Reviews from Elsewhere: Phineas and Messenger No. 4, Cambiare & Paper Moon Productions, February 17 - March 4, reviewed by David Glen Robinson

Posted at the Tutto Theatre blog, February 26, by David Glen Robinson:

These full-length plays were presented as a double feature (although one could choose to buy a ticket for a single play only), and this arrangement gave Dr. Dave a huge theatre night. Fortunately, the productions were spectacular and well-matched and left their audiences energized and satisfied. Unfortunately, these shows will soon be competing head-to-head for numerous awards in the upcoming award nominating and granting season—Dr. Dave predicts.

The 27 Would-Be Lives of Phineas Hamm is a full-production premiere of an original play by its director, Rachel Maginnis. The set, costumes and props have a nineteenth century European feel to them, inspecific as to place. Speaking accents were not used or attempted by the cast. The title character inherits a device from his inventor father, that, when used, kills him and reincarnates him in a new life. [. . .]

Messenger #4 hails from the classically obsessed imagination of Will Hollis Snider of Cambiare Productions. A literary agency has proprietary technology, which allows it to send the Messengers into every Classical and Elizabethan play—to manage their common literary devices of messengers coming on stage telling the characters and audiences what has just happened off stage. That way a playwright doesn’t actually have to stage the sea-battle of Actium or anything else enormous that wouldn’t fit onto the stage. Hilarity ensues. Messages to different plays get switched; technology goes haywire; and characters fall in love. Yes, this is farce comedy.

Read more at the Tutto Theatre blog . . . .

Upcoming: The 21 Would-Be Lives of Phineas Hamm by Rachel McGinnis, Paper Moon Repertory at the Blue Theatre, February 17 - March 4

Received directly:

presents

The 21 Would-Be Lives of Phineas Hamm

by Rachel McGinnis

February 17 - March 4

Thursdays - Saturdays, Mondays at 7:30 p.m.; Sundays at 6 p.m.

Playing as the first part of a double bill with Will Hollis Snider's Messenger No. 4

Blue Theatre, 916 Springdale (click for map)

Purchase double-bill on-line ($26.72 per ticket) or call to reserve: (512) 524-3761

When a powerful invention lands in the hands of impulsive Phineas Hamm on his 25th birthday, he’s faced with the possibility of altering his reality with the single pull of a lever. What happens when desires and abandon trump resilience and loyalty? Set to music with choreography by Ballet Austin’s Kaitlyn Moise, Phineas is an exploration of tempting fortunes and their immediate outcomes.

The cast features Austin favorites Aaron Alexander (Big Love), Katie Blacksmith (Servant of Two Masters), Molly Fonseca (Going with Jenny), Jay Fraley (Spirits to Enforce), Omid Ghorashi (The Assumption), Toby Minor (Spirits to Enforce), Andrea Smith (Big Love), Breanna Stogner (Down the Drain), Brie Walker (The Tempest), and newcomer Gabriel Peña as Phineas.

The late 1800s. Dancing and indulgence. Invention and industry. The world of Phineas Hamm is ever-changing, swiftly shifting from opulence to poverty and barreling through 21 versions of reality in an age of mass produced workhouses, manors, tenements and brothels. A visual feast set to music with choreography by Ballet Austin’s Kaitlyn Moise, The 21 Would-Be Lives of Phineas Hamm is a tender look at the power of choice, the pressure of the future, and the spectacular possibility of changing the past.

Read more at AustinLiveTheatre.com . . . .

Upcoming: Messenger No. 4 and The 21 Would-Be Lives of Phineas Hamm, Cambiare Productions & Paper Moon Rep, Feb. 17 - March 4ertory

Received directly:

jointly present

Messenger No. 4 (or How to Survive a Greek Tragedy)

by Will Hollis Snider

and

The 21 Would-Be Lives of Phineas Hamm

by Rachel McGinnis

February 17 - March 4

Performances Thursdays - Saturdays at 7:30 p.m. (Phineas) and 9:30 p.m. (Messenger);

Sundays at 6 p.m. (Phineas) and 8 p.m. (Messenger)

Monday performances on February 20 and 27 at 7:30 p.m. (Phineas) and 9:30 p.m. (Messenger)

at the BLUE Theatre, 916 Springdale (click for map)

Austin’s Cambiare Productions and Paper Moon Rep are proud to announce a double feature of full-length world premieres featuring Will Hollis Snider’s comedy Messenger No. 4 (or How to Survive a Greek Tragedy) and Rachel McGinnis’ The 21 Would-Be Lives of Phineas Hamm.

