Restoration

“Restoration” at New York Theatre Workshop, May 18, 2010

(photo: Joan Marcus)

Claudia Shear’s latest play is a funny and thoughtful story of an art conservator who restores more than just the appearance of the objects on which she works.  Returning to NYTW, where her last success “Dirty Blonde” began its journey to a 2000-2001 Broadway run, Ms. Shear’s new protagonist is quite the polar opposite from Mae West. 

Restoration explores the politics of art, beauty, love, fidelity and redemption.  Giulia (Ms. Shear) moved from Italy to Brooklyn with her family at the age of 8.  Now writhing through middle age, she remains single because, as she herself tells it, “I’m weird, aggressive and successful.”  As the play begins, she has lost her position in the art world following the insults over a peer’s restoration technique that resulted in a lawsuit against her.  Her life-long mentor/father-figure Professor (Alan Mandell), who abandoned her during the trial has arranged for her to restore Michelangelo’s David for its 500^th anniversary.  Museum security guard Max (Jonathan Cake) becomes her unlikely friend.  Hot and handsome with an archetypal married man’s Italian roving eye, he quotes poetry and classical literature as he flirts with all visitors skirted.  Museum board member Daphne (Tina Benko) blond, beautiful and intimidating, challenges Giulia personally and professionally, testing her knowledge, skill and self-confidence.  Museum director Marciante (Natalia Nogulich) is generally supportive, but circumspect.

Ms. Shear’s Giulia is a plain, frumpy fireplug, focused only on and in love with the statue.  As she and Max banter about life and art, he continually corrects her use of “him” to “it” when referring to the statue.  Her Giulia turns out to be more than meets the eye.  Truly, she is as Max describes here, “…so gentle with the statue, so abrasive with everyone else.”

Mr. Cake’s Max, a living David himself, despite a bad leg which is explained in a late plot twist, oozes sensuality and life.  It’s too bad his shirt stayed on the entire performance.  His accent spends a good bit of time near his birthplace in Britain, but it’s not a terrible distraction.

Director Christopher Ashley has used an even hand to let the story come through without force or contrivance, pulling fully realized performances from his cast.  Scott Pask’s set opens in layers, like old varnish on a painting revealing the rotunda gallery.  The abstract display of the statue literally pushes the action up the surrounding scaffolding as tension builds and the events unfold.

Be sure to check out the discount offer for tickets here.

Restoration runs through June 13.  Don’t miss it.

NYTW Discount Offer - Restoration

Two-time Tony Award-nominee, playwright and actress Claudia Shear reunites with acclaimed director Christopher Ashley to create and perform in her new play Restoration. Shear plays the lead role of Giulia, a down-on-her-luck art restorer from Brooklyn who receives the possibly career-reviving job of “refreshing” Michelangelo’s sculpture David in time for its 500^th birthday celebration in Florence.

Tickets for performances on Now through May 18 are just $42 (reg. $65) each.
 

Performances May 21 through June 13 are just $50 (reg. $65).
 

* Tickets must be purchased by May 19, 2010.

Use code RBLNY when ordering.

To purchase tickets, call (212) 279-4200 or visit www.insiteticketing.com/ticketcentral/ticengo.aspx?MC=RBLNY+&MD=202&AID=&PID=8058

Click here to watch a short video about RESTORATION.

New York Theatre Workshop also offers both Student Tickets and CheapTix Sundays.

CheapTix Sundays: All tickets for all Sunday evening performances at 7pm are just $20 each! Tickets are available in advance but must be purchased at the NYTW box office on a cash-only basis.

Student Tickets: Full-time students with a valid student ID may purchase $20 tickets for all performances (subject to availability). Limit one ticket per ID. Tickets must be purchased in person and require an ID at the box office.

The NYTW box office is located at 79 East 4th Street (between Second Avenue and Bowery) and is open Tuesday - Saturday from 1pm - 6pm.

I Got Sick Then I Got Better

"I Got Sick Then I Got Better" presented by New York Theatre Workshop at 4th Street Theatre, October 30, 2009

(photo: Chad Batka)

Women's health issues are the basis for at least five theatre pieces currently onstage in New York City. Carrie Fisher is fighting mental illness and alcoholism at Studio 54 in Wishful Drinking. Anna Deavere Smith is battling the health care system at Second Stage in Let Me Down Easy. Kelly Samara is dancing her way through dependency on pain killers at TBG Theatre in ...Being Patient. And, Jenny Allen is recovering from cancer courtesy of the New York Theatre Workshop in I Got Sick Then I Got Better.

