{"id":506,"date":"2012-02-05T13:47:36","date_gmt":"2012-02-05T20:47:36","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/libernetics.com\/?p=506"},"modified":"2012-02-05T14:31:17","modified_gmt":"2012-02-05T21:31:17","slug":"kolt-runs-production-of-where-were-born-notes-and-comments","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/libernetics.com\/?p=506","title":{"rendered":"KOLT Run’s production of “Where We’re Born”: notes and comments"},"content":{"rendered":"

I had a chance to attend the weekend opening of KOLT’s<\/a> first play of the season, “Where We’re Born” at the Ooley Theater. \u00a0The play is written by Lucy Thurber<\/a>, a (relatively) young playwright from New York City. \u00a0I’ve never met, or even heard of, Lucy Thurber (I’m guessing she doesn’t know me, either). \u00a0What I can tell you is she is a really, really strong writer. \u00a0If she is like her play in person, she is intelligent, articulate, and something of a romantic. \u00a0That said, the play (at least for me) was not about romance.<\/p>\n

I can describe the production with three words: focus,\u00a0rhythm, intensity. \u00a0What I found interesting was that nobody, not for a second, dropped the ball. \u00a0Every performer was totally in tune with their character. \u00a0At all times.<\/p>\n

Thurber did a great job of constructing the dialog and story line; the characters stood out immediately as unique and identifiable (and familiar). \u00a0This play is not for the faint of heart on either side of the theater. \u00a0It must have taken a\u00a0tremendous\u00a0amount\u00a0of work to put this production in place. \u00a0And pain. \u00a0Lots of pain.<\/p>\n

The script required the kind of in-the-moment emotional availability that separates the causal from the practiced. The whole crew —\u00a0Kelley Ogden, John Young, David Chernyavsky, Brian Harrower, Jessicah Neufeld — was spot on. \u00a0Judging from the results, I would say Lisa Thew’s directing was outstanding.<\/p>\n

The script is complicated enough that I’m sure there are lots of things that can be surmised, or learned. \u00a0What I took away from it is there is a kind of response to life that one might call “existential indulgence”. \u00a0Which is to say, drifting without purpose. \u00a0One of the characters (“Drew”) looks\u00a0longingly\u00a0into the\u00a0horizon, \u00a0past the confines of the town, past even the vast distances of the sky, and into space. \u00a0He doesn’t seem to know what he wants, just that he wants something. \u00a0They all want something, but what they get is distraction. \u00a0 I got the distinct impression they were emotionally stunted.<\/p>\n

But they are\u00a0supremely\u00a0articulate in their emotional weakness. \u00a0The character “Tony” utters one of the best lines in a play that I’ve heard recently — he is struggling to come to grips with his own\u00a0inadequacies, so he tries to live through the success of his young cousin (“Lilly”). \u00a0He uses her the same way he uses a bottle of Rum; he numbs himself. \u00a0You are my success, he tells \u00a0her. \u00a0A great line, generally true as far as it goes; as long as it doesn’t go too far. \u00a0But of course it does go too far.<\/p>\n

I cannot say that I liked these characters. \u00a0They seemed small and alone. \u00a0Sometime I feel like them. \u00a0But I don’t like them. \u00a0 That may be Thurber’s point. \u00a0 Well, sometimes life is a quiet stream on a warm sunny day with clear skies, and sometimes it’s a freight train going full on rushing past you six inches away. \u00a0Aside from that, I don’t know very much. \u00a0So go and see the play and see what you think.<\/p>\n

Well that’s it for now. \u00a0Thanks for stopping by and have a great day.
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