Directed by Austin Critics’ Table nominee Will Hollis Snider (Intermission, Elektra, The Nina Variations, Orestes), Messenger No. 4 would be just another rollicking workplace comedy, except that the workplace in question is history’s greatest plays. This high energy tour of love, fate, and the Western Canon raises the stakes on workplace frustration to cosmic heights as Messenger No. 4’s job dissatisfaction transcends water cooler grousing, leaping directly to erasing our greatest literature and maybe even reality itself.


Directed by B. Iden Payne and Austin Critic’s Table winner and nominee Rachel McGinnis (The Laramie Project, The Dudleys, Cat on a Hot Tin Roof, Rabbit Hole, The Nina Variations, The Heidi Chronicles), The 21 Would-Be Lives of Phineas Hamm is a sideshow whirlwind of folly, danger and the missteps of youth. When a powerful invention lands in the hands of impulsive Phineas Hamm on his 25th birthday, he’s faced with the possibility of altering his reality with the single pull of a lever. What happens when desires and abandon trump resilience and loyalty? Set to music with choreography by Ballet Austin’s Kaitlyn Moise, Phineas is an exploration of tempting fortunes and their immediate outcomes.

The Cambiare Productions / Paper Moon Rep partnership began simply as a means to offset the single largest expense of any production--rent; but the collaboration has grown into what promises to be a captivating evening at the theatre. The shows remain their singular selves, but the evening will reward those who buy the Double Feature ticket with reduced admission, a complimentary cocktail and an end-to-end experience. The companies are also sharing production staff. The artistic team for Messenger No., 4 and The 21 Would-Be Lives of Phineas Hamm includes B. Iden Payne Award Winners Ia Enstera (Production Scenic Design) and Megan Reilly (Production Lighting Design), B. Iden Payne nominee Glenda Barnes (Costume Design, Messenger No. 4), Amanda Gass (Production Manager/Dramaturg, Messenger No. 4), and Elizabeth Cobbe (Dramaturg, Phineas).


Messenger No. 4 and The 21 Would-Be Lives of Phineas Hamm will be presented as a full evening of theatre at the Blue Theatre (916 Springdale Rd., Austin) from February 17th to March 4th. Tickets will be available for the entire night of theatre or for individual performances at www.PhineasAnd4.com

About Cambiare Productions: Founded in the fall of 2007, Cambiare Productions seeks a laboratory for new and devised works. Cambiare Productions continually reaches out to the Austin and global theatre community in person and via social media to find new partners in the creation of theatre. For more information on Messenger No. 4 or Cambiare Productions please visit CambiareProductions.com.

About Paper Moon Repertory: Founded in 2010, Paper Moon Rep is dedicated to the fine art of theatrical production and education. Our mission is to provide high quality productions that capture the imaginations of theatregoers through inventive scenery and props, one-of-a-kind costumes, innovative music and fantastical storytelling. For more information about The 21 Would-Be Lives of Phineas Hamm or Paper Moon, please visit www.PaperMoonRep.com.

Auditions for The 21 Would-be Lives of Phineas Hamm, Paper Moon Repertory, November 15 and 20

Found on-line:

announces auditions for The Would-Be Lives of Phineas Hamm, A Paper Moon Repertory Production, produced by David Meissner and Rachel McGinnis, script and direction by Rachel McGinnis, choreography by Kaitlyn Moise of Ballet Austin, set by Ia Enstera, lights by Megan Reilly, Dramaturgy by Elizabeth Cobbe,costumes by Rachel McGinnis

Tuesday, November 15th, 6-10pm at The Austin Creative Alliance, 701 Tillery (click for map)

Sunday, November 20th, 6-10pm, The Blue Theatre, 916 Springdale (click for map)

When a powerful invention lands in the hands of impulsive Phineas Hamm on his 30th birthday, he's faced with the possibility of altering his reality with the single pull of a lever. What happens when desires and abandon trump resilience and loyalty? An exploration of tempting fortunes and their immediate outcomes, Phineas is a sideshow whirlwind of folly, danger and the missteps of youth. (Not intended for young audiences. We'd rather not supply the missteps.) (more information about the production is available at the website)

Contact papermoonrep@gmail.com for a 5-minute time slot. Please let us know what day and time you prefer.