Ms. Allen's friend James Lapine along with Darren Katz has directed this 80 minute tale of illness and recovery. She enters the theatre while the houselights are still up, chatting with members of the audience in the small house of the 4th St Theater. She transitions into the piece fairly smoothly, but promises a few more laughs in her introduction than she ends up delivering.

Her story is deeply personal and she shares freely, but more often than not it feels significantly more cathartic for her than the audience. She's great with one-liners, describing her cancer surgeon as "a brunette Ann Coulter," and describing herself in the midst of chemo "...looked like a dandelion going to seed."

She speaks sometimes thoughtfully, sometimes condescendingly of her feckless, unperceptive husband and typically teen-aged daughter. She reveals her mother's life-long battle with mental illness. She confesses that she enjoyed the anger and suffering she endured through her plight.

All of this draws appropriate empathy when she shares an oddly touching story of how she resolves her anger in the parking lot of LL Bean.

In the end, the evening felt more like a recitation, similar to Joan Didion's Year of Magical Thinking, well-written but not really "asking" to be staged.

Aftermath

"Aftermath" at New York Theatre Workshop, September 12, 2009

Continuing their tradition of thought-provoking, contemporary material, NYTW brings us Aftermath, six stories of Iraqi refugees living in Jordan after the US overthrow of Saddam Hussein's regime. Their stories are derived from interviews conducted by authors Jessica Blank and Erik Jensen in Amman, Jordan in 2008.

Ms. Blank and Mr. Jensen have compiled these stories into an evening of theatre loosely strung together by a single interpreter, who seems to bear a good bit of disdain and contempt from most of the characters.

Most of them begin their tales with descriptions of Baghdad as a Middle Eastern Paris: beautiful, cosmopolitan and flourishing in spite of the dictator who reigns over them. Quickly the stories share the degeneration of life there as chaos ensues with the bombing. A Christian woman, taking her child to the pediatrician with her husband has her world destroyed by a roadside bomb. Two restaurant cooks, husband and wife, are run out of the country when a friend is taken into custody as a suspected terrorist. A theatre professor/director and his wife flee when his students are confronted by militia in a neighborhood tavern.

The stories are compelling, but the evening is not exactly theatre. It's more like a recitation, similar to Joan Didion's staged Year of Magical Thinking. The events described are horrific, but detached as they are delivered in monologue format. Actually dramatizing some of the action could certainly heighten the theatricality and effect.

Standouts among the cast are Amir Arison and the arrogant and put-upon dermatologist, Yassar and Rasha Zamamiri as Naimah, a cook.

Ms. Blank also directs, and paces the evening very nicely. The horrific moments are balanced with lighter ones to keep the audience from melting into tears or boiling over with rage at the way these people were treated. The political anti-war slant is direct and sharp.

NYTW is offering discounted tickets:

Tickets for performances on September 8 – October 4 are just $40.00 (reg. $65).

* Tickets must be purchased by September 14, 2009.

Use code AMSGN31 when ordering.

To purchase tickets, call (212) 947-8844 or visit www.broadwayoffers.com

New York Theatre Workshop also offers both Student Tickets and CheapTix Sundays.

CheapTix Sundays: All tickets for all Sunday evening performances at 7pm are just $20 each! Tickets are available in advance but must be purchased at the NYTW box office on a cash-only basis.

Student Tickets: Full-time students with a valid student ID may purchase $20 tickets for all performances (subject to availability). Limit one ticket per ID. Tickets must be purchased in person and require an ID at the box office.

The NYTW box office is located at 79 East 4th Street (between Second Avenue and Bowery) and is open Tuesday - Saturday from 1pm - 6pm.

