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magidI went to a staged reading of Throat (Mando Alvarado) tonight at the Center for the Arts, in Watertown. It was my first time at the venue, which is only a couple of years old. The space it was in looked like a nice medium-sized theater, and the walls in the hallways were crammed with art, which was nice.
The play centers on three characters. Cesar is back from Iraq, and not quite right in the head, though it's unclear for a while the extent of his problems . Maggie has just gotten her Master's and is starting as a therapist for recent vets. And there's Jack, Cesar's buddy in the service, Maggie's screw-up druggie brother, and, well, dead; important to them both in very different ways.
This was just a reading, and there were some lines flubbed a little here and there, but the intensity was there of true performance, helped along, of course, by having a script that built the story well. I suspect I would've guessed [pivotal plot point] earlier were it staged, but I don't think that would make a huge difference in the show, given how the other characters interact.
There was a chance to give feedback to the playwright after the show, and though there were definitely comments, they were mostly small things; everyone liked the essence of it. There were some interesting statistics thrown around (all wholly unsubstantiated, of course): 24% of soldiers in combat situations never fire their weapons; only 15% of soldiers who fire actually aim (an older number); 12% of therapists have relationships with a client.
Someone asked about the title of the play, and he said that there were two answers, the prosaic being about Jack's throat being cut, the lyric being about how when the mind and the heart are not in accord, it is the throat that is the battleground between them. I was impressed with the playwright, actually; he's thoughtful and has an ear for language.
PS. I recognized two of the four actors: Marianna Bassham was Ophelia with ASP this fall, and Timothy John Smith was Theseus/Titania last Thursday. He was rather different in this.
The play centers on three characters. Cesar is back from Iraq, and not quite right in the head, though it's unclear for a while the extent of his problems . Maggie has just gotten her Master's and is starting as a therapist for recent vets. And there's Jack, Cesar's buddy in the service, Maggie's screw-up druggie brother, and, well, dead; important to them both in very different ways.
This was just a reading, and there were some lines flubbed a little here and there, but the intensity was there of true performance, helped along, of course, by having a script that built the story well. I suspect I would've guessed [pivotal plot point] earlier were it staged, but I don't think that would make a huge difference in the show, given how the other characters interact.
There was a chance to give feedback to the playwright after the show, and though there were definitely comments, they were mostly small things; everyone liked the essence of it. There were some interesting statistics thrown around (all wholly unsubstantiated, of course): 24% of soldiers in combat situations never fire their weapons; only 15% of soldiers who fire actually aim (an older number); 12% of therapists have relationships with a client.
Someone asked about the title of the play, and he said that there were two answers, the prosaic being about Jack's throat being cut, the lyric being about how when the mind and the heart are not in accord, it is the throat that is the battleground between them. I was impressed with the playwright, actually; he's thoughtful and has an ear for language.
PS. I recognized two of the four actors: Marianna Bassham was Ophelia with ASP this fall, and Timothy John Smith was Theseus/Titania last Thursday. He was rather different in this.
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Date: 2007-02-07 10:39 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-02-08 01:44 am (UTC)