Bring Headshot | Resume | Schedule Conflicts for Dec 1-March 7 | Measurements

Prepare A copy of the script will be sent to you. Sides will be provided at auditions. Below is a character breakdown.

MALE ROLES All roles are available.

Phineas | 30ish - Cocky but insecure. Selfish but sensitive. A ladies’ man who isn’t aware that he’s handsome and charming.

Father, Wilhelm | 40s - He’s a doer who skips meals to finish projects. Has been hunched over a workbench for the last 2 decades.

God, Feuergott | 40s-60s - Pampered and spoiled. Imposing presence.

Paul, Valet, Omar, Man | 20s-30s This actor will need to be versatile and comfortable with being in a grappling match.

Vaughn, Cook, Announcer, Client | 20s-30s From a ring-side announcer to a creepy whorehouse client, this actor will need to be versatile, as well.

FEMALE ROLES - All roles are available, except that of Tchiripacha.

Mother, Eva | Mid 30s-40s - The worrying type. She’s the glue in the family who, herself, becomes unglued. Needs to be convincing as a new mother and the mother of a 30-year old. This character is going through some slight revisions, and a darker tone is being added. Will possibly be added to the chorus.

Valerie, Maid 1, Chorus* | 20s-30s - Fierce and vulnerable.

Edie, Eliza, Chorus* | 20s-30s- A comical bitch.

Bess, Claire, Maid 2, Chorus* | 20s-30s - Sweet, secretive and mesmerizing.

*A word about the chorus. It’s possible that some of the men will rotate in and out of the chorus, as well, but the chorus will be predominantly the three ladies noted here.

Upcoming: Dark Monday Fundraiser, Cambiare Productions and Paper Moon Productions, November 28

Found on-line:

Monday, November 28, 6:30 - 11 p.m

at the Blue Theatre, 916 Springdale (click for map)

Tickets $5 at the door

Proceeds benefit Cambiare Productions and Paper Moon Repertory

Inflatable Boxing Ring

Alright, so maybe it’s not a good idea for an actor to send a right hook to a director’s mug, but perhaps this is your chance to let a director sock you for not being off book on time or taking liberties with blocking. We’ve got some celebs in the ring for this special event, or you can duke it out with buddies and/or visiting relatives who just won’t realize Thanksgiving is over.

FEATURING: Andy Berkovsky, Gary Jaffe, Mark Pickell, Ken Webster

The Red Badge of Encourage

Pick five words. Give those words to an Austin theatre critic. Let him/her spin it into a custom review for you emblazoned on a delightful, wearable badge. Hey, space in the paper is a hot commodity--you gotta take a good review when you can get it.

FEATURING: Michael Meigs & Elizabeth Cobbe

Tent of Frivolities and Intrigue

Find out what experience awaits you when you enter this tent. Each visitor will have a totally different 30-second experience that will be the talk of the night.

Click 'Read more' for much, much more information!

Rumors by Neil Simon, City Theatre, September 29 - October 23

The greater Austin area hasn't lacked for productions of this 1988 farce by Neil Simon. A search of AustinLiveTheatre brings back announcements of stagings by the Wimberley Players in September, 2009, by the Renaissance Guild in San Antonio in July, 2010, by Leander's Way Off Broadway Community Players in January of this year and even by UT's student-run Broccoli Project last March. That sequence resembles the systematic trial-and-error of artillery ranging, back and forth, close and far, until once all the coordinates are set, BAM! the shot goes home. Home, in this case, being the City Theatre, one of Austin's liveliest and most entertaining theatre venues.

