Awakenings

There are some plays that amuse with light entertainment and others that indulge the senses in the feasts of scenery and costumes that only high-end Broadway budgets can afford. “Tings Dey Happen” is neither.

Just as controversial in aesthetics as it is in content, this avant-garde production takes stage at the Culture Project Theatre, aptly situated in the chic SoHo neighborhood. An austere black stage stars the play’s writer and solo actor extraordinaire, Dan Hoyle. Somewhat taken aback, the audience watches the young, white Hoyle transform into black militants, oil workers, and prostitutes as the audience is taken across the conflict torn Niger Delta.

At the heart of this play is the real tragedy of a broken country ravaged by foreign exploitation, a corrupt government and ethnic rivalry. Politically saturated and illuminating, “Tings Dey Happen” combines the rawness of a documentary with the brutal honesty of journalism. It resonates with any worldly citizen that cares about the human’s plight.

“Tings Dey Happen” is fresh, unapologetic and daring in its acerbic language. It makes no effort at objectivity, but is fair in telling a neglected story. Characters like the desperate arms dealer who dreams of a college education are often difficult to judge, as they are as complex as Nigerian politics. Well-timed comic relief evenly interspersed throughout the ninety-minute performance, often in the form of wry comments by the stage manager, lightens the otherwise heavy mood of the play.

While Hoyle probably deserves more praise for holding up a country’s tragedy than he does for his skillful performance, his acting easily outshines the story. In his impeccable delivery, he unintentionally overshadows the story he brings to life as the audience loses his words in his fluid, agile movements. Although the intensity of the play is still impossible to miss, the plot’s clarity is obscured in the pidgin English of Hoyle’s characters. Even if the choice of language was intended to convey an authenticity rather than the minute details of the play, the overall impact was lost. However, character changes are fairly obvious as they are often marked by an abrupt interruption of the play’s momentum.

A master soloist like Dan Hoyle cannot even salvage the play from the burden of too many characters, although he succeeds in giving each character distinct voices, gestures and grimaces. Perhaps, after the success of his previous solo performances in the Circumnavigator and Florida 2004: The Big Bummer, Doyle decided unwisely to take on a more challenging role or roles, making his performance seem at times like a winning audition rather than a winning play. Still, Hoyle is believable just as he is likable.

With its fragments of Nigerian life, “Tings Dey Happen” leaves the audience with a heavy-heart and a sense of urgency that for many often fades in the coming days or weeks. Unsettling realizations are sadly blown away like dust in the African wind.

In celebration of the 10^th anniversary of the Harman Writer-In-Residence Program, its current visiting author Sigrid Nunez read from her latest novel The Last of her Kind and commented on her writing style, which critics have described as unflinching and disconcerting.

In the voice of Georgette the novel’s narrator, Sigrid Nunez reads what sounds unmistakably like a journal entry. Few writers could accomplish the same meditative, staccato rhythm of Sigrid Nunez’ signature style. While Nunez’ writing is digressive as any thought process scribbled in a journal, there is no doubt that this master writer is in command. Each vignette and digression reveals another thread in a web of the narrator’s experiences. Reflections and raw confessions such as Georgette’s description of the bruise she gets from her mother as “oozing with the will to live” illuminate the world of a complex, sentient being in a way only a private letter can.

In her first novel A Feather on the Breathe of God as in The Last of her Kind, Nunez starts with a seemingly ordinary person overlooked by the world, but by endowing her characters with her own powers for observation and poetic language she molds them into powerful people with experiences worthy of being shared. For this reason, many students find it hard to believe that Nunez’ writing is not autobiographical. It appears unthinkable that a person could create such multidimensional, fragile characters without having lived their experiences. Yet, Nunez assured students that aside from the occasional borrowing of names and settings from her real life, her novels are fictional.

Still, students persisted in asking questions about the authenticity of her first novel. Nunez shot them down one after another crushing any suspicion that her work is an autobiography wrapped in fiction.While students failed to extract the confession they were perhaps hoping for, that evening’s reading and talkback did reveal a shred of the person behind the novel. Like her self-proclaimed organic writing style, Nunez is a plainspoken, unapologetic and intelligent person. Undoubtedly, she has a vast array of biting ideas, which she is sure to draw upon for her sixth novel that for the first time will feature a male protagonist.

The International Center of Photography’s companion exhibit displaying the works of Gerda Taro and Robert Capa captures the crude reality of our world’s sometimes shocking and controversial events. “Driven as much by political sympathy as by photographic ambition,” their close partnership has truly set the benchmark for capturing war and all its grim details.

