The most dangerous programming in the world of theater is a world premiere. That’s because you are asking a ticket buyer to buy an unknown product. Therefore it’s rather remarkable that this area is offering four world premiere’s this week. Two are by professional theaters in Berkshires. Two others are offered by local companies.
In Lenox, MA, Shakespeare & Company offers “Lunar Eclipse” by Donald Margulies. He won a Pulitzer Prize for “Dinner With Friends” and has been nominated for the award for two other plays, “Sight Unseen” and “Collected Stories.”
It’s a two-character play about a long-married couple, sitting on their porch somewhere in the mid-west. They are watching the seven phases of a lunar eclipse, and after a few sips of bourbon the couple becomes nostalgic as they discuss their lives together including such topics as land, legacy, children and dogs. If this sounds like a gently romantic play about enduring love, the assumption is furthered by the casting.
Karen Allen who plays the wife is probably best known as a film star. Among her many film credits is the Indiana Jones film “Raiders of the Lost Ark.” She is also a skilled stage artist whose association with Shakespeare & Company goes back to 1988 when she played Rosalind in “As You Like It.”
Performing as her husband is Tony Award-winner Reed Birney. In 2001 he appeared at Barrington Stage Company, with his son, in “Chester Bailey.” The play later moved to Irish Rep in NYC. Birney is one of the most respected actors working today. In film, television and especially stage, his credits are endless.
It’s hard to think of a play with better credentials. It runs through October 22.
Barrington Stage Company is Pittsfield is offering the 2023 Pulitzer Prize-winning play “English” written by Sanaz Toosi It’s about four Iranian student preparing for an English exam in a storefront school near Tehran. Each student has a unique background and motive to be in the class. The work is enlightening in showing the uniqueness of language and how it can unite or divide individuals and cultures. And, in this case help change identities. The tension comes from not knowing that everyone in class is on the up and up.
A bonus is the theatricality of a play in which two languages are spoken the actors always speak “English.” It plays until October 15.
Harbinger Theatre, whose specialty is producing plays new to the area, is offering the world premiere of “Custom Cuts.” It runs through September 30 at Albany’s Theatre Barn. It is a semi-autobiographical play written by Brian Sheldon, who is the executive director of Sand Lake Center for the Arts.
He sets the play in his home town of Schenectady and it takes place in a make-shift hair salon set up in the family’s living room, similar to Sheldon’s own life experience. It is about a dysfunctional family and an abusive father. However, though extremely personal, he insists the work is universal in both its subject matter and appeal.
Proof of this is Sheldon is a white, male-identifying person. The production’s director Angela Ryan-Ledtke has cast the play with African-American actors. It proves the topic of parental abuse – physical and/or psychological - is not restricted to race, culture, income or geography.
Child abuse can result in what Sheldon calls “learned behavior.” The issue is one that constantly lingers with him. Indeed, he recently became a father and is vividly aware that the cycle of abuse frequently is passed on from father to son, mother to daughter. When his child was born, “I made a vow never to hit or verbally abuse my son. I never stop monitoring my behavior to be true to that vow.” In parting he added, I hope “Custom Cuts” shows how casually abuse can happen and how casually people accept such treatment as normal. It’s a cycle that has to be broken.”
The other new play being produced this week is offered by Troy Foundry Theatre, noted for its cutting-edge approach to theater. “Hard Candy and Misdemeanors,” written by Chris Eli Blak, is offered in collaboration with Collectiveffort.
The play takes place over a single day in the break room of the Quickie Shop, a convenience store in some small town where friends meet and reveal to the audience their complicated lives and relationships. It was one of the pieces in the company’s Half-Baked Festival which presented emerging work. Audiences were so enthusiastic the organization brought the playwright back and continued to improve the play. It will be produced at Collectiveffort’s Kickback Studios at 10 Second Street downtown Troy tonight through October 7.
If you like a sense of discovery when going to the theater, this is your week. Without supporting new work you are destined to revival after revival. To me, it’s a dull way to be entertained.
Bob Goepfert is theater reviewer for the Troy Record.
The views expressed by commentators are solely those of the authors. They do not necessarily reflect the views of this station or its management.