Simon was one of the twentieth century's most prolific writers for stage, big screen and small screen. The Internet Movie Data Base lists 83 titles associated with him and its short title for his entry tabs him as the writer of The Odd Couple (1968). Rumors is nowhere in that list, probably because its premise, timing and humor are pure stagecraft. The audience witnesses the arrival of various couples in evening dress, one after another, all invited to celebrate the tenth anniversary of their friend and associate, Charlie Brock, Deputy Mayor of New York, and his wife Myra. Problem: the kitchen staff is missing, the food hasn't been prepared, Myra has disappeared, and their friend Charlie is in a daze, having fired a pistol shot that took off his own earlobe.

They're trapped in a situation that surpasses their understanding. Equally baffled by these circumstances and equally confined in this box set, we watch each couple squirm, panic, bicker and try to cover up as others arrive. Simon paces the arrivals and discoveries, and all we learn of Charlie is third hand -- he's confused, he's crying, he's taking Valium, he's sleeping, he's unavailable to answer when the police come calling to inquire about a car accident, a car theft, and the reports of two shots in the night.

Read more at AustinLiveTheatre.com . . . .

Upcoming: The Dudleys, Tutto Theatre at the Blue Theatre, May 6 - 22

Found on-line:

Tutto Theatre presents
The Full-Stage Premiere of
The Dudleys!: A Family Game

by Leegrid Stevens
directed by Gary Jaffe
6 – 22 May 2011
Wednesdays – Saturdays, 8:00 p.m., Sundays, 7:00 p.m.
The BLUE Theatre, 916 Springdale Road (click for map)
Fridays and Saturdays: $15 General Admission
(GACA/Senior/Student: $12 & Priority Seating: $20)
Wednesdays & Thursdays are Pay-What-You-CAN
Name Your Own Price w/ Donation of Non-Perishable Canned Food Item(s) to benefit Hope Food Pantry at Trinity United Methodist Church [Price without donation is $12]

Featuring the artistic contributions of Actors: Alex Cogburn, Katie Dahm, Robert Deike, Spencer Driggers, Braden Hunt, Jenny Keto, Rachel McGinnis, Blake Smith, David Meissner, and Erin Treadway; Set Designer: Chase Staggs; Lighting Designer: Natalie George

Original ChipTune Music Composed and Performed Live by: Steven Gridley.

This evocative, new play translates the adolescent memories of a young man into a malfunctioning 8-bit video game, the kind he used to play as a child. A life-size video game onstage provides the setting in which the characters must score points and overcome obstacles as they navigate their way through the dangers of their own family. The Dudleys! features original video and a live 8-bit band of Atari's, Gameboy's, and Commodore 64's performing original chiptune songs, a new genre of electronic music in which old video game consoles are hacked and reprogrammed as synthesizers. The Dudleys! pits the two dimensional side-scrolling world of fun and happy endings up against the confusion and aimlessness of real life.

Click to view the play's website

Upcoming: Hedda Gabler, Palindrome Theatre, February 18 - March 13

Received directly:

HENRIK IBSEN’S

HEDDA GABLER

New adaptation by Palindrome Theatre’s Resident Playwright Nigel O’Hearn

Feb. 18^th-Mar. 13^th, Thursday-Saturday 8 pm, Sundays 5 pm

The Blue Theater, 916 Springdale (click for map)

Ticket Price: $20 general admission, $12 -25/65+

512-939-6829 - www.palindrometheatre.com

To open our second season, Palindrome offers the internationally acclaimed Henrik Ibsen's Hedda Gabler in a new adaptation by Palindrome's resident playwright, Nigel O'Hearn. Directed by Kate Eminger and featuring Robin Grace Thompson, Chase Crossno, Aaron Alexander, Nathan Osburn, Rommel Sulit, Rachel McGinnis, and Jackie Harper, this world premiere will run for four weeks only.

The Crucible by Arthur Miller, Renaissance Theatre Company at City Theatre, October 28 - November 13

Arthur Miller's play The Crucible deals with dark and frightening times. Though the setting is 1692 Salem, Massachusetts during the wide-ranging hunt for witches, this 1953 piece is equally an evocation of America's sudden dark fear of enemies in its midst. Just years earlier, in World War II the Soviet Union had been considered a valiant ally; with the division of Europe, the threat of the atom bomb and the populist hectoring of politicians such as Senator Joseph McCarthy, many American intellectuals, civil servants and diplomats found themselves targeted for "communist sympathies."