Things of Dry Hours

"Things of Dry Hours" at New York Theatre Workshop, May 29, 2009

Writing a play about a political concept can be quite a challenge. Naomi Wallace's Things of Dry Hours is at times sadly like its title and at other times a compelling look at people searching. Tice Hogan, (Delroy Lindo) an unemployed Sunday School teacher and member of the Communist Party in Alabama in 1932 is widowed, living with his also widowed daughter Cali (Roslyn Ruff). She cynically doesn't share his political hope that Communism could right the wrongs of the south during the Depression Era, working as a laundress for the rich white folks in town. Corbin Teel (Garret Dillahunt) a white man, appears on their doorstep one night, blackmailing his way in to hide for possibly killing his foreman at the foundry. (Spoiler Alert)

Ms. Wallace complicates the structure with a nonsensical opening monologue from Tice (which never seemed to connect to the rest of the show), bringing back that kind of direct address not once, but three more times when exposition seemed necessary. Each time, the speeches felt disjointed and forced into the proceedings. Act I spent most (and a lot) of the time with the three characters stalking around each other, waiting for someone to draw a line in the sand, but not providing much plot advancement. Tice undertakes to groom Corbin as a spokesman for the Party, but Corbin is not so willing to jump into that fire. Cali watches from the sidelines, until Corbin turns his affection toward her. She stops him in his tracks and immediately takes the power position.

It's not until Act II that the play gets interesting, and not for very long at that. After Corbin's latest failed attempt to seduce or manhandle Cali into bed, we learn that she and Tice are actually competing for Corbin's attentions. Then Ms. Wallace tosses in a couple of oddly timed plot twists and before you know it, Corbin is dead. This exercise with Corbin has energized both Tice and Cali to rejoin the world.

Mr. Lindo's Tice is a self-educated man, balancing God and Karl Marx while struggling and stuck in his life. He remains compelling even as he struggles with lines here and there. (Granted it's still in previews, but the show has been running for a week as of my attendance.)

Mr. Dillahunt's makes this white-trash Corbin credible and at times sympathetic.

It is Ms. Ruff who is most successful as Cali, balancing the acerbic and cynical tongue with love for her father and the passion of a young widow re-awakened by Corbin.

Director Ruben Santiago-Hudson has assembled a talented cast, but the pace tends to drag. I'm also still trying to figure out why there was a dream ballet of dancing bedsheets at the opening of Act II. It was a visual treat, but felt out of place.

Richard Hoover's platform and string curtain set provided an excellent medium for the proceedings, which were beautifully complemented by Marcus Doshi's lighting.

New York Theatre Workshop is offering a discount:

Tickets for performances on May 22 & 23 are just $32.50 each and tickets for performances on May 26 – June 28 are just $40.00 (reg. $65).
* Tickets must be purchased by June 8, 2009.

Use code DHTB424 when ordering.

To purchase tickets, call (212) 947-8844 or visit www.broadwayoffers.com

New York Theatre Workshop also offers both Student Tickets and CheapTix Sundays.

CheapTix Sundays: All tickets for all Sunday evening performances at 7pm are just $20 each! Tickets are available in advance but must be purchased at the NYTW box office on a cash-only basis.

Student Tickets: Full-time students with a valid student ID may purchase $20 tickets for all performances (subject to availability). Limit one ticket per ID. Tickets must be purchased in person and require an ID at the box office.

The NYTW box office is located at 79 East 4th Street (between Second Avenue and Bowery) and is open Tuesday - Saturday from 1pm - 6pm.

The Beast

New York Theatre Workshop, September 6, 2008

I haven't seen lots of what you might call "political theatre," mostly because that's not the kind of theatre I'm drawn to.

Michael Weller's The Beast, now in previews at NYTW is such a play, pushing a very strong anti-war message. Jimmy Cato (Logan Marshall-Green) is mourning his sergeant, Ben (Corey Stoll) who was died after an attack in Iraq. Both had been wounded and lost limbs (Jimmy's left arm, Ben's right arm) and both were badly burned. Ben died unexpectedly and Jimmy is lost without his hero.

Well, Ben pops up out of the coffin and leads Jimmy on a tour of murder and havoc from Germany to Mt Rushmore to Crawford, Texas (exactly). The stage is not littered with bodies in Shakespearean fashion, but the results are gruesome nonetheless.

As a play, The Beast is still in its developmental stage. Mr. Weller was inspired to write in December of 2007 and finished the script at the end of January 2008 (fast track approval, huh?). He has a strong story and incorporates some very interesting and effective concepts, but it feels particularly unrefined as yet.

In the title role of Ben, Mr. Stoll's make-up becomes an impermeable mask. What's left is a lot of bluster and the sounds of forced emotion. Mr. Weller's script doesn't provide much for him to work from, either. The transitions from ghost to monster reveal appear in toggle switches from one to the other.

As Ben's side-kick Cato (Green Hornet, anyone?) Mr. Marshall-Green is much more successful. He has the advantage of a better-drawn character and a lighter make-up burden to bear. His opening grief over Ben's death is palpable, and we see his excitement at Ben's resurrection slowly degenerate into resentment, then apathy. It's a highly effective performance.

