Alliance play’s cast learns to capture intensity of bingo

Most visitors to the Fraternal Order of Eagles No. 714 Bingo Hall in Doraville arrive on game nights hoping to win big and take home the jackpot.

But last Sunday, the hall had some unusual visitors. This group came not just to play, but to observe the goings-on and absorb the atmosphere, hoping to soak it all in so they could reproduce it on stage.

The Alliance Theatre is rehearsing its new show “Good People,” in which Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright David Lindsay-Abaire tells the story of down-on-their-luck residents of the working-class Irish neighborhood of “Southie” in South Boston. The main character, Margie, has just lost her job, and she’s struggling to build up the nerve to ask a former high school boyfriend, now a successful doctor, for help.

The comedy-drama’s tough, funny and plain-spoken characters talk through difficult questions: Why do some people succeed in life while others struggle? Is it all hard work? Does luck play a part? And what do successful people owe to those who have made sacrifices to help them along the way?

In the play, much of the heated discussion takes place in the church basement where Margie’s wise-cracking, often foul-mouthed friends gather to play bingo.

Since many in the cast had never played before, it seemed only natural to end rehearsal one night with a trip to the Fraternal Order of Eagles’ game.

The atmosphere at the actors’ table was convivial, even rowdy, before the game, but that changed quickly with a few shushes from regulars once the caller started pulling numbers. For first-time visitors, the quiet intensity of bingo can come as a big shock. Most players mark multiple cards, as did the Alliance group, so keeping up requires full concentration. The numbers are called at a quick pace, and if you miss one, your chances of winning diminish.

Bingo, the actors learned, may be a game, but it’s also some serious business.

Susan Booth, the director and the Alliance’s artistic director, scheduled the excursion. It allows the actors to see what real bingo is about.

“The characters in the show don’t play bingo to have a goofy, fun time. They’re playing like you would play the lottery, to win,” she said.

Building a sense of trust and friendship among the members of a cast is crucial, Booth said, and such research also helps the actors understand the nuances of a play.

For instance, for the Alliance’s recent Moscow-set play, “The Fairytale Lives of Russian Girls,” native Russian speakers were invited to rehearsal to give actors tips on the language and culture. Doctors helped give insight to the cast of “Next to Normal” about a character’s struggles with mental illness.

“What I’ll be looking for is behavior,” Atlanta actor Andrew Benator said as he lined up his bingo cards and dauber, used to mark cards, before the game got under way. Benator plays Stevie, Margie’s bingo-playing former boss.

“What are people looking at? Are they looking up? Looking down at other people’s cards? What does somebody who plays the game all the time pay attention to and when?” he said.

Actress Kate Buddeke, who plays the lead role of Margie, said she would be keeping an eye on people’s faces to see what sort of expressions they had during the game when they won or lost.

The hourlong session clipped along with hushed focus. As in a play, there was one 10-minute intermission, and though some of the actors came close, there were no winners among them.

“That was intense,” said a surprised LaLa Cochran, who plays Margie’s bingo buddy Jean.

Stage manager Lark Hackshaw noted that the prop bingo sheets the Alliance had been using were wrong. The prop sheets had only four cards per sheet while the real ones had six; she said she was now determined to make sure the props department ordered the correct ones for the show.

Veteran Atlanta actress Brenda Bynum, who is coming out of retirement to play the comic role of Margie’s landlady Dottie, said that the excursion would help add authenticity to the part.

“What surprised me was the seriousness of it,” she said. “There was that focus, that tension. Two or three numbers before someone would call ‘Bingo!’ you could almost feel it in the air that it was about to happen. The experienced players were always looking up to check the board, trying to stay ahead of the game. It’s all so different from what I imagined before I played.”

And the authentic atmosphere she observed is something that the Alliance hopes audiences will be able to sense for themselves when “Good People” opens, and Margie, Dottie, Jean and Stevie all gather for their big game.