This was the context for The Crucible. It's a strong, at times poetic piece, but much of the play's power and lasting relevance comes from Miller's admonitory lesson about hysteria, prejudice and injustice. In an essay about the play written in 2000 when he was eighty-five, Arthur Miller commented,

The Crucible straddles two different worlds to make them one, but it is not history in the usual sense of the word, but a moral, political and psychological construct that floats on the fluid emotions of both eras. As a commercial entertainment the play failed [it opened in 1953]. To start with there was the title: nobody knew what a crucible was. Most of the critics, as sometimes does happen, never caught on to the play's ironical substructure, and the ones who did were nervous about validating a work that was so unkind to the same sanctified procedural principles as underlay the hunt for reds. . . . Several years after, a gang of young actors, setting up chairs in the ballroom of the McAlpin Hotel, fired up the audience, convinced the critics, and the play at last took off and soon found its place. There were cheering reviews but by then Senator McCarthy was dead. The public fever on whose heatwaves he had spread his wings had subsided.

Read more at AustinLiveTheatre.com . . . .

Images by Andy Berkovsky of The Crucible, Renaissance Theatre Austin at City Theatre, October 22 - November 14

Images by Andy Berkovsky received directly and followed up on-line:

Arthur Miller’s classic tale of the American theatre. When teenage girls are discovered conjuring spirits, the 17^th century town of Salem explodes with accusations of witchcraft. The trials that follow expose a community paralyzed by fear, terror, power and religious extremism.

Riveting dialogue, passionate characters and powerful themes make this both a gripping historical play and a timely parable of our society.

Starring Iden Payne winners Rachel McGinnis and Angela Loftus. With Gabriel Smith, Craig Kanne, Laura Ray and Brian Villalobos as John Proctor. Directed by Stacey Glazer.

October 22 – November 14. Thursday – Saturday 8:00 p.m. and Sunday 5:30 p.m.

The City Theatre, 3823 Airport Blvd. Suite D. – east corner of Airport Blvd. and 38 ½ Street.

For reservations, call 512-524-2870 or e-mail info@citytheatreaustin.org.

$15 - $20. Front Row Reserved $25. Thursday all seats $10. Group and student discounts. www.citytheatreaustin.org

Click to view additional images at AustinLiveTheatre.com. . . .

Ongoing: The Crucible by Arthur Miller, Renaissance Theatre Company at City Theatre, October 22 - November 14

UPDATE: Feature by Sarah Pressley for the Daily Texan, October 21

Received directly:

The Renaissance Theatre Company and City Theatre present

THE CRUCIBLE

Arthur Miller’s classic tale of the American theatre

Directed by Stacey Glazer

with Brian Villalobos, Craig Kanne, Laura Ray, Gabriel Smith and B. Iden Payne winners Rachel McGinnis and Angela Loftus.

October 22 – November 14, Thursdays – Saturdays 8:00 p.m. and Sunday 5:30 p.m.

at The City Theatre, 3823 Airport Blvd, Suite D, east corner of Airport Blvd and 38 ½ Street.

For reservations, call 512-524-2870 or contact info@citytheatreaustin.org.

Tickets $15 - $20. Front Row Reserved $25. Thursdays all seats $10. Group and student discounts. www.citytheatreaustin.org

The Renaissance Theatre Company, in cooperation with City Theatre, begins its 2010 – 2011 theatre season with Arthur Miller's American classic The Crucible. Based on the witch trials in Salem, the stage drama begins performances

Hell and heaven grapple on our backs, and all our old pretenses ripped away. God’s icy wind will blow.

The Crucible, Arthur Miller’s most performed play, was first produced in 1953 and won the Tony Award for Best Play later that year. Set in 1692, it uses the Salem witch hunts as an historical allegory for McCarthy’s blacklisting of Americans and the Red Scare in the 1950’s. The same mob hysteria takes hold in both periods as Miller examines religious intolerance, perversions of justice and the individual’s role in society. The Crucible, which never seems to lose its relevance, explodes with passion, fear, and danger when a group of teenage girls, caught dancing in the forest, take their revenge on their Salem Puritanical society by naming names of townspeople whom they claim are witches.

