{"id":1219,"date":"2012-04-13T10:42:54","date_gmt":"2012-04-13T17:42:54","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/libernetics.com\/?p=1219"},"modified":"2012-04-13T10:57:48","modified_gmt":"2012-04-13T17:57:48","slug":"resurrection-theater-talking-with-notes-and-comments","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/libernetics.com\/?p=1219","title":{"rendered":"Resurrection Theater: “Talking With” notes and comments"},"content":{"rendered":"

I saw\u00a0Resurrection\u00a0Theater’s “Talking With<\/em>“<\/a> last night at The Artisan Theater.<\/a>\u00a0 \u00a0The play is 11 monologues delivered by 11 different women. \u00a0The cast was Margaret Morneau, Gay Cooper, Lindsay Jones, Eliza Webb, Ruby Sketchley, Laura Kaya, Susan Madden, Amy Williams, Shaleen Schmutzer-Smith, Rachel Lanyi and Tara Henry. \u00a0The play was directed by Shawn B. O’Neal.<\/p>\n

The play consisted of the actors, a few chairs, a basket, several very interesting lamps, marbles, cowboy boots. \u00a0The stage was black.<\/p>\n

What we have in “Talking With” is a study in existentialist drama. \u00a0Which is not to say absurdity, or angst. \u00a0It’s more like “existentialist quirk”. \u00a0Because the characters are caught in the middle of their story, and alone, they become eccentric. \u00a0Well they actually are<\/em> eccentric to start with, but\u00a0more so\u00a0because they are completely out of context.<\/p>\n

Some of characters had a\u00a0distinctly\u00a0mystical attitudes — the snake handler who discovers emptiness, the baton\u00a0twirler who communes with god through baton-flagellation,\u00a0\u00a0the woman who sees lamp light as a metaphor for life-energy. \u00a0Some were more-or-less common: a bag lady, a pregnant woman in labor, a rodeo worker. \u00a0One was\u00a0grieving\u00a0for a lost mother and expressed that\u00a0grief\u00a0with marbles, one was grieving over loneliness and stage fright, another was a over-sexed neurotic at an audition. \u00a0There was a frightened woman who made a patch-work costume to hide behind, and a women who experienced\u00a0enlightenment\u00a0through scars and\u00a0tattoos.<\/p>\n

What they all had in common was drama. \u00a0The pacing was even, the characters completely at ease. \u00a0The\u00a0monologues\u00a0were delivered in-the-moment. \u00a0As the characters were suspended it time, so was the audience. \u00a0This particular kind of suspension of disbelief\u00a0encourages\u00a0a\u00a0subtle\u00a0out-of-the-body\u00a0experience.<\/p>\n

A cast of 11, each one standing alone on the stage, limited props, no cues, no breaks. \u00a0It’s what I would called naked theater. \u00a0The show runs until April 22nd.<\/p>\n

Cheers.
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