PAGE ON THE STAGE IS A PLATE FULL OF THEATER
All three plays have opened at Beowulf Alley Theatre, 11 S. Sixth Ave., in the company's Outrageous New Play Festival Series, Page on the Stage, playing Wednesdays through Sundays to July 18.
The offerings are varied and the quality is good. Each play has its own unique appeal. The productions are complete. Though the stage sets are minimal, the actors are well-rehearsed and the ideas presented in all three are worth talking about afterward.
Please note, the theater is fully air conditioned.
Here is a closer look at each production.
WELCOME TO THE ART WORLD'S DARK SIDE
Making fun of the art world with its pretentious manners and inflated values is so easy. Jonathan Northover takes a different, though equally entertaining, approach with his new play “A Work of Art,” getting its debut showcase in Beowulf Alley Theatre’s Outrageous New Play Festival Series, Page on the Stage.
We see how money, as well as beauty, can be in the eye of the beholder. Of course, when you’re in an art gallery full of painted masterpieces, beauty and money are the same thing.
Northover can’t resist toying with the idea of false realities, either. Sure we can accept the philosophical concept that we all depend on our fantasies to get us through each day. But if some guy’s oil painting from 250 years ago is considered high art, why isn’t an exact copy of that painting also considered art?
Is art all about timing? Where is the talent in that?
Why should the first person who dreams up a particular set of shapes and colors applied with a certain type and number of brush strokes get all the credit? The painters who do exactly the same thing to create an identical copy of the masterpiece in question also need meticulous technique and an even sharper eye for detail.
Maybe people who make their living in the world of art think this kind of logic is silly. But for the rest of us, there is a certain ring of truth.
The playwright, who is British, also enjoys giving a good poke to the inflated language insurance companies use to dodge their responsibilities. “A Work of Art” is a play about language we can all appreciate. And it takes place in London. There is even a reference to Guy Fawkes Night.
Included in the cast directed by Lydia Borowicz are Sean William Dupont as Daniel Breedlove, a gallery worker in a tight spot; Stephen Frankenfield as Gornstoun Wright, a more conniving sort who lives in art’s shadow; Chelsea Bowdren as Helen Brailey, daughter of the gallery’s director; Cynthia Jeffery as Penelope Brailey, the gallery director; Steve McKee as Mr. Smith, the oily insurance agent.
PAGE ON THE STAGE GATHERS MOMENTUM IN "THE LANGUAGE OF FLOWERS"
Lovers of language will find lots to love in Gavin Kayner’s new play, “The Language of Flowers.” This is the second entry in Beowulf Alley Theatre’s Outrageous New Play Festival Series, Page on the Stage.
Words flow at an elevated level from actors caught up in surreal situations performed on a dimly lit stage, which adds to the nightmare quality of "The Language of Flowers." Layers of metaphors seem to fill every scene.
The play begins in silence with Emma (Kristina Sloan) and Maria (Robyn Van Austen) stuffing a large black bag that looks like it could contain a dead body into the empty refrigerator of a down-at-the-heels apartment. As the play continues, that ‘fridge looms like an elephant in the corner, the silent reminder of a debt which must be paid.
Emma is an innocent child/woman who believes she is channeling the poet Emily Dickenson onto the pages she keeps writing. Her older sister Maria carries a life-size doll baby wrapped in a soiled blanket, believing the baby is alive. Maintaining these illusions severely confines the sisters’ lives, but also helps retain whatever is left of their sanity.
But this reclusive shelter explodes in noise and violence when Walter (Brian Taraz) breaks in, bringing with him all the volatile emotional baggage the two females have been desperately trying to avoid.
What follows is a tragedy of Shakespearian proportions, questioning the nature of illusion, the suppressed passions that family members can feel for each other, the final taboos that society has refused to abandon though all else is gone.
To explain more would be to damage the art Kayner created on the page that this trio of actors directed by Steve Anderson brings so vigorously to the stage. All three give exceptional performances. This play is so rich in symbolism you could see it five times and come away with five completely different interpretations.
“You don’t know if you love it or you hate it – but you definitely respect it,” said one playgoer at intermission.
By the time you get to the ending with its blaze of light, you will definitely love it. “The Language of Flowers” is highly recommended for those who thrive on fine theater.
MEANINGFUL MEMORIES IN "THE FIRST THIRD"
There are lots of ghosts from the war in Vietnam floating around. One of the ghosts that doesn’t get much attention is the subject of the first play in Beowulf Alley Theatre’s Outrageous New Play Festival Series with its first ever Page on the Stage.
Local playwright John Vornholt drew on first-hand experiences to write “The First Third,” dramatizing the night of Dec. 1, 1969, when the fate of the nation’s young men was decided by Fate itself. If that was an important date in your life, you will enjoy this play.
Vornholt catches the feeling of five guys who are college seniors, hanging around in front of a black-and-white TV with a bunch of beer and a bowl of chips, to see if their birthdays are among the first third of the 366 birth dates drawn (Feb. 29 was also included).
Those in the first third were guaranteed to be drafted into military service. They knew they were definitely going.
Everyone knows, either from memory or from reading history, how this war was uniquely controversial. The guys’ conversation reminds us of the debates about anti-war demonstrations, peace demonstrations, what was patriotic and what wasn’t.
Was it better to go to Canada or Europe to avoid the draft? Were there tricks you could use to get rejected by the Army? There are other references to the sexual revolution, the women’s lib movement, the hope of all young men to meet the perfect woman just by chance. Their conversations become a whole pill bottle of time capsules.
History does repeat itself, for we are reminded by Vornholt’s play how the U.S. government keeps making the same mistakes. We are presently involved in at least two wars that have that same endless tunnel that baffled the military generals trying to bring a graceful ending to the war in Vietnam.
“The First Third” becomes a dramatization of conflicts that will inspire some timely thought afterward. Those who don’t remember the past are doomed to repeat it.
Each play will receive seven performances. Curtain is 7:30 p.m. Wednesdays through Sundays, plus 1:30 p.m. matinees Saturdays and Sundays, running to July 18. For specific times for specific plays, check the website, www.beowulfalley.org, click on "Performances & Events," then click on "Page on the Stage."
Tickets are $12 for one play, $30 for all three. Buy tickets on the Beowulf Alley website or call 520-882-0555.