Known for centering a play around an ordinary man's moral crisis within American society, Miller with his sense of social consciousness gave us some of the greatest dramas of the twentieth century, including All My Sons (1947), Death of a Salesman (1949), The Crucible (1953) and A View from the Bridge (1955). His extensive list of works spans the last six decades and includes plays, screenplays, novels and essays. Some of his other notable plays include Incident at Vichy (1964), The Price (1968), The Ride Down Mount Morgan (1991), Broken Glass (1994) and Resurrection Blues (2002).

“You never tire of watching a masterpiece and The Crucible proves the point as Arthur Miller’s name may be most singularly associated with great American Theatre,” says production director Stacey Glazer. “Innocent people being accused of crimes they didn’t commit; a dynamic story of fear, courage, religious conviction and personal integrity. It’s hot stuff!” Stacey has also directed The City Theatre productions of The Laramie Project, How the Other Half Loves and the Austin Critic’s Table Award nominee Rabbit Hole.

B. Iden Payne award-winners Rachel McGinnis (as Elizabeth Proctor) and Angela Loftus (as Abigail Williams) lead the cast and introduce Brian Villalobos (as John Proctor). The Crucible features Craig Kanne, Gabriel Smith, Laura Ray, John McNeil, Michelle Alexander with Bridget Farias, Lorella Loftus, Callie Boatman, Carrie Stephens, Nathaniel Reid, Daniel Norton, Clay Avery, Brett Shaw, Dewayne Mangan, Liz Roark, Kati Pike and Mikayla McIntyre.

The City Theatre Company is a non-profit organization and is sponsored in part by the Greater Austin Creative Alliance, the Austin Cultural Arts Division and the AMD Foundation.

Upcoming: Rabbit Hole, City Theatre, September 16 - October 4

UPDATE: City Theatre is bringing back Rabbit Hole, winner of the 2006 Pulitzer Prize, for its pre-season. The play opens on Thursday-Friday September 16 -17 at 8 p.m. each evening; it runs September 24-27 and then on Thursday, October 1 and Sunday, October 4.

Following is the text of the ALT review published on July 14:

Rabbit Hole by David Linday-Abaires is a quiet play about loss. Becca and Howie were young parents six months ago when a swift series of random events sent their four-year-old son Danny running after his dog, just as a teenager drove down the street going maybe just a tiny bit too fast.

That back story is not shoved into your face. The action opens as Becca's loud, impulsive sister Izzy is sitting at Becca's kitchen table, telling a comic-horrible story about a confrontation that she had in a bar. Becca is folding laundry, tiny boys' garments, as she listens, fascinated to Izzy crowing.

"You punched her?" Becca gasps, "Izzy, you mean that you were in a bar fight?"

Read more at AustinLiveTheatre.com . . . .

Rabbit Hole, Dancing Cat Circle at City Theatre, July 9 - 19

Rabbit Hole by David Linday-Abaires is a quiet play about loss. Becca and Howie were young parents six months ago when a swift series of random events sent their four-year-old son Danny running after his dog, just as a teenager drove down the street going maybe just a tiny bit too fast.

That back story is not shoved into your face. The action opens as Becca's loud, impulsive sister Izzy is sitting at Becca's kitchen table, telling a comic-horrible story about a confrontation that she had in a bar. Becca is folding laundry, tiny boys' garments, as she listens, fascinated to Izzy crowing. "You punched her?" Becca gasps, "Izzy, you mean that you were in a bar fight?"

Read more at AustinLiveTheatre.com . . . .

Upcoming: Rabbit Hole, Dancing Cat Circle at City Theatre, July 9 - 19

Click for ALT review, July 14




Received directly:

The City Theatre and Dancing Cat Circle present
Pulitzer Prize-Winner

Rabbit Hole

Critically acclaimed play makes its Austin Premier

In cooperation with Dancing Cat Circle Theatre Group, City Theatre joins the 2009 Austin Summer Acts! Festival with the premier of David Lindsay-Abaire’s Pulitzer Prize winning play, Rabbit Hole. In this powerful drama, Broadway’s most heralded play of 2006, a couple struggles to pick up the pieces after a life-shattering accident leaves them drifting perilously apart. Rabbit Hole charts their bittersweet search for comfort and to a path back into the light of day.

The Associated Press called Rabbit Hole “A startling, heartfelt new play”. The New York Times said, “A beautifully observed new play blessed with David Lindsay-Abaire’s customary wit and grace.”

