Unfortunately, Kristian O’Hare’s play is a dud. The Gay American is an uneven hybrid that tries to be a farce and a docudrama but only delivers a series of short scenes that only succeeds as an offensive, foul-mouthed insult to gay men.
Last August, I saw Ka-Tet Theatre’s production of Road and I liked the work from those Purdue grads. Their new show is a fine production of Steven Gridley’s Sun, Stand Thou Still.
I must state up front that I was never a fan of the Rolling Stones so a play with music like Signal Ensemble’s Aftermath has a tough time getting me to like it. Actually, the audience, made up of many old rockers, at the performance I attended seemed to love this show
From the beginning Stanley (in a believable ultra-intense magnificent performance by Matt Hawkins) is less than pleased to have this woman in his home, and even more distracted by what he feels is her “belle of the ball” act, which ultimately results in a major confrontation. As Williams himself remarks, “the play is about the ravishment of the tender, the sensitive, the delicate, by the savage and brutal forces of modern society.”
This story touches on interesting themes of samaritanism. Who is helping who and what is their motive? The author Jeremy Menekseoglu closely ties sexuality and the desire for Mr. Suit to help others as every patient is female and in the end we see it is Mr. Suit who is looking to be saved and loved. In each encounter with the wrong girl we see Mr. Suit struggle with his own internal manipulation to justify his actions.
By simply presenting facts and making all of the characters human and flawed, playwright Tracey Scott Wilson’s The Good Negro succeeds as a piece of entertaining theatre about the civil rights movement, without resorting to propaganda or pursuing a political agenda.
The creative artists at Lifeline Theatre present another wildly engaging adaptation of a novel. This time adapter Robert Kauzlaric and director Paul S. Holmquist have chosen the 1996 urban fantasy novel (and TV mini-series) by British novelist Neil Gaiman, Neverwhere.
It is short, quite melodic with a rich sound from the eleven member orchestra. It is easy to understand as it is sung in English (with English subtitles). It contains a contemporary story and it is sung by two outstanding young performers – Matthew Worth (Charlie) (baritone) and Sara Jakubiak (Beatrice)( soprano). And Three Decembers features the fabulous mezzo-soprano Frederica von Stade as Madeline, the matriarch.
The story tries to do too much (again an outside director would have argued for massive cuts). Despite these major flaws and the poor British accents and the over-acting by the quirky British cousins, there is a worthy play lurking here.
Writer and Performer Jennifer Jajeh, gives a wonderful first hand account of her journey through America and the Middle East as a Palestinian woman.