A thespian battles Seinfeld, McCollum

By Greg Dawson
News Commentary

Published in The Orlando Sentinel, May 13, 1998

If you think Al Krulick, a College Park Democrat, is an underdog in his race against Rep. Bill McCollum, R-Longwood, for a seat in Congress in November, consider his challenge this week.

Krulick has the lead role in Neil Simon's Jake's Women, which opens at Seminole Community College on Thursday night ... night of the Seinfeld finale.

``I'm not afraid of Bill McCollum or Jerry Seinfeld,'' Krulick said. ``I'm live and they're Memorex.''

While there's little doubt Seinfeld will draw a larger audience than Jake's Women, the timing isn't as disastrous as it first appears for the local thespians.

The Fine Arts Theatre at the college has 157 seats, and only about 40 are still available for Thursday's opener, said Cathy Wagner, executive director of the Orlando Theatre Project.

Wagner did say the company has given out more complimentary tickets than usual -- not that there's anything wrong with that under the circumstances.

Jake's Women does have one advantage over Seinfeld, Wagner said. ``It's certainly a play about something.''

And there's this: While Krulick gets only one shot at McCollum in November, Jake's Women runs for three weekends.