Supporting in multiple roles is Dan Butler, first as a sleazy Captain selling arms intended for US forces in Iraq to terrorists, then as GW (as in George W. Bush), taken hostage by Ben and Jimmy at the end of their quest for a mission with meaning. I won't reveal their horrific plan here (which does involve Mt. Rushmore). Mr. Butler has a grand time playing these two scheming, yet painfully short-sighted men.

Also worth note is Lisa Joyce, playing multiple roles from a German barmaid, to a blind hooker, to Ben's wife. She clearly delineates each character and is almost unrecognizable from one to the next.

Eugene Lee's sets incorporate some interesting concepts. I liked way he kept increasing the number of flag-draped coffin pieces which served as various furniture pieces, building up to a full flag backdrop in the final scene. It's a telling statement, our flag created from the bodies of soldiers killed in a war of questionable purpose and value.

NYTW is also offering the following to you:

Tickets for performances August 29 – September 7 are just $40 each (reg. $65).

Tickets purchased by September 15 for performances September 9 – October 12 are just $45 each (reg. $65).

Use code BST4LES when ordering.

To purchase tickets, call (212) 947-8844 or visit www.broadwayoffers.com

New York Theatre Workshop also offers both Student Tickets and CheapTix Sundays.

CheapTix Sundays: All tickets for all Sunday evening performances at 7pm are just $20 each! Tickets are available in advance but must be purchased at the NYTW box office on a cash-only basis.

Student Tickets: Full-time students with a valid student ID may purchase $20 tickets for all performances (subject to availability). Limit one ticket per ID. Tickets must be purchased in person and require an ID at the box office.

The NYTW box office is located at 79 East 4th Street (between Second Avenue and Bowery) and is open Tuesday - Saturday from 1pm - 6pm.

Stream of Consciousness Weekend - Part 2

"The Sound and the Fury (April Seventh, 1928)" created by Elevator Repair Service at New York Theatre Workshop, April 19, 2008

Somehow, I was able to escape both high school and college without having to read William Faulkner's 1929 novel. More often than not, I've counted myself lucky on that point. I can remember talking with friends who were suffering through the stream of consciousness style as the plodded through the text, rarely understanding what it was they were reading.

With that in mind, I have to admit that I was more than a little apprehensive about seeing this new staging of the work, particularly having noted in the playbill from my last NYTW outing that the production is created by Elevator Repair Service (ERS), a theatre ensemble which has appeared in New York's downtown performance circuit since 1991. (For those of you who haven't picked up on it yet, I tend to be a bit of traditionalist when it comes to the theatre. I know, I know, hard to imagine...anyway) TSATF is the fifth production I've seen at NYTW and I knew I could count on an intellectual challenge at the least. Having just seen "God's Ear" at the Vineyard the night before, I remained skeptical. My post about that show immediately precedes this post and reading it, you should understand my skepticism.

I won't go into the plot as such, and if you're really interested in learning more about the original work, Wikipedia has an excellent summary here. Basically, the story surrounds the Compson family: father Jason, mother Caroline, oldest son Quentin, daughter Candace (Caddie), son Jason, and mentally retarded and mute son Benjy. Supporting the Compsons are the Gibsons, a black servant family: father Roskus, mother Dilsey, oldest son Versh, son T. P., daughter Frony and her son Luster. Versh, T.P. and Luster are primary caretakers for Benjy through his life. Part one is written from Benjy's perspective, so the stream of consciousness technique is perfectly apt. You can also take a look at more information on Mr. Faulkner here.

Under the detailed and insightful direction of John Collins, ERS captures the essence of Benjy's perspective. Using a combination of reading from a paperback copy of the book, supertitle projections and line readings which include all the "Luster said"s, "Caddie said"s, etc., the entire text of the book is delivered in the two act production. Maintaining the stream of consciousness concept, ERS uses the full company with multiple cast members playing the same role and multiple roles. Some character changes are indicated with simple costume additions, such as an apron for Dilsey, or a nightgown for the hypochondriac Caroline, or a red rugby shirt for Benjy. Casting also occurs regardless of the actor's gender. Dilsey is played by two men and two women, occasionally simultaneously. Benjy is played primarily by a woman, but also by a man in some segments and again, occasionally simultaneously.