It’s about what you find along the way. – Rabbit Hole

Read more at AustinLiveTheatre.com . . . .

The Heidi Chronicles, City Theatre, March 26 - April 19

Wendy Wasserstein, playwright of The Heidi Chronicles, died in 2005, cut down in full artistic activity by lymphoma. Her play Third, which premiered that year, was performed in Austin last September by the Paradox Players. The City Theatre has just opened The Heidi Chronicles for a four-week run, featuring a talented young cast, clever staging and some still unanswered big questions.

One of five children of a wealthy Jewish family in Brooklyn, Wasserstein graduated from Mount Holyoke, then obtained master's degrees from City College of New York in 1971 and from the Yale School of Drama in 1976. Her graduate thesis project at Yale was produced off-Broadway in 1977, featuring Glenn Close, and then on PBS with Meryl Streep. Wasserstein wrote three more plays and then in 1989 The Heidi Chronicles won the Drama Desk award, the New York Critics' award for best new play, a Tony Award and the Pulitzer Prize for Drama.

The juries for those awards must have recognized this play for its comic, yet earnest take on the emotional plight of highly educated American women. Female thirty-somethings faced contradictions and were assailed by cognitive dissonance when choosing between aspirations for careers and the allure of the safe, mostly suburban world of motherhood. If intelligent women were -- or should be -- the equals of men, why did so many of them decline to compete? And how could capable, successful female professionals establish the comfort, intimacy and family ties that seemed to accrue naturally to mothers and housewives in their warm and fuzzy little worlds?

In her portrayal of Heidi Holland from high school through her young middle age as a respected university professor, Wasserstein deliberately does not answer that question.

Read More . . . .

Upcoming: The Heidi Chronicles, City Theatre, March 26 - April 19

UPDATE: ALT review of The Heidi Chronicles, March 30

From the City Theatre:

The Heidi Chronicles
March 26 - April 19

THE CHRONICLES OF AN ERA: the hit play that speaks for feminism, freedom, friendship, and a generation of women. Winner of almost every national theatre award including the Tony Award and the Pulitzer Prize.

Written by Wendy Wasserstein, an eloquent voice for a generation of American women. The hit play charts one feminist’s path from the tumultuous‘60s through the isolated ‘80s, but her journey is timeless.


THE HEIDI CHRONICLES
Cast List

Heidi: Rachel McGinnis
Susan: Christa Haxthausen
Peter: Gabe Smith
Scoop: Charles P. Stites
Ensemble: Katie Christman,
Samantha Brewer
Stacey Glazer
Martina Ohlhauser
Bridget Farias
Chris, Mark, Easter Bunny,
Waiter, Ray: Sesar Sandoval

About the Play:

Winner of the Pulitzer Prize, the Tony Award,and many other nationally recognized awards.

A significant and celebrated play, which was first presented by Off-Broadway's Playwrights Horizons and went on to become a long-run Broadway success.

"Funny, touching, and written with rare grace and sensitivity, the play is a moving examination of the progress of a generation. Not many plays manage Heidi's feat of inducing almost continuous laughter while forcing the audience to examine its preconceptions…It's the play of the season…" —Variety.

Comprised of a series of interrelated scenes, the play traces the coming of age of Heidi Holland, a successful art historian, as she tries to find her bearings in a rapidly changing world. Gradually distancing herself from her friends, she watches them move from the idealism and political radicalism of their college years through militant feminism and, eventually, back to the materialism that they had sought to reject in the first place.

Heidi's own path to maturity involves an affair with the glib, arrogant Scoop Rosenbaum, a womanizing lawyer/publisher who eventually marries for money and position; a deeper but even more troubling relationship with a charming, witty young pediatrician, Peter Patrone, who turns out to be gay; and increasingly disturbing contacts with the other women, now much changed, who were a part of her childhood and college years.

Eventually Heidi comes to accept the fact that liberation can be achieved only if one is true to oneself, with goals that come out of need rather than circumstance. As the play ends she is still "alone," but having adopted an orphaned baby, it is clear that she has begun to find a sense of fulfillment and continuity that may well continue to elude the others of her anxious, self-centered generation.