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Abstract expressionism allows the mind to wander deep into the imagination with no right or wrong interpretation. In the attempt to comprehend abstract art, some may only see the black and white, while others might get stuck in the gray area. It seems that the creators of this type of art have a mind different from the rest, seeing the world upside down, sideways, and backwards.

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Finally here it is: the big one, the one we have all waited for. It’s the Metropolitan Opera House, the biggest stage in the world, playing Aida, one of the grandest operas of all time. There was hype, there was build up, but would it meet expectations? (more…)

Childhood dreams only come true for a select few individuals. For the rest of the population, life paves the road. Angela Brown is one such example. Though her dream was to perform in musical theater, Angela was guided by life to a career as an opera star. And if asked, she wouldn’t have it any other way. (more…)

War is associated with glory, passion, and most importantly, conquest. War is taught in a story format in school, often times making it seem as though it were fictional. The exhibit at the International Center of Photography aligned the photos of Gerda Taro and Robert Capa in this same type of story format, however unlike classroom education, the photographs show the true side of war. (more…)

Abstract expressionism evokes a tremendous amount of human emotion. Some of the finest artwork of this genre can be found in the world renowned Metropolitan Museum of Art. While much of abstract expressionism is creative artwork in its finest form, there are some pieces that should in no way be referred to as “art.” (more…)

Savvy theater enthusiasts familiar with New York’s drama scene are sure to tell their younger, less knowledgeable counterparts, that is, arts students and fresh fans of theater that a contemporary, challenging play does not have to come with a pricey Broadway ticket. Not-for-profit theater offers a fine alternative to glitzy, commercial productions with an experimental edge, socially relevant themes and a mission-oriented agenda that often extends far beyond the stage.

Blind Mouth Singing is one such play, produced by the National Asian American Theater Company (NAATCO) and directed by Ruben Polendo, artistic director of the MITU theater company. In a rare panel discussion featuring stage manager Hillary Austin and leading actor Jon Norman Schneider, Mr. Polendo commented on the critically acclaimed play and the operations of his company MITU, which is involved in research, community outreach, and education, teaching in institutions like New York University and the Julliard School.

Sharing a favorite motto, Mr. Polendo quoted an anonymous observer: Film is the art of statement; theater is the art of suggestion. It seems, however, that today’s big budget Broadway productions like Disney’s Little Mermaid can afford and are rather keen on statement, less so on imitation. Yet, special effects and spectacle performances, which leave little to the imagination, lack the subtlety and intimacy of smaller productions.

Under Polendo’s superior direction Blind Mouth Singing, produced with a budget of $60,000, manipulates space and direction to create a surreal, beautiful landscape in which this coming-of-age story unfolds. Shifting the setting on its axis, Polendo forces the audience to readjust their perceptions as they delve into a strange, but real new world. Pristine and uncluttered, the set does not overwhelm the audience with sounds and images. Nor does it interpret the play’s layered meaning. Instead, each word and movement is pivotal. The rhythm of the language, the moments of stillness all create a unique, emotional experience.

Productions like Blind Mouth Singing prove that a smaller budget does not mean a sacrifice in artistic merit. In fact, not-for-profit organizations, like Polendo’s NY based MITU company are monitored by a board of directors that often contribute to the company’s funding with a give-and-get policy. Additional funding from individual donors, grants from art foundations or project specific contributions as well as state and national funds like that from the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) ensure the quality and relevance of such performances.

In fact, NAATCO, which supplied the play’s actors, was recognized by the Actors’ Equity Association with the 2006 Rosetta LeNoire Award for “increasing diversity and non-traditional casting in American theatre.” The company mission continues to promote the presence of Asian American actors in American theater. In a natural collaboration with MITU, a company that strives to blend eastern and western theater traditions, NAATCO’s production of Blind Mouth Singing is universal and poignant in its portrayal of family, fear and the relevant issues that unite different lives. It is not surprising that foundations that support the arts choose to fund this particular form of theater, one that invites intellectual and spiritual conversation.

Charles Dickens certainly did not speak in the same voice in which he wrote. This seems to be the trend for most writers as their writing voice is much more sophisticated than their speaking voice; although there are some exceptions, such as Sigrid Nunez. Whether or not this is a positive or negative is up to the individual, Sigrid Nunez incorporates a unique writing style that is over simplistic with more focus on the actual content than the context.

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