Standout performers are Susie Sokol (in an unfortunate wig) as the mute Benjy, Vin Knight as son Jason, servants Dilsey and Versh, and Ben Williams as Luster.

David Zinn's set serves ERS' needs beautifully, while creating a visible gap at each side of the stage. It reminds me a bit of the design requirements at the Atlantic Theatre (which do so because the restrooms are backstage at that facility - not so at NYTW), but the result is a bit of a jewel box effect that somehow helps contain the random and non-linear story they tell.

It's a truly remarkable production and should not be missed.

NYTW is offering a discount to my readers (both of you) - you should take advantage of it.

Tickets for all performances April 15 – May 18 are just $40 each (reg. $55).

Use code SDFBLG7 when ordering.

To purchase tickets, call (212) 947-8844 or visit www.broadwayoffers.com

New York Theatre Workshop also offers both Student Tickets and CheapTix Sundays.

CheapTix Sundays: All tickets for all Sunday evening performances at 7pm are just $20 each! Tickets are available in advance but must be purchased at the NYTW box office on a cash-only basis.

Student Tickets: Full-time students with a valid student ID may purchase $20 tickets for all performances (subject to availability). Limit one ticket per ID. Tickets must be purchased in person and require an ID at the box office.

The NYTW box office is located at 79 East 4th Street (between Second Avenue and Bowery) and is open Tuesday - Saturday from 1pm - 6pm.

Through the Fire

"Liberty City" at New York Theatre Workshop, February 23, 2008

NYTW, in their 25th anniversary season, presents another tale of pain and growth with "Liberty City," a one-woman show performed by April Yvette Thompson and written by Ms. Thompson and Jessica Blank.

The story is that of Ms. Thompson's early life, growing up in the Liberty City neighborhood in Miami in the 1970s and 1980s. Ms. Thompson tells her tale from several perspectives, including her father, Saul Thompson (Sol?), her mother Lily, her grandmother Aunt Carolyn, and her aunt Valerie. The story is of a man trying to prepare his children to live in a world of discrimination and bigotry by understanding their history as descendants of African slaves.

Ms. Thompson moves between characters with effective physical postures (though least successfully distinguishing her mother from herself). Aunt Carolyn is actually the neighbor of her biological grandmother who abandoned her father on a search for his philandering father. Her parents' relationship, at first strong and united, falters when Saul gets more focused on the political power struggle of African-Americans in the '70s than supporting and tending to his own family. Lily turns to religion (Jehovah's Witness?) to fill the void, pushing Saul further away.

It is a very emotional experience for Ms. Thompson. She wipes her own eyes after scenes that recall the more difficult events in her family's life. This is a revealing and courageous performance.

Even with the raw emotion and tragic tale, Ms. Thompson effectively portrays the diverse characters who so strongly impacted her growing up, but she doesn't chart any new territory as was seen in Sarah Jones' "Bridge and Tunnel" in 2006.

Antje Ellerman's has created an excellent set, subtly defining the various worlds of Ms. Thompson's family, nicely complemented by David Lander's lighting. The video projections by Tal Yarden are more distraction than addition to the evening's proceedings since we see more visuals of a blue sky that never seems truly realized by the story being told.

Ms. Blank directs in addition to co-writing the script. She keeps things moving well. But, there were some bits of business such as Lily adding glue and glitter to a construction paper book of sorts, that also distract rather than enhance either character or story.

NYTW is offering a ticket discount to you. Please support them.

We'd also like to offer your readers the following discount:

Tickets for all performances February 15 – March 16 are just $25 each (reg. $45). Use code LCBLG88 when ordering.

To purchase tickets, call (212) 947-8844 or visit www.broadwayoffers.com

___________________________________________

Liberty City: a place where people of the African Diaspora have settled; where urban and island cultures rub up against each other, and the site of Miami’s infamous 1980 riots. Enter April Yvette Thompson – a child of children of the 60’s, the daughter of a Bahamian and Cuban father and an African American mother: free thinkers, young radicals and movement people. As the hope of the 60’s and 70’s gave way to the disillusionment and disintegration of the 80’s, April’s family struggled to survive and stay together. Part history, part imagination, Liberty City is her personal story that illuminates the lives of one family through the context of social, cultural, and political events.

New York Theatre Workshop also offers both Student Tickets and CheapTix Sundays.

CheapTix Sundays: All tickets for all Sunday evening performances at 7pm are just $20 each! Tickets are available in advance but must be purchased at the NYTW box office on a cash-only basis.

