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The InSecurity Blanket:
National Security VS. Individual Freedom
Six short plays
Produced by Remy Bumppo think Tank
In association with Raska Theatre, Teatro Vista and Usman Ally
Program One:
Catastrophe by Samuel Beckett
One for the Road by Harold Pinter
Directed by Ed Sobel
Produced by Remy Bumppo
Terror Act by Cassandra Lewis
Two Sides of Suicide by Gitanjali Kapila
Directed by Lavina Jadhwani
Produced by Raska Theatre Company
At Victory Gardens Greenhouse Theater
2257 N. Lincoln Ave
Chicago, IL
Call 773-871-3000, tickets $20, $15 for students & groups
Thursdays & Fridays at 7 pm
Saturdays at 8 pm
Sundays at 3:30 pm
In repertory --call for details 773-871-3000
Running time is 1 hour, 40 minutes with intermission
Through March 30, 2008
Chilling dramatic look at governmental abuse of personal liberty
Remy Bumppo think Tank, under Shawn Douglas’ leadership, has amassed a two part program in association with Raska Theatre and Teatro Vista with Usman Ally’s poetry slam that dramatically outlines the our current obsession with national security at the expense of personal freedom.
Program One has Ed Sobel directing Samuel Beckett’s overtly political 1982 short play, Catastrophe, that has an older man, The Protagonist (Donald Brearley) forced to stand on a small platform covered in a black robe and a black hat. He hardly moves and has his head down to remain faceless. The Assistant (Jennifer Coombs) follows the instructions of the picky and short-tempered Director (Joe Dempsey) as he makes The Protagonist, with the Assistant’s help, change his posture, hand and clothing arrangement in a blatant display of the ultimate victim. This is quite an allegory of totalitarianism.
Harold Pinter’s 1984 One for the Road finds Nicholas (Don Bearley) a middle aged alcoholic interrogator swilling down alcohol as he combines sadism, power and the pleasures of both booze and cruelty in his investigation of political prisoners Victor (Joe Dempsey), his wife Gila (Jennifer Coombs) and their son Nicky(Matthew Levy). Bearley is creep as the cop from hell. This is a disturbing piece.
Rasks Theatre under the direction of Lavina Jadhwani effectively bring home the real possible of extreme governmental intrusion of our freedom with Terror Act by Cassandra Lewis. Agent O (Anita Chandwaney) is a smart, glib and quire vague security official interrogating Louis (Andy Nagraj), an American male with a Middle Eastern look in the basement of an airport terminal. Agent O is sarcastic, vague and very accusatory toward her well know professional actor traveling to London to receive an acting award for a film where he played a terrorist. He seems to fit some profile as the agent tries to find out if life really imitates art in this case. Putting a face on both the over zealous security agent and the abused innocent traveler is a fine cautionary tale. It has a surprising twist that is healthy.
In Two Sides of Suicide by Gitanjali Kapila, Astif (Danny Bernardo) is a tired government psychiatrist who laments the suicide of one of his military patients. His girl, Shabnam (Fawzia Mirza) is an attorney assigned to represent Guantanamo detainee until her law firm decides that she can’t win her case due to governmental interference with the detainees basic rights under the law. She devises a strange costume for a company Halloween party—a suicide bomber black outfit complete with tin cans to simulate explosives. The two paint a disturbing portrait of the frustration of low level functionaries with abuses.
Program One is fine theatrical pieces that effectively due one of the missions of live theatre—stimulate audiences to think and react to political sensitive issues. Kudos to these fine theatre companies for contributing to the debate.
Recommended
Tom Williams
Talk Theatre in Chicago podcast
Date Reviewed: March 8, 2008
Program Two
Reviewed by Al Bresloff
Back at the Victory Gardens Greenhouse Theater for the second set of productions in Remy Bumppo's "Think Tank" presents" The inSecurity Blanket: National Security vs. Individual Freedom". Today I witnessed two theatrical gems. One a solo performance by Usman Ally and the other a remarkable play written by Jennifer Barclay for Teatro Vista's contribution "Freedom NY". Let's look at this one first.
"Freedom NY" is a small community where everyone knows everyone and everyone's business. It has been just about a year since an incident at the local school where two girls were killed and one is still missing. The authorities are still looking for the culprit who as it turns out might have had an accomplice ( and who it appears was let go by the local law, a Justice of The Peace, Judge Mayflower. Since the incident all eyes are open to anything or anybody "different.” Judge Mayflower no longer allows her granddaughter, who she is raising to leave home ( she was best friends with one of these girls) and is teaching her at home. The Judge is played with great dynamics by Rosemary Newton and the gran daughter , Portia, by the beautiful Rae Gray who matures as an actress in each role she takes on. She is solid in this role as she befriends their new neighbor, a Mexican, Gabriel ( a powerful character deftly played by Desmin Borges- he is fantastic!.
It seems his mother, who has recently died had a dream of leaving Mexico for Freedom NY and although she has passed, he has brought her with him, to this new life, in America. He has not really brought her, but her spirit as it was her dream he is making happen. He has a job as a janitor at the school and the town is a buzz with the fact that there is an "outsider" doing unusual things and that he must be trouble and perhaps he is the accomplice and knows the whereabouts of the missing girl. As the story progresses we see that being different does make people nervous. That instead of getting to know someone and their customs it is far easier to mistrust and or hate because they are not "the same as us". I must say that under the direction of Joe Minoso, Ms. Barclay's words and characters teach us a lot. In fact, the closing of the play itself can make you think that there could even be more. This is one hour of great theater and I am in hopes that this author will do more plays that Teatro Vista can produce for our local audiences. Their name means "theater with a View" and this production is definitely that. BRAVO!
The second part of this afternoon's production is a one man show called "Public Enemy" written and performed by Usman Ally using slam poetry, some dance, hip-hop, music and heart warming story lines to tell us of the problems of the "brown skinned peoples" coming to America in the days since 9-11. While there are some very funny moments in this piece, and Mr. Ally's energy level is as high as one can get, at the end of the story, the audience members found that tear escaping from the corner of their eyes- ( no way they could not). After all the hip-hop and stuff, he gets to the true "meat" of his message. His character, a Muslim from Pakistan, living in America goes with his brother to the grocery store where they are accosted by an American who wants to know who they are and why they are here and on and on. What happens is a tragedy that you must experience for yourselves, so I will not divulge the "rest of the story" but this gentleman is a true talent to watch- a very expressive face with lots of energy who wants to tell his story and does so with style and grace.
These two shows are extremely powerful and in my opinion are the better of the whole event, but all six stories will have an impact on who you are and what side of the fence you wish to be on. "Think Tank" will run through March 30th in the studio theater at Victory Gardens Greenhouse located at 2257 N. Lincoln Ave. with performances on Thursday and Friday at 7 p.m.- Saturday at 8 p.m. and Sunday at 3:30 p.m. they shuffle the deck so to speak so different shows take place on different days and not always the same sequence so you might want to check out www.remybumppo.org to see when you want o attend.
Tickets are a mere $20 ( what I saw today is worth double this price) and can be purchased at the box office, by phone at 773-871-300 or online at www.remybumppo.org
There are post show discussions as well and you will be given an opportunity to tell Remy Bumppo what topic they might want to explore next year. Enjoy these while you have the opportunity.
Date Reviewed: March 9, 2008
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