SOB's Favorite Shows Of The Noughties: #20 - Small Tragedy (2003, Playwrights’ Center, Minneapolis, MN)
Introduction: Hard as it is to comprehend that we're already 119 months into this "new" millennium, we are fast approaching the end of its first decade. While we have yet to agree on what exactly we should call the '00s, I'll take a cue from the fine folks at The Times of London and the BBC and henceforth refer to them at the Noughties. With that small introduction, I'm pleased to present my list of plays and musicals that wowed me the most during that time. Out of the hundreds and hundreds of shows I've seen over the last ten years, I give you my countdown of my 25 personal favorite shows of the Noughties. With works like
Reckless,
Prelude to a Kiss and
The Light in the Piazza under his belt,
Craig Lucas’ twisted, trademark storytelling has made a fan out of me.
So when I learned that the world premiere of his
Small Tragedy would take place at the tiny
Playwrights' Center in Minneapolis, I made sure I was in the audience. With Lucas, things are never what they seem, and with a dash of
Sophocles thrown in for good measure,
Small Tragedy points to the real-live monsters living among us, nearly undetected. Despite an unknown cast for this initial engagement,
Kip Fagan's intimate staging was so effectively haunting that it was the best small play I saw throughout 2003 (or for that matter, the entire decade). It later went on to enthrall Off-Broadway audiences and critics alike.
Six years later, I can still vividly recall the visceral impact this work had on me. That Lucas' morality play has not been produced more widely since remains more than just a
Small Tragedy.
This is Steve On Broadway (SOB).
In keeping with the new that unfairly discriminate against bloggers, who are now required by law to disclose when they have received anything of value they might write about, please note that I have received nothing of value in exchange for this post. I paid my own way for this performance.Labels: Craig Lucas, Minneapolis/St. Paul, Play, Small Tragedy, SOB's Favorite Shows Of The Noughties
Prayer For My Enemy (The SOB Review) - Intiman Theatre, Seattle WA** (out of ****)It's no secret that the biggest world premiere to hit Seattle theatre in years is
Young Frankenstein. However, barely a mile away, another world premiere production is currently playing, this time from critically-acclaimed playwright
Craig Lucas.
I've been quite clear in this space how riveting I've found Lucas' previous works. His haunting
Small Tragedy ranks as one of my favorite plays. Talk about a drama that shook me to my core.
So it was with great anticipation, perhaps
too much, that I visited the
Intiman -- Seattle's leading, Tony Award-winning regional theatre -- to discover Lucas' latest work,
Prayer For My Enemy. Unfortunately, the production under
Bartlett Sher's direction feels incomplete and as unfocused as each character's out-of-body psycho-babbling thought processing.
That's not to say that parts of the overly ambitious dual story lines aren't intriguing.
First, there's the tale of a young gay man named Billy, who's in denial about his sexuality. Billy is portrayed by an all-too strapping Daniel Zaitchik, who comes across more as the quintessential boy next door. Seems he's so tired of the taunts from his own alcoholic father Austin (a prickly
John Procaccino) that he enlists in the military just to prove he's a real man.
Immediately before heading to Iraq, Billy has a chance encounter with his first love Tad (
James McMenamin), who's since gone into a slightly delusional tailspin after divorcing his wife. Billy invites Tad to his bon voyage send-off where the latter becomes reacquainted with Billy's sister Marianne (Chelsey Rives).
While in Iraq, Billy suffers a serious head injury, but it doesn't cut nearly as deep as the discovery that Tad and Marianne are now having a baby, forcing the young soldier to rethink whether he can really be true to himself and Tad. Meanwhile, Tad's trying to fit into his new surroundings by ingratiating himself with Austin and his wife Karen (Cynthia Lauren Tewes -- yes,
that Lauren Tewes).
Concurrently, there's the story of the frazzled middle-aged woman Delores (Kimberly King) who's practically come undone in determining how to care for her ailing mother. Delores regales with her own frustrated tales of living in the Big Apple. She's just plain miserable and alone. Even the staging of Delores' soliloquies underscore how bleak her life has become.
In anticipating a major payoff when the two very separate threads finally come together, they're not so much woven together as they are mismatched. The chance manner in which they're tied together is less than satisfying, unless the point is to show how unperfectly random life is.
In my humble estimation, that's quite atypical of Lucas' other work. What's riveted me most in his unique storytelling is how well he usually enables his strange twists to make sense. Here, it just seems like pure happenstance.
That's not to say that there aren't some sobering moments. It's particularly poignant that the most despicable character in the entire play -- Billy's father -- also turns out to be the surprising source for the show's title, a man who isn't afraid to get down on his knees to pray for America's enemies.
Of all the spare design elements, the one that struck me most was the arresting sound design provided by Stephen LeGrand, including the subtle beeping of the ATM machines where Billy and Tad first reunite.
Prayer For My Enemy certainly aspires to be thoughtful and thought-provoking, yet in its current state, it's strangely deficient. Whether it will be shored up before heading to Long Wharf Theatre next month remains to be seen.
Since I greatly admire Craig Lucas, I'll say a little prayer.
This is Steve On Broadway (SOB).
Click here for tickets.Labels: Bartlett Sher, Craig Lucas, Intiman, Prayer For My Enemy, Seattle, Small Tragedy, The SOB Review