Student Tickets: Full-time students with a valid student ID may purchase $20 tickets for all performances (subject to availability). Limit one ticket per ID. Tickets must be purchased in person and require an ID at the box office.

The NYTW box office is located at 79 East 4th Street (between Second Avenue and Bowery) and is open Tuesday - Saturday from 1pm - 6pm.

Glass Houses

"The Misanthrope" at New York Theatre Workshop, September 22, 2007

Ivo Van Hove, acclaimed for his Obie-winning production of "Hedda Gabler" at NYTW, returns with Tony Harrison's translation of Moliere's "The Misanthrope." This evening of mixed media, as well as mixed condiments and street garbage, is quite a visual and aural effort. Whether it really succeeds or not remains to be seen.

Bill Camp as Alceste, is a man obsessed with being "always truthful" as a means to rail against the norms of society, regardless of the cost. He is in the midst of a highly passionate affair with Celimene (Jeanine Serralles), who maintains a certain haughtiness as the object of desire and perfection to many, and likes it that way. Alceste's friend Philinte (Thomas Jay Ryan) supports him, but urges moderation. He tells him that Celimene's cousin Eliante (Quincy Tyler Bernstine) also loves Alceste, and would be a much more stabilizing force in his life than the mercurial Celimene. Philinte is also in love with Eliante, but puts his friend's need ahead of his own.

Oronte (Alfredo Narcis0) arrives with a love poem he's written to a woman he's just met. Wanting Alceste's opinion, he reads the mediocre verse. Philinte is kind and complimentary. Alceste at first obfuscates to be kind, but when Oronte pushes, he is eviscerated by Alceste and storms out insulted.

Everyone seems to be involved in some sort of lawsuit or other, when Acaste (Joan Macintosh) and Clitandre (Jason C. Brown) arrive with food. Acaste is a reviewer - one who delivers an opinion to the mindless masses. Clitandre is Celimene's attorney, with whom she has been flirting to keep his attention on her lawsuit. Alceste dives right into the food - literally - smearing himself in chocolate syrup and ketchup, potato chips and crackers. (Other than to make a spectacle of himself in this Gallagher-esque moment, I'm still not sure why.) This is the beginning of the degeneration of the relationship ship with Celimene. Not only has she been flirting with Clitandre, but is in an affair with Oronte. It is for her that his poem was written.

Arsinoe (Amelia Campbell) arrives and takes Celimene to task for her actions and association with Alceste. Seems she is jealous of Celimene's accomplishments at such a young age.

The affair is revealed, Alceste is enraged, the set is trashed, the lovers reconcile as their passion overcomes the garbage.

Mr. Harrison's translation is not just into English, but is in rhyme. This verse style forces a formality over which Mr. Van Hove has juxtaposed a colorless environment. Jan Versweyveld's set is primarily gray with black glass walls and fluorescent lighting. Emilio Sosa's costumes bring a level of androgyny with all characters barefoot in dark suits and white shirts. The color arrives first in the food brought in by Acaste and Clitandre, green apples, pink-iced donuts, pizza, chocolate, ketchup, hot dogs. Later it is in the bags of garbage dragged in from the street during Alceste's and Celimene's confrontation. I suppose the subtext is that what brings color to our lives can also be the garbage that is the end product of consumption.

The multi-media facet of this production was particularly interesting, using at least three cameras broadcasting on large monitors on the back wall of the set. The cameras follow the actors backstage into the dressing room, and even onto the street as witness to the fight. This is the third time this year I've seen use of cameras, "Frost/Nixon" and "The Spanish Play." The latter was to rather disappointing effect, while the former seemed only to nail a single moment .

Mr. Van Hove's use here make me wonder though - is this still theatre, or has he turned it into television? He does use the cameras to great effect, providing close-ups at pivotal moments, as well as exposition, such as when Alceste tells of discovering Celimene's infidelity, there is a black and white image of her biting his hand. Ultimately, I did think the camera's undercut the moment by focusing on passers by on the street as Celimene tries to hail a cab to get away from Alceste.

The cast is strong overall. Mr. Camp is one of the most fully committed actors I've seen on stage. Ms. Serralles, last seen in "The Black Eyed" at NYTW shows much more range here from passionate to petulant. Mr. Ryan's Philinte is caring and concerned. Mr. Narciso's Oronte combusts with callow youth.

