"The Architecture of Becoming" -- Is It Too Many Chefs?

L-to-R Christopher Livingsont, Vanessa Kai, Jon Norman Schneider and Claudia Acosta. Photo by Carol Rosegg.

In Sarah Ruhl's brilliant "Stage Kiss," the character named He disparages a play that required more than
two collaborators-- "Isn’t a bad sign when three people wrote a play? I mean if two people wrote it, it’s
one thing, but three, come on, three?"

So it's probably not a good sign that there are five named playwrights on "The Architecture of Becoming," at City Center Stage II through March 23rd. The enterprise, penned by Kara Lee Corthron, Sarah Gancher, Virginia Grise, Dipika Guha and Lauren Yee is represented by Siempre Norteada (Claudia Acosta), a writer who has a commission on the City Center.  By the way, not only are there 5 writers, there are 3 directors for this hour and a half interlude.

L-to-R Christopher Livingston, Danielle Skraastad, Vanessa Kai and Claudia Acosts. Photo by Carol Rosegg.

There are other storytellers enacted in the vignettes that comprise this "play," including Vanessa Kai's
Tomomi Nakamura, a 1940 Japanese housewife who wants only to tell her own story. "I only want to play
myself I only want to tell my story. I only want to tell my story. Does that mean I am not an actress?"
Siempre Norteada merely connects the pieces, or does her best to do so.

Vanessa Kai as Tomomi and Danielle Skraastad as Virginia, the fishmonger. Photo by Carol Rosegg.

"The Architecture..." is meant to be a paean to the building, in which the Women's Project has found its 

home. There are references to the City Center's rich history. It is also an ode to artists who come to New York to seek inspiration.

The actors, Danielle Skraastad, Jon Norman Schneider, Christopher Livingston, and the aforementioned

Vanessa Kai and Claudia Acosta, all fine, are ill-served by this hodgepodge. 

City Center, the glorious recently restored 90 year old landmark which started life as a Masonic Temple,

and now is home to theater and ballet from around the world, deserves better too.

To find out more about "The Architecture of Becoming," visit http://wptheater.org/