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aviv_b_artworkThe Farnsworth Invention, The Lost Boys of Sudan, The Good Negro & Taming of the Shrew
I leave in an hour for the airport - so this is going to be like speed dating - quick dirty, and you probably won't get a whole lot out of it. But if I don't do this before my vacation , it sure won't get done afterwards.
I leave in an hour for the airport - so this is going to be like speed dating - quick dirty, and you probably won't get a whole lot out of it. But if I don't do this before my vacation , it sure won't get done afterwards.
See you all in a week.
The Farnsworth Edition- Timeline Theater
Written by Aaron Sorkin, this play presents a detailed and heartbreaking look at who 'invented' television. Pitting a kid from Iowa farm country (Philo Farnsworth) against a smart, ruthless media mogul (David Sarnoff), this play examines issues of corporate and personal honesty and greed, the sharing of scientific information and whether the little guy can ever win. This play was brilliantly staged and acted by Timeline Theater. Artistic Director, P.J. Powers plays Sarnoff who starts out as an idealistic business man (television should be to educate and uplift) who gradually becomes obsessed with being the first to come up with mass broadcast television. And to do that he'll take a win at any cost. The idealistic Fransworth is left penniless and broken and largely forgotten by history
The Lost Boys of Sudan - Victory Gardens
Developed in Minneapolis with the input of some of the children this play is about, it tells the story of a group of young people (boys and one girl) who come to Fargo, North Dakota to start new lives. The first act, set in Sudan was chilling with the experiences of these young people being reenacted on stage. From the murder of their families to their wandering alone to banding together for protection and finally making it to a refugee camp, much of the story is told in poetry and story-song which works beautifully with the fantastical quality of the set.
The second act, which covers their lives in Fargo, falls into the predictable patterns of 'backwards' refugees come to America. OMG - there's heat, and grocery stores and Fargo is cold. (You do have to wonder at the geographic choice for relocation). And while the difficulties the children face in integrating into the very white, middle class life of Fargo are touched on, the play never really digs into the bigger issues of dislocation. I found this very disappointing - particularly in light of the fact that some of these children, years later, are now being recruited into militant Islamic groups. There's a lot more going on with these kids than "Wow, I can have lots of food in my refrigerator' however, The Lost Boys of Sudan never gets beyond the surface.
The Good Negro - The Goodman Theater
Loosely based on the life of Martin Luther King and other civil rights leaders, The Good Negro explores the tension that existed within the civil right movement of the 1960s. Power plays between factions, non-violence vs direct action, meddling by northern do-gooders are all explored. There were two things that stood out for me in this play.
First is the idealism of the leaders versus the practical considerations of the terrorized black citizens of an unnamed Alabama city. The unintentional but disastrous results for one local family caused by the actions of one particular leader highlights the dilemma of finding a movement leader who is strong enough to not give up in the face of brutality, but also one who can be presented as the 'face' of the civil rights movement, 'The Good Negro' if you will.
The second is just a small item that I found very moving. When the Reverend leading the protesters gets caught philandering with a married local women, his wife is furious and devastated. He poignantly explains that he is afraid to sleep alone, because he knows that one night, in some hotel room on the road, he is going to murdered and he doesn't want to die alone. And when you are shown his day to day experiences of dealing with the white establishment, you can understand that this fear is well founded.
The Taming of the Shrew - Chicago Shakespeare Theater
I wasn't sure what to make of this play. It reinstates a play within a play framework that is often cut from the production with a new back story written by Neil LaBute. The backstory is about a lesbian couple who's personal relationship is unraveling. One is the director of the play, the other is the lead actress.
The actress has been cheating on her lover and believes that her lover is punishing her by casting her in the role of the tempestuous but ultimately tamed Kate. The Director feels undercut by the uncooperative behavior of the lead actress and her open affair with another actress in the play. The relationship implodes along with the play in a spectacle that works on some levels but doesn't work on others.
I liked it and I didn't liked it (the critics almost uniformly hated it). Without getting into Neil LaBute's own treatment of women in many of his works, I felt the lesbian couple was portrayed almost cartoonishly. The Director is played first as controlling, then as ditzy and silly, then as anguished, none of which rang true for me. Her 'comic' monologue at the beginning of the second act, took her from a serious artist and lover to an insecure love-sick adolescent in 3 minutes flat. Yuck.
The discussion of the 'problems' inherent in Taming of the Shrew' by the couple were mostly well done, illuminating the issues surrounding the portrayal of Kate as a woman, a wife, a human. And just between you and me, at the end where the actress is reading the scene where she tells her husband that he can step on her foot, and then breaks character, says 'fuck this' and walks off stage made me smile.