It is a long show - two hours with no intermission. That said, the performances are compelling and the audience was fully engaged.

"Crudeness is Necessary for Clarity"

"The Black Eyed" at New York Theatre Workshop, July 28, 2007

Betty Shamieh's play about the female Palestinian experience covers a lot of ground, some more, some less familiar. The audience enters as one actor is already onstage on the pepto-pink plywood set. She lies there silently until the show begins. Waiting? Punished? Eventually, we find out.

This pink environment is first presented as some corner of heaven when three women join the first by scrambling over the high back wall. All are in search of a man who died in an act of martyrdom. Supposedly, there is a room in heaven for martyrs only.

First up is Delilah (Emily Swallow), looking for Samson (yes, really). As she tells her tale of a young Philistine woman led astray for political means after her own brother was killed at Samson's hand, she is quickly called a whore when she reveals that she did love Samson. When she questions that response, she is told "Crudeness is necessary for clarity." (Maybe I didn't spend enough time in Sunday School - who knew that the biblical Philistines were actually Palestinians?) Ms. Swallow has the most fun of the four women, and gets some of the best lines. On the topic of seduction, she says, "Men can never tell the difference between a beautiful woman and someone who is dressed like one." For all her protestations, she remains in love with Samson and has come to find out if he has forgiven her for her betrayal.

Next we get Tamam (Lameece Issaq) as the sister of a soldier fighting the Crusaders. Her political spin turns on a more violent note and feels a bit more modern. She is looking for her brother to see if his soul has made it to heaven even though she was only able to bury the one part of it should could identify, his hand. Ms. Issaq maintains a quiet intensity in her role, suitable to her character's station in life. Her tale of rape and torture by the Crusaders during their invasion points up similarities

Aiesha (Aysan Celik), our original character in waiting is exposed as the first woman suicide bomber in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Ms. Celik is the weakest of the four actors, struggling with transitions from anger to cynicism to taunting. Her bomber had dreams of 100 men awaiting in heaven, "all shapes and colors" to satisfy her every physical desire. This rang the least true of the stories during the evening.

Finally, we meet The Architect (Jeanine Serralles), who was on one of the four planes on September 11, 2001. Ms. Serralles' Architect is written as a obsessed woman with low self-esteem who is only articulate when she discusses architecture (she tells you this more than once, just so you're clear). As her monologue wanders from the tale of the half-Palestinian man with whom she fantasizes living an unfulfilled life, to the moment when she heard the hijackers take over the plane, Ms. Serralles has some gripping moments. It seemed at times, though, the script kept her story from being more compelling, by interjecting the "inarticulate" back in, just to remind you that she's supposed to be inarticulate. She's looking for the hijacker whose eyes met with hers before the plane went down to ask him what she might have been able to say to stop their plan.

While Ms. Shamieh's play provided some insights for me into the minds of Palestinian women over the ages, there didn't seem to be anything new in what they had to say. Director Sam Gold and his uneven cast can't overcome the awkward transitions. Paul Steinberg's pink environment thrusts the cast toward the audience, with no apparent means of escape. The result was sometimes more that the cast looked trapped, rather than the characters they played. Lighting by Jane Cox was a bit more effective.

This is the second play I've reviewed at NYTW. I must say that I particularly like one feature of their playbill, which is a production history from when the playwright started writing to the current production. Ms. Shamieh began this journey in October of 2001.

NYTW is offering a discount for the remaining performances.

Tickets for all performances July 17 – August 19 are just $35 each (reg. $50).

Use code BEBLG28 when ordering.

To purchase tickets, call TeleCharge at (212) 947-8844 or visit http://www.broadwayoffers.com/go.aspx?MD=2001&MC=BEBLG28

New York Theatre Workshop also offers both Student Tickets and CheapTix Sundays.

CheapTix Sundays: All tickets for all Sunday evening performances at 7pm are just $20 each! Tickets are available in advance but must be purchased at the NYTW box office on a cash-only basis.

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Questioning Faith

"Horizon" at New York Theatre Workshop, June 7, 2007

(Disclaimer: I was invited to attend this performance by NYTW. Thanks for the seats!)

