Gnit

 Gnit
Theatre for a New Audience
Polonsky Shakespeare Center
November 6, 2021 

Photo courtesy of Theatre for a New Audience

Will Eno has taken Ibsen’s Peer Gynt and made it his own with Gnit, now playing downtown Brooklyn at Theatre for a NewAudience.  The quest for the self at the expense of everything is still the main action, yet the story is simpler, more concise.  His main character, Peter, is still the self-centered liar as Ibsen’s Peer, but in Gnit the quest is not fully realized.  Peter’s adventures do not land him in a secure and warm place, but leave him questioning, and presenting that question to the audience.

Joe Curnutte & Deborah Hedwall
Photo courtesy of Theatre for a New Audience

In the opening scene Peter’s mother (played by Deborah Hedwall) is waiting for his return.  She is sick and in need of his care.  When Peter (played by Joe Curnutte) finally returns, he is full of stories, and does not acknowledge his mother’s need.  He is off again when his mother tells that the woman he once loved is set to marry another man.  On the way to steal back the bride, he meets Solvay (played by Jasmine Batchelor), and falls in love.  The town sues Peter's mother for the disruption he causes at the wedding, leaving her with nothing.  Peter runs to the mountains and becomes entrapped by a woman (played by Christy Escobar) whose father (played by David Shih) promises him wealth and stability.  Peter escapes, returning to build a home for him and Solvay.  As soon as the house is complete, the woman from the mountains finds him.  With their child in her arms, she tries to lure him back.  Before fleeing, Peter visits his mother on her death bed.  He is present for her passing, but leaves before her burial. 

In Act II, Peter finds his fortune, then carelessly loses it.  He travels the world in search of himself, only to return to the home he built for himself and Solvay, too late to spend time with her.  She has passed, and Peter is left questioning the purpose of his journey. 

Photo courtesy of Theatre for a New Audience

Joe Curnutte captures the audience’s attention on his first entrance.  His character grows throughout his journey, driven by his main objective and continually probing any questions he faces.  Deborah Hedwall is powerful as Peter’s Mother.  She reaches deep to portray the hurt, loneliness, and disappointment of the character.  She and Mr. Curnutte have a strong connection.  Among the stylized interpretations in this production, the most intimate moment is between these two actors at the death of the Mother.

The huge cast of Ibsen’s play is performed by six actors in this adaptation.  The ensemble work is outstanding.  Jasmine Batchelor has a subtle and effective presence as Solvay.  There are equally strong performances by Jordan Bellow, Christy Escobar, and David Shih.  These amazing actors play numerous roles, quickly transforming into distinct characters in the blink of an eye.  

Playwright Will Eno
Photo courtesy of Theatre for a New Audience

Will Eno’s writing is rhythmic and prolific.  The relationships are established quickly through the tone of the writing.  Director Oliver Butler keeps this rhythm and tone consistent throughout the production, heightening the humor, sharply focusing the theme, and giving the audience distance to fully experience the extensive journey of the characters. 

The Theatre for a New Audience production of Will Eno’s Gnit is a MUST SEE.  Originally schedule and rehearsed for a March 2020 opening, the stunning set, designed by Kimie Nishikawa, remained on the Scripps mainstage of the Polansky Shakespeare Center throughout the pandemic.  It is sheer joy to finally experience this engaging piece of theatre.  Gnit is playing through November 21.  Don’t miss it! 

Domenick Danza

The Amateurs

The Amateurs

Vineyard Theatre

February 17, 2018

Photo courtesy of Vineyard Theatre

In his new play, The Amateurs, Jordan Harrison examines a number of compelling themes and concepts about the human experience throughout the ages.  There are many layers and points of entry in this new work.  The superb Vineyard Theatre production allows the audience to engage and journey through them all, and emerge with a broader view, a release, a purifications… or as they say in the play, a catharsis.

The play opens in the 1300s in the middle of a morality play.  A group of traveling players are portraying the seven deadly sins, when one falls ill with the black plaque.  He quickly dies and is left behind to be buried in a communal grave.  His sister, Hollis (played by Quincy Tyler Bernstine), is more affected by this than the rest of the traveling troupe.  Larking (played by Thomas Jay Ryan) continues to push his cast in getting ready to present their new play about Noah’s flood for the Duke.  When the players are visited by the ghost of their deceased colleague, the action of the play ceases and the playwright (played by Michael Cyril Creighton) enters to offer context to the dilemma and review a number of options for how to continue.  The ideas and questions he brings up are fully realized when the journey of the traveling players resumes.