Unlike the critics, I don't think you can make some of those final lines into a 'she tops by bottoming' experience. And I don't think that's the way Shakespeare wrote them or meant them to be played. So you either have to accept that Kate sublimates her entire being to her husband or you have to say 'fuck this' and walk away.
**
Written by Aaron Sorkin, this play presents a detailed and heartbreaking look at who 'invented' television. Pitting a kid from Iowa farm country (Philo Farnsworth) against a smart, ruthless media mogul (David Sarnoff), this play examines issues of corporate and personal honesty and greed, the sharing of scientific information and whether the little guy can ever win. This play was brilliantly staged and acted by Timeline Theater. Artistic Director, P.J. Powers plays Sarnoff who starts out as an idealistic business man (television should be to educate and uplift) who gradually becomes obsessed with being the first to come up with mass broadcast television. And to do that he'll take a win at any cost. The idealistic Fransworth is left penniless and broken and largely forgotten by history
The Lost Boys of Sudan - Victory Gardens
Developed in Minneapolis with the input of some of the children this play is about, it tells the story of a group of young people (boys and one girl) who come to Fargo, North Dakota to start new lives. The first act, set in Sudan was chilling with the experiences of these young people being reenacted on stage. From the murder of their families to their wandering alone to banding together for protection and finally making it to a refugee camp, much of the story is told in poetry and story-song which works beautifully with the fantastical quality of the set.
The second act, which covers their lives in Fargo, falls into the predictable patterns of 'backwards' refugees come to America. OMG - there's heat, and grocery stores and Fargo is cold. (You do have to wonder at the geographic choice for relocation). And while the difficulties the children face in integrating into the very white, middle class life of Fargo are touched on, the play never really digs into the bigger issues of dislocation. I found this very disappointing - particularly in light of the fact that some of these children, years later, are now being recruited into militant Islamic groups. There's a lot more going on with these kids than "Wow, I can have lots of food in my refrigerator' however, The Lost Boys of Sudan never gets beyond the surface.
The Good Negro - The Goodman Theater
Loosely based on the life of Martin Luther King and other civil rights leaders, The Good Negro explores the tension that existed within the civil right movement of the 1960s. Power plays between factions, non-violence vs direct action, meddling by northern do-gooders are all explored. There were two things that stood out for me in this play.
First is the idealism of the leaders versus the practical considerations of the terrorized black citizens of an unnamed Alabama city. The unintentional but disastrous results for one local family caused by the actions of one particular leader highlights the dilemma of finding a movement leader who is strong enough to not give up in the face of brutality, but also one who can be presented as the 'face' of the civil rights movement, 'The Good Negro' if you will.
The second is just a small item that I found very moving. When the Reverend leading the protesters gets caught philandering with a married local women, his wife is furious and devastated. He poignantly explains that he is afraid to sleep alone, because he knows that one night, in some hotel room on the road, he is going to murdered and he doesn't want to die alone. And when you are shown his day to day experiences of dealing with the white establishment, you can understand that this fear is well founded.
The Taming of the Shrew - Chicago Shakespeare Theater
I wasn't sure what to make of this play. It reinstates a play within a play framework that is often cut from the production with a new back story written by Neil LaBute. The backstory is about a lesbian couple who's personal relationship is unraveling. One is the director of the play, the other is the lead actress.
The actress has been cheating on her lover and believes that her lover is punishing her by casting her in the role of the tempestuous but ultimately tamed Kate. The Director feels undercut by the uncooperative behavior of the lead actress and her open affair with another actress in the play. The relationship implodes along with the play in a spectacle that works on some levels but doesn't work on others.
I liked it and I didn't liked it (the critics almost uniformly hated it). Without getting into Neil LaBute's own treatment of women in many of his works, I felt the lesbian couple was portrayed almost cartoonishly. The Director is played first as controlling, then as ditzy and silly, then as anguished, none of which rang true for me. Her 'comic' monologue at the beginning of the second act, took her from a serious artist and lover to an insecure love-sick adolescent in 3 minutes flat. Yuck.
The discussion of the 'problems' inherent in Taming of the Shrew' by the couple were mostly well done, illuminating the issues surrounding the portrayal of Kate as a woman, a wife, a human. And just between you and me, at the end where the actress is reading the scene where she tells her husband that he can step on her foot, and then breaks character, says 'fuck this' and walks off stage made me smile.
Unlike the critics, I don't think you can make some of those final lines into a 'she tops by bottoming' experience. And I don't think that's the way Shakespeare wrote them or meant them to be played. So you either have to accept that Kate sublimates her entire being to her husband or you have to say 'fuck this' and walk away.
**