Reinhart Poole, minister and professor of ethics at a seminary has just been fired and is preparing to teach his last class. This is Rinde Eckert's premise for his evening of exploring theology and faith through a highly theatrical performance of song and scenes. A quote from the NYTW press release:

Rinde Eckert says, "The basis for many of the ruminations in Horizon is a modest study of the life and ideas of Reinhold Niebuhr, an influential American theologian and social theorist. But although those familiar with Niebuhr's ideas may see the ghost of them here, one ought not to strain the comparison. My grandfather Thomas D. Rinde, a Lutheran minister, taught religious history at a seminary in Fremont, Nebraska, also serving as its director for many years. I like to think he would be pleased to find himself implicated here in my imagined teacher Reinhart Poole."

For more information about Mr. Niebuhr, check out the article from the NY Times here.

Having been raised Lutheran, my personal spiritual state is one of moderation in life and deeds. I found this discussion of faith and its meaning in one's life one a most interesting evening. This is not a play where one sits back and is "entertained." This thoughtful play kept me engaged for the entire 90 minutes. It was both the subject matter and the clever and skillful staging and direction which accomplished this.

The structure of the evening seemed to follow something of a Lutheran church service presenting, in effect, two Lessons and a Gospel, followed by a Sermon and Benediction. Not having been a regular church-goer since high school, there was a comforting familiarity with this approach. There was one scene transition that felt much like the dressing of an altar.

One of the Lessons showed two men walking along a road. One of the men (Howard Swain) is looking for God. The other (David Barlow) reveals himself to be Lucifer, guarding the road to God. Like an Oedipal Sphinx, the man has to answer three questions to gain entry to God. Otherwise the road never ends. Lucifer appears again later in a creepy monologue that starts out sounding like a fundamental evangelist (an apt likening - Jim Bakker comes to mind), discussing how his intense love and loyalty to God led to his own dismissal from Heaven. Mr. Barlow then makes an even creepier transition from evangelist to evil angel when his voice drops several octaves as his intensity increases. Lucifer becomes the original stalker.

Mr. Eckert explores various teaching methods of Allegory and Parable to communicate, with simple yet clever staging techniques. The play opens with Mr. Poole (Eckert) onstage, reviewing his notes for his final class. Understandably needing an outlet for his thoughts, Mr. Poole has also been writing a play as a means to exorcise/distract him from his personal situation with his job.

In his play (which I interpreted as the Gospel delivered as an Allegory), two stone masons are building the foundation for a cathedral, but never finish because they don't have enough stones to complete the work. This theme continues periodically throughout the evening as he adds to that story. Cinder blocks are used as their stones and a small wall rises over the course of several scenes. The stone masons learn that they are only characters in a play and discuss the ramifications of that. "No wonder I feel incomplete," one of them says. The other responds, "You look well-drawn to me." They learn that they've been working on the foundation for 1750 years and finally find comfort when they realize that their play will remain unfinished, just like their task.

His Sermon addressed the parable of the Prodigal Son. In its own way, this was a parable of Reinhart's own life when his older brother ran away as a child following an argument between the two of them, but without the triumphal return. This spurs much questioning by Reinhart and leads nicely into the last section of the play.

The largest concept/theme I found in this work was the discussion of belief and faith - something of the Benediction. Mr. Eckert posits that belief, when seen as the absence of doubt, undermines faith. Unquestioning faith is blind faith and, therefore, no faith at all. From this, I can only draw my own conclusion that in our current environment of blind faith among the religious right, this is a dangerous truth. For me, it brings to mind the following quote,

"All that is necessary for the triumph of evil is that good men do nothing."

Edmund Burke

Irish orator, philosopher, & politician (1729 - 1797)

I'm not sure that I'm following the mental path Mr. Eckert might have intended, since he did not take the opportunity to get into the evil that men do, but it stuck out in my mind.

All three actors are skilled, talented and compelling. Mr. Eckert, bald and deadpan, gives us a very human man, questioning the world around him. He struggles to both learn and teach, even if he is only teaching others to ask more questions. In the various supporting roles ranging from Reinhart's wife to the stone masons, to Reinhart's brother, father and mother, Howard Swain and David Barlow excel. Mr. Barlow's Lucifer was particularly chilling.

Alexander Nichols' sets and lighting are particularly effective while simple. Seven lighted easels with chalkboards line the back of the stage and serve as Reinhart's classroom as he punctuates each topic with visual representations.

Director David Schweizer is to be commended for his contribution to this work. What could have been a dreary theological dissertation is instead a significant evening of thought and theatre.

I've rambled in this review - sorry about that. The concepts are large and thought-provoking. This is an important and powerful piece. I recommend it highly to anyone who has the opportunity to see it.