"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/ 

Apocalypse Now in "Through The Yellow Hour"

War is chaotic.

In "Through The Yellow Hour," at Rattlestick Playwrights Theater through October 28th, playwright and directorAdam Rapp visits an apocalypse on New York City.

Rapp is no stranger to the odd and allegorical. ("Dreams of Flying , Dreams of Falling" is one that comes to mind as a for instance.)

Photo © Sandra Coudert.
Alok Tewari, Danielle Slavick,
Hani Furstenberg, Matt Pilieci,
Vladimir Versailles, Brian Mendes,
and Joanne Tucker 

Everything in "Through The Yellow Hour" is site specific. The city has been attacked by the Egg Heads, who are systematically killing off the populaton. Ellen (Hani Furstenberg) is holed up in her East Village apartment, waiting for her husband Paul to return. She is the ultimate survivor, trading for foodstuffs and drugs through a network outside her well-fortified door. The first of the nightmares from outside creeps in through a window and ends as the Dead man (Brian Mendes), slumped on the floor for the rest of the play.


There is safety in Pennsylvania, as Maude (Danielle Slavick) tells her when she drops off her baby girl in exchange for a fix.    "There are barges you can get on. They’re traveling south along the shallows of Lake Erie," she says. When Ellen responds that her plans for escape are "risky," Maude says  "No riskier than staying here." Gunfire and the occasional explosion punctuate the dialogue, in "Through The Yellow Hour," like a soundtrack of terror, designed by Christian Frederickson. 

Hani Furstenberg as Ellen and Vladimir Versailles as Darius in Adam Rapp's "Through The Yellow Hour."
Photo © Sandra Coudert.

The end of times vision  in "Through The Yellow Hour" is further accentuated by the elaborately derelect sets by Andromache  Chalfant, and moody lighting of Keith Parham. This is a mesmerizing and puzzling drama, with a superb cast led by Hani Furstenberg.

For more information about "Through The Yellow Hour" and tickets, visit Rattlestick Playwrights Theater.