NORMAN --- An excellent eight-member University of Oklahoma SummerStage cast did a good job of accentuating positive elements --- of which there were many --- in Frederick Stroppel's "Accentuate the Positive," which premiered at Weitzenhoffer Theatre.
  A touching and humorous slice-of-life drama about a single mother who finds friendship and "possible romance," as they say in personal ads, not with the boy-next-door but with her brother-in-law upstairs, the play drew a warm response from the opening-night audience.
  Negatives, not to accentuate them, included a need to either shorten the first act or add a second intermission.  Even more pressing was the need to strengthen the play's resolution -- which, as it stands, resembles a suburban version of "Hamlet" where the protagonist finally decides to sell Elsinore castle to get away from a bad domestic situation.
  Bonnie Comley conveyed the resilience and vulnerability of Ann-Marie Cleary, a new mother trying to cope with the misguided matchmaking attempts of her sister and a friend while she carries on fantasy conversations with the husband who left her in financial straits.
  A guest artist and New York City actress, Comley had her best moments in a tipsy monologue on the pros and cons of Christmas spirit, and in a dramatic second act confrontation with her meddling sister, portrayed with cheesy gusty by Lee Ann Davis.
    David L. Horton was even more threatening, domineering, self centered and intrusive, both as a spirit and in the flesh, as Ann-Marie's policeman ex-husband, who seems determined to make life miserable for his ex-wife and infant daughter.
  

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  Offering a nice counterpoint to these "people you love to hate" was Eugene Douglas' understated yet highly empathetic performance as the sensitive English teacher and would-be novelist brother-in-law, Brian.
  Coaxed down from his upstairs retreat by his growing infatuation with Ann-Marie, Douglas as Brian nearly stole the show during a charming scene in which he acts out bloody passages of "Beowulf" for the benefit of her unseen infant daughter, Tara.
  Kathleen Hardgrove brought common-sense qualities and deadpan delivery to the mother of the two antagonistic siblings and Samantha Orr was a ditzy delight as the friend, Suzy, an equally clueless but much less malevolent matchmaker than Ann-Marie's sister.
  Dell McLain conveyed the conventionality and would be wantonness of a divorced banker Ann-Marie dates briefly (before he decides to try to reconcile with his family), and Inda Jo Jones projected the near terminal shyness of a music teacher in a cameo appearance.
  Despite some needed work, the play had spectators in its corner, rooting for it to become a "contender" at the Broadway, off-Broadway or regional theater level.
  Intelligently directed by two-time Tony Award-winning producer Steward Lane, "Accentuate the Positive" is recommended in its remaining performances at 8 tonight and Saturday and 2 p.m. Sunday.

--- John Brandenburg