THEATRE REVIEW:
KPBS
AIRDATE: December 05, 2003
Strip down and expose the naked truth.
That's what theater is supposed to do. When you take away the sets, costumes
and techno-wizardry, what's left is narrative and personality. Two current
shows get back to basics: telling tales and creating characters.
"Story Theatre" was devised
in 1970 by Paul Sills, son of the doyenne of improvisation, Viola Spolin. With
his talented Second City troupe in Chicago, he created a seemingly loose but
tightly conceived form of theater based on improv, where the actors both
narrate and perform, creating multiple characters on a bare stage with the most
minimal props -- a hat, a pipe, a scarf. North Coast Repertory Theatre's new
artistic director, David Ellenstein, worked with a capable cast of nine to
recreate this decidedly '60s theater experience, but devoid of its political
undertones. "Story Theater" becomes a family-friendly, non-holiday
retelling of the not-so-sweet-and-gentle fables and fairy tales of Aesop and
The Brothers Grimm. Some, like "Henny Penny" and "The Robber
Bridegroom," are familiar; some less so. And though the play is definitely
an ensemble piece, some folks do stand out: nimble, rubber-legged Jonathan
Meza, funny Arnold impersonator Randall Dodge, as well as Fred Harlow and Laura
Bozanich in multiple roles. The sound effects created by the cast are wonderful
and the evening passes pleasantly, bringing us back the joy of storytelling. To
keep it even more engaging, less would be more.
Same can be said of "Another
American: Asking and Telling," at Diversionary Theatre. Actor/writer Marc
Wolf spent three years collecting interviews, from gay people and straight,
about the military's 'Don't Ask/Don’t' Tell' policy on homosexuality. In the
dramatic format made popular by Anna Deveare Smith, he appeared Off Broadway in
his play, slipping from one character to another, offering various
perspectives, male and female, pro and con. But Smith used minimal props to
distinguish her characters, and this would be helpful at Diversionary, too,
where Russell Garrett looks perfect, in his Army khaki and lug-boots, handsome
in either a gay or a military way, as needed. But his characters are not always
clearly distinguished. Some of those military guys meld into each other. The
second act is slow to start, but it contains the evening's most compelling
account, of a mother whose gay son was beaten to death, beyond recognition, by
his shipmates. Overall, the play is fragmented; we're shown various colorful
pieces of a puzzle, but they never coalesce into a unified picture that makes a
particular point. Both shows would be much more potent at an intermissionless
80-90 minutes. But the players are pliant, and in this overblown age and
overstuffed time of year, it's a beautiful thing to go back to the simple art
of character-building and storytelling.
©2003 Patté Productions Inc.