Spain

 C-

Although Second Stage describes their new play by Jen Silverman (Collective Rage: A Play in 5 Betties) as “seductive” and “funny,” I failed to be either seduced or amused by it. Silverman presents an imagined version of the circumstances behind the filming of “The Spanish Earth,” a 1937 documentary intended to win sympathy and support for the Spanish Republican government against Franco and his Fascist allies. The film was directed by Dutch documentarian Joris Ivens, written by John Dos Passos, Lillian Hellman and Ernest Hemingway, and edited by Ivens’s wife-to-be Helen van Dongen, all of whom except Hellman are characters in the play. Silverman posits that Ivens (Andrew Burnap; Camelot, The Inheritance) has become dependent on Russia to finance his films and has been ordered by his opera-loving KGB handler Karl (Zachary James; The Addams Family) to make a film promoting the Republican cause while carefully omitting any mention of Russian support. Karl, by the way, is the person who introduced him to Helen (Marin Ireland; Reasons To Be Pretty, Blue Ridge). Neither Joris nor Helen has ever been to Spain. We observe their strategizing to make the film, including their intent to play on the rivalry between Dos Passos (Erik Lochtefeld; Metamorphoses, Misery) and Hemingway (Danny Wolohan; To Kill a Mockingbird, Octoroon). Rifts in the relationship between Joris and Helen repeatedly emerge. After the film is made, the play suddenly jumps 80 years into the future with a scene in which the actor who played Karl is instructing the other four actors that movies are now passe and they must learn to use the internet to create propaganda. For me the play completely failed to cohere or find a consistent style. A couple of scenes that placed Hemingway in a recording studio seemed out of left field. His characterization seemed cartoonish compared to the other roles. Ireland and Bernap, who I have found compelling in previous roles, were bland here. James has a marvelous singing voice that I wish we had heard more of. Dane Laffrey’s (Parade, Once on This Island) set uses a revolving platform to create several settings with just a few suggestive props. Alejo Vietti’s (Allegiance, Beautiful) period costumes are apt. Tyne Rafaeli’s (The Coast Starlight, Epiphany) direction is unfussy, but cannot supply coherence  where there is none. All in all, it was a great disappointment. Running time: 90 minutes, no intermission.

The Coast Starlight

 B+

Keith Bunin’s (The Busy World Is Hushed, The Credeaux Canvas) clever, humane play at Lincoln Center Theater at the Mitzi Newhouse, takes place in the conditional. It deals with what might have happened if six passengers on the train between LA and Seattle had overcome their inhibitions and actually started to converse. The six are a diverse lot: Jane (Camila Cano-Flavia, Network), an animation artist who passes the time by sketching the other passengers; T.J. (Will Harrison, NY debut), a young Navy medic who doesn’t want to return to Afghanistan; Noah (Rhys Coiro, Dinner at Eight), a laid-back veteran who lives on a boat; Liz (Mia Barron, The Wolves), a hilariously unhinged woman fleeing a meltdown at a couples’ workshop; Ed (Jon Norman Schneider, The Oldest Boy), a beat-down salesman trying to find the hope to move on; and Anna (Michelle Wilson, Sweat), a black lesbian who has hidden the existence of her children’s uncle from them. All are vividly written and convincingly portrayed. The playwright explores how and whether they could have helped each other if only they had broken through to initiate a conversation. Arnulfo Moldonado’s (Power Strip) simple scenic design is well-complemented by 59 Productions’ projections (Flying Over Sunset). The costumes by Asta Bennie Hostetter (The Wolves) are suitable to each character. Tyne Rafaeli’s (Selling Kabul) direction is unfussy and assured. If you are looking for more action than talk, you may be disappointed, but if you want to get to know how these six people represent the human condition, you should find the play rewarding. Running time: 100 minutes, no intermission.

