If you’re a Fairfielder, you might know William Berno from his work in the healing arts as an acupuncturist and Chinese medicine and homeopathic practitioner. But Lenore Jones—Bill’s friend, former Maharishi International University theater-teaching colleague, and longtime creative collaborator—also wants Fairfield to know Bill Berno for his talents in the performing arts.
“Bill is a prolific playwright with over 20 plays to his credit,” says Jones, “many of them short plays, rather hilarious plays, ranging from absurdist pieces to dark comedies.”
Recently, Jones and Berno began collaborating on a “bucket-list” project, with the goal of adapting a handful of Berno’s short plays into screenplays and putting them on film. In July of 2023 they filmed a screen adaptation of Bill’s Theater of the Absurd play, Pain. The film, directed by Jones and starring Kevin Blair and Bill Berno himself, was screened at the Fairfield Public Library. “So many people came out to see it, we ran out of seats!” says Jones.
On Saturday, November 16, at 8 p.m., Jones will present the second film in the series, called Fridays, at the Orpheum Theater (2nd St. entrance). “We needed a bigger venue this time. I’m so excited to share this film with the community,” says Jones. “The Orpheum seats 120, but if anyone is turned away at the door, we plan to have a second screening on Sunday, November 17.” The film is 40 minutes long.
Fridays is based on Bill’s play of the same title. Jones wrote and directed the screenplay adaptation. “I call it a dramedy,” says Jones, “because it’s hilariously funny while heartbreaking at the same time.”
Set in the 1970s, the story follows two army buddies who served in Vietnam. They are especially close—bonded for life—as a result of their experiences during the war. Jack is married to Veronica, while his buddy Charles is grieving the recent loss of his own wife. Owing his life to Charles, Jack devises an unusual and unorthodox plan to help Charles overcome his grief. Comedy, awkwardness, and mayhem erupt when Charles brings an uninvited guest to Jack and Veronica’s home.
From breakdowns in the bathtub to Lynchian dream sequences, the story moves fast through an onslaught of surreal events, idiotic offers, and unbreakable loyalties that threaten to pull the rug out. Foundations fracture, hearts crumble, boys will be boys, and hell hath no fury, as they say.
The film is complete with a vintage set, period costumes, and 1970s props, all designed by Jones. “And the cast is stellar,” she says. The core ensemble comprises local actors Craig Deininger, Meredith Siemsen, Dustin Matthews, and Alaris Todar, with guest appearances by Jeremy Erdman, Nathan Littrell, and Ganaia Praema.
Jones brings her own vast creative talents to the project. Earlier in her career, Lenore was the producer and director of Teatro Maria II, a theater company she founded in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, where she also began to showcase her own writing. She first adapted Flannery O’Connor’s novel, Wise Blood, followed by Jean Anouilh’s Mademoiselle Colombe, a show she later produced at MIU, in which Bill was cast. “And so our partnership began,” says Jones. More recently, she worked on several David Lynch student films as both a costume designer and actress.
“Bill’s had such an interesting journey,” Jones says, “from being an actor in Hollywood and travelling the globe as a backup singer for Johnny Mathis—to being a theater professor at MIU and even recently publishing a children’s book. I am thrilled to share with people a glimpse of Bill’s creative genius, and am honored he trusted me to get some of these stories on film.”
See Fridays on Saturday, November 16, 8 p.m., at the Orpheum, corner of Broadway & Second St. in Fairfield (use Second St. entrance). $10 tickets are available at the door. A Q&A will follow the film.