Photo courtesy of Vineyard Theatre

Michael Cyril Creighton fills the twenty or so minute section as the playwright with depth, poignancy, impeccable timing, and serious humor.  He shares the character’s personal experiences of being bullied in middle school, learning to be afraid of AIDS in high school, and addresses the fact that Noah’s wife refuses to board the arc in the morality play.  He is joined in this middle section of the play by Quincy Tyler Bernstine, who steps out of her role as Hollis and shares with the audience an enlightened experience she once had while playing Mrs. Cratchit in a regional theatre production of A Christmas Carol.  She equally matches Mr. Creighton’s poignancy and humor.  This section frames the entire experience of the play and focuses the audience to view and understand the themes and messages.  These two actors masterfully bring to the fruition what this magnificent writing deserves.

The full cast of "The Amateurs"
Photo courtesy of Vineyard Theatre

The entire cast is amazing.  Kyle Beltran (as Brom), Greg Keller (as the Physic), Jennifer Kim (as Rona), and Thomas Jay Ryan (as Larking) bring richness and dry humor to this unprecedented play.  Director Oliver Butler finds the perfect pace that allows the impact of the themes to pop.  Scenic design by David Zinn and lighting design by Jen Schriever create a weighty atmosphere of encumbrance, mystery, and wonder.

Playwright Jordan Harrison examines the development of the individual identity as the root of the survival of humankind.  He clearly puts it out there that there are no safe places to hide from catastrophic events, such as the black plague, the great flood, the AIDS crisis, or anything else we might presently be facing.  He then sums it up in the succinct statement that “life is long.”  The Amateurs runs at the Vineyard Theatre through March 18.  It is definitely a MUST SEE! 

Domenick Danza

The Light Years

The Light Years

Playwrights Horizons

March 18, 2017

Photo courtesy of Playwrights Horizons

The Light Years, now running at Playwrights Horizons, is a story of inspiration and ingenuity.  The story covers forty years, and takes place during the 1893 and 1933 Chicago World’s Fairs.  Playwrights Hannah Bos and Paul Thureen weave fact and fiction into a heartfelt story of struggle, loss, and persistence.  Director Oliver Butler chooses a distinctive style for the production that captures the spirit of the time period.

Rocco Sisto, Aya Cash, & Erik Lochtefeld
Photo courtesy of Playwrights Horizons

Steele MacKaye (played by Rocco Sisto) has a vision for the grandest theatre ever built.  In it he will mount his most spectacular production, telling the story of Christopher Columbus’ journey across the Atlantic Ocean.  Around the proscenium the audience will see the constellations that guided Columbus.  This might be a small technological feat for present day theatre, yet this vision was to be constructed for the 1893 Chicago World’s Fair, when electric light was first being introduced.  Hillary (played by Erik Lochtefeld) and Hong Sling (played by Brian Lee Huynh) are the inventors of the mechanical contraptions envisioned by Mr. MacKaye.  Is the vision too great to be achieved?  What keeps these ideas alive for forty years, connecting them to the Chicago World's Fair of 1933?

Aya Cash & Erik Lochtefeld
Photo courtesy of Playwrights Horizons

The production does an amazing job of traveling forward and back over time.  The actors create a clear illusion that makes it easy and enjoyable to follow.  Aya Cash plays two roles.  First we see her as Adeline, Hillary’s wife in 1893, then as Ruth, the wife a musician in 1933.  Ms. Cash skillfully creates the emotional connection that links the two stories over the forty year span of the play.  The entire cast does an amazing job with this well written and constructed script, yet the stylistic concept of the characterizations does not allow for a personalized connection to the audience.

The design (sets by Laura Jellinek, lighting by Russell H. Champa, and sound by Lee Kinney) give a clear insight into the size and scope of Mr. MacKaye’s visionary theatrical production and the challenges faced by the characters due to the technological limitations of the day.  This makes the story well worth seeing.  The Light Years runs at playwrights Horizons through April 2.

Domenick Danza