Selling Kabul

B+

In her timely, gripping new drama at Playwrights Horizons, Sylvia Khoury (Power Strip) demonstrates great skill in building and maintaining enough tension to keep you on the edge of your seat for much of the play. She further shows a remarkable ability to capture the workings of an entire society by focusing tightly on the life of one family. It is 2013 and the U.S. is drastically reducing its forces in Afghanistan, allowing the Taliban to strengthen their grip on Kabul. They are determined to find and punish all Afghanis who aided the U.S. including those who worked as translators such as our protagonist Taroon (Dario Ladani Sanchez). We meet him after he has been in hiding in the apartment of his sister Afiya (Marian Neshat; Queens) for over four months awaiting the U.S. visa that he had been promised. Interestingly he is portrayed as reckless, selfish and shortsighted rather than as a sympathetic hero. His wife is giving birth to their first child, but it is not safe for him to visit the hospital. In an ironic twist, Afiya’s husband Jawid (Mattico David; Noura) runs a shop making uniforms for the Taliban and she assists by sewing some of them at home. Afiya has been avoiding all social contacts including her neighbor Leyla (Francis Benhamou; The Profane) and her 5-month-old baby to prevent anyone from discovering Taroon. A surprise visit from Leyla is cause for severe tension. The situation only becomes more tense when it is confirmed that the Taliban are definitely seeking Taroon and he must try to leave the country immediately. Decisions are made that test each character’s ethics and lead to momentous consequences. Some of the acting is superb, particularly Ms. Neshat and Mr. David. The set by Arnulfo Maldonado (A Strange Loop) and costumes by Montana Levi Blanco (A Strange Loop) are convincingly realistic and the direction by Tyne Rafaeli (Power Strip) is smooth. With so much going for it, you may wonder why I don’t praise the play more effusively. One reason is that Mr. Sanchez’s portrayal of Taroon leaves much to be desired; he does not have the range to match the character’s development over the course of the play. The other reason is that there are a couple of giant holes in the plot; you will probably be too caught up in the action to notice them while you are watching the play, but they are likely to bother you later. Despite these problems, the play is well worth seeing. I do wish that they had not found it necessary to bookend the play by assaulting the audience with the deafening sound of a helicopter. Running time: 100 minutes, no intermission.

Power Strip

B

Sylvia Khoury’s timely new play at LCT3’s Claire Tow Theater is a gripping drama about Yasmin (Gina Shihabi; Dance Nation), a young Syrian woman at a refugee camp on Lesbos. In observing her tragic experience, we get a microcosm of the enormous refugee problem and the terrible human cost of the Syrian civil war on those who have fled their homeland. To escape the worst problems of the camp, Yasmin has chosen to stay in an olive grove outside the gates, where a power strip brings her the warmth of an electric heater and a charge for her phone. We soon learn why she is so mistrustful when Khaled (Darius Homayoun), a young man newly arrived at the camp with a sick mother, tries to steal her heater while she sleeps. Through flashbacks, we meet her fiancé Peter (Ali Lopez-Sohaili) and learn the awful circumstances that led her to flee Syria. We also meet Abdullah (Peter Ganim; Oslo), an older man who has suffered great loss, who turns to Yasmin for comfort. The story is never less than absorbing but makes an unfortunate turn toward melodrama at the end. The underlying feminist subtext pokes out a bit awkwardly at times. Ms. Shihabi makes a powerful impression. The appropriately drab set by Arnulfo Maldonado (School Girls; A Strange Loop) is marred by excessive use of dry ice. The costumes by Dede Ayite (Slave Play, School Girls) are appropriate. Tyne Rafaeli’s (Usual Girts, I Was Most Alive with You) direction is occasionally a bit slack. The playwright successfully made me care about Yasmin and, through her, the many others she represents. The play offers a suspenseful, occasionally uncomfortable experience but a worthwhile one. Running time: 90 minutes, no intermission.

