I Was Most Alive with You

I Was Most Alive with You

Playwrights Horizons

October 7, 2018

Photo courtesy of Playwrights Horizons

Craig Lucas has written a masterpiece in I Was Most Alive with You, now running at Playwrights Horizons.  He parallels this narrative of loss, despair, and letting go with the Old Testament’s Book of Job.  Since one of the main characters is deaf, the production is “shadow cast” and told in American Sign Language.  A portion of the dialogue is projected when the characters communicate solely through signing.  The collaborative efforts of Sabrina Dennison, Director of Artistic Sign Language, and Director Tyne Rafaeli create a seamless and powerful piece of theatre.  The production is a monumental feat, fusing every aspect of design to engage and challenge the audience to join the characters on this brutal and gut-wrenching journey.

Ash (played by Michael Gaston and shadowed by Seth Gore) meets with his close friend and writing partner, Astrid (played by Marianna Bassham and shadowed by Christina Marie), to choose and develop a new writing project after months of hiatus.  Ash and his family have experienced a string of tragic events that have made it difficult for him to work, yet left him in great financial need.  In order to face the hardships head on, Astrid pushes Ash to write the story of the events of the past eighteen months. 

Michael Gaston, Lisa Emery, & Russell Harvard
Photo courtesy of Playwrights Horizons

It starts with a car ride to the home of Ash’s mother, Carla (played by Lois Smith and shadowed by Kalen Feeney), for Thanksgiving dinner.  They pick up Ash’s wife, Pleasant (played by Lisa Emery and shadowed by Amelia Hensley), and start to discuss the Bible, particularly the Book of Job, where Job loses everything and is left in total despair.  We meet Ash’s son, Knox (played by Russell Harvard and shadowed by Harold Foxx), getting ready to leave for the same Thanksgiving celebration.  He is deaf and a recovering alcoholic who is convincing his new boyfriend, Farhad (played by Tad Cooley and shadowed by Anthony Natale), to not drink or misbehave when meeting the family for the first time.  Being Thanksgiving, the family’s skeletons emerge.  Tragedy falls on them in three heavy blows, same as in the Book of Job.  It is revealed that Carla is dying of cancer and the family’s finances are in ruin, then Knox is severely injured in a car accident on the way home.  Act II brings more dire hardships.  As a result of the car accident, Knox becomes addicted to opioids and, out of despair, Pleasant leaves her husband and son.  Ash works feverishly to hold on and not relapse to drinking as he helplessly watches his son spiral into a dark place.  Astrid pushes Ash to write an ending to their writing project, thus relinquishing control of the final outcome of his life’s events.

The full cast of I Was Most Alive with You
Photo courtesy of Playwrights Horizons

By having the characters write their own story, Craig Lucas chose a highly theatrical mechanism that places the theme directly into the action.  It gives the characters a vehicle for self-examination as events unfold in front of the audience.  All the characters struggle with the need to control.  Ash and Astrid observe every scene, whether they are in the action or not.  The sense of control is always present, no matter how unpredictable and extreme the scenes turn out to be.  It is not until the climax of the play that we see Ash releasing his desperate need for control.  The sense of what he wants to occur is clear, yet his facing the need to accept what he cannot control is painful and cathartic.

Russell Harvard as Knox
Photo courtesy of Playwrights Horizons

This play is emotionally absorbing and intellectually riveting.  The full cast (main characters and shadow cast) is riveting.  They are fully present with one another in every moment, creating intense and genuine interaction.  I Was Most Alive with You is running at Playwrights Horizons through October 14.  See it!  You will be challenged on every level.

Domenick Danza