostly as a comedic actor, and getting laughs out of an audience is the greatest feeling in the world,” he says.
It’s also the kind of show that is likely to be performed by theatre companies. “When I started to talk about wanting to write these kinds of comedies, every theatre owner I knew said ‘Yes! Do it!’ They told me how hard it is to find good, contemporary comedies that can play to a family-friendly audience. So it’s the kind of play I like doing, and I think there’s demand for it.”
Abbott is currently pursuing a master’s degree in playwriting at Hollins University in Roanoke, Virginia. “I’ve just got one summer left in my MFA program and I’ll be working on my thesis play, which is thus far undetermined.”
He’s now hard at work rewriting the Melodrama’s summer show, How the West Was Really Won, originally by Arnold Carlos. “It’s a play they’ve done before—I played the villain in it last time—and we’ve been given permission to do some rewrites,” Abbott says. “So I’m taking a crack at it.”