I Was Most Alive with You

C

Playwright Craig Lucas (Prelude to a Kiss, The Dying Gaul) began with a noble goal: to write a play for charismatic actor Russell Harvard that would be equally accessible for a hearing audience as well as those who can read American Sign Language. To accomplish his goal he cast each character with two actors — one communicating primarily or exclusively by speech and the other by ASL. Playwrights Horizons is presenting the New York premiere. One of the characters is Deaf (capital D signifying one who identifies with Deaf culture) and another is deaf (small d signifying one who does not). There are so many interesting issues revolving around D/deafness, among them preferred method of communication and its implications, resistance to other methods, controversy over cochlear implants, attitude toward Deaf culture vs. assimilation, that there would seem to be rich material for a play with that as the main focus. Unfortunately, the playwright has chosen to harness the plot to the Book of Job, which is an uncomfortable fit. First of all, it is unclear who the Job figure is in the play. Is it Ash (Michael Gaston;Lucky Guy, The Cripple of Inishmann), a writer on a long-running TV show, who is beset with a variety of calamities on Thanksgiving Day? Is it his son Knox (Russell Harvard; Tribes, Spring Awakening) who is Deaf, gay and a recovering addict? Or is it possibly Knox’s deaf boyfriend Farhad (Tad Cooley) who suffered a horrendous childhood? If Job is about bad things happening to good people, it is not obvious which if any of these three qualifies as good. We also meet Ash’s writing partner and creative soulmate Astrid (Marianna Bassham; Our Town), his ironically named, boozy wife Pleasant (Lisa Emery; Marvin's Room, Marjorie Prime) who feels lost as both wife and mother, his mother Carla (Lois Smith; Marjorie Prime, John), who produces his TV show, and her nurse Mariama (Gameela Wright; Halcyon Days). When Lucas brings on the calamities, he seemingly throws in every topical social issue he can think of: alcoholism, opiate abuse, Ponzi schemes, bullying, sexual abuse, severe depression, capital punishment, antipathy toward Muslims, HIV, costly health care. The result is a play that is overstuffed and unfocused. As a further complication, the story is framed as a play within a play that the writers are developing. On the plus side, there are strong performances from the speaking actors and moments that are quite affecting. I never pass up an opportunity to see Lois Smith onstage. The shadow cast (Seth Gore, Beth Applebaum, Amelia Hensley, Harold Foxx, Anthony Natale, Kalen Feeney, Alexandra Wailes) performs on a balcony eight feet above the main stage, which makes it difficult to give simultaneous attention to them as well as to the actors below. I am not qualified to evaluate the quality of their ASL signing. The set by Arnulfo Maldonado (Iowa, Men on Boats) recreates the writers’ room of the tv show with gestures to other locations as needed. Unfortunately this requires some of the actors to be furniture movers. The costumes by David C. Woolard (The Rocky Horror Show) did not call attention to themselves. The lighting by Annie Wiegand is very helpful in establishing both location and time. Tyne Rafaeli (The Rape of the Sabine Women) directed with Sabrina Dennison as ASL director. The play could use some judicious cutting. There are repetitive passages, e.g. the same letter is presented twice, once in speech and later in ASL. While I admire the playwright for his ambition, I wish that he had not cluttered up the play with too many half-developed ideas. I do not grasp how the title relates to the play. Running time: two hours, 20 minutes including intermission.

NOTE: Here’s a YouTube clip of Russell Harvard’s prayer in the first act. Paste the link into your browser and press the CC button to see the captions:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B2392LaI0Ck&t=28s

The Rape of the Sabine Women, by Grace B. Mathias

C+

The idea of a dark comedy about rape written by a gay male playwright did not exactly sound promising. Nevertheless, this ambitious, quirky work by Michael Yates Crowley now at Playwrights Realm turned out to hold greater interest than I expected. Grace (Susannah Perkins; The Wolves), a 15-year-old at Springfield High School, is almost a female version of Evan Hansen, socially awkward, with an overworked single mom, and overwhelmed by the events around her. The aftermath of a drunken night with Jeff (Doug Harris), tight end of the school’s football team (the Romans, of course!), recalls the notorious Steubenville case in which more public concern was expressed for the rapists’ ruined future than for the victim. Crowley introduces us to the local newsman (Chas Carey), the guidance counselor (Eva Kaminsky; The Lyons), the lawyer (Jeff Biehl; Poor Behavior), the teacher (Andy Lucien; The Qualms), Grace’s friend Monica (Jeena Yi), and  Bobby (Alex Breaux; Red Speedo), the Romans’ captain with a homoerotic attachment to Jeff. We also meet other townspeople including Jeff’s father - the town’s fire chief, a few fireman, a few football players, a preacher and a doctor. Grace becomes obsessed with the titular painting by David, so we also meet a few Romans and Sabines including Romulus and his wife Hersilia. Much of the play is structured around a court appearance by Grace, which fuels reenactments of past events. The playwright attempts to comment on our hypocritical hyper-sexualized “rape culture,” but his adults are often such cartoon characters that he subverts the message. For me, the impact was also lessened by the ambiguousness of Grace’s experience. Perhaps the point was that rape exists in many forms. An extended metaphor about a coal fire burning beneath the town and the fire burning in men's hearts that leads to rape is tied to Grace's ambition to be a fireman. Grace’s stylized class report on the David painting concludes the play. Arnulfo Maldonado’s set vividly recreates a high school auditorium/gymnasium. Some of Asta Bennie Hostetter’s costumes are a hoot. Tyne Rafaeli’s direction successfully navigates the play’s complex path. While the play tries to do too much and doesn’t fully integrate its various strands, it is an original. Crowley shows promise and I look forward to his next play. Running time: 2 hours including intermission.