REVIEW | Cast of 49 cogitates in David Cromer’s latest

Think Robert Altman meets Sam Shepard by way of David Lynch, though they’re all on their way to a 21st century version of "Lord of the Flies" — one that appears to be playing itself out in a rotting foreclosed house on some sinister urban side street that might just be where you live.

Yet even that description does not fully conjure the hallucinatory nature of the theatrical experiment called "Cherrywood," a show that is now jamming a cast of 49 into the intimate confines of Mary-Arrchie Theatre’s second-floor attic of a home, and that is revealing, once again, that director David Cromer is the possessor of an eerie black magic.

The work of playwright Kirk Lynn (who devised it for the Austin, Texas-based Rude Mechanicals), "Cherrywood" has been hugely expanded and reimagined in a way that only Cromer (whose "A Streetcar Named Desire" is now wowing audiences at Glencoe’s Writers’ Theatre) would ever dare attempt.

Part rant, part requiem, it is a disturbing fantasia about the late-adolescent-through-early-twentysomething generation now moving through high school and college, and into a world of unemployment, shrinking dreams, moral disillusionment, psycho-sexual dislocation, ecological meltdown and spiritual confusion.

Wittily subtitled "The Modern Comparable," it feels like a contemporary variation on the work of the Living Theater of the 1960s, with Mary-Arrchie artistic director Richard Cotovsky as the grizzled and bloodied survivor of that time. All around him are the equivalent revolutionary cries, and the personal anguish, wretched excess, half-drugged ques- tioning, nonsense and profundity, tragicomic posturing and fear and loathing of that earlier, upheaval-filled (if more affluent) era.

Part college kegger from hell, part scatological rave and mystical chant, it is sophomoric in its philosophy and end-of-the-world in its mass psychology nightmares. A "Spring Awakening" for the age of Internet dissociation, "Cherrywood" pulls you in with its sense of raw alienation and organic communalism.

It is all but impossible to imagine the nightmare logistics involved in staging and performing this 90-minute show. But the ensemble (which matches the size of the audience) lives and breathes as one during this chilling squatters’ house party. And as the actors move from dumpster-decorated bathroom to living room (cheers for set designer Andre LaSalle), they capture the whole cross-section of wasted and thoughtful kids, wild ones and timid ones, tormentors, survivors and victims. The sane and the mad are all dancing on the edge of oblivion. Or, if you believe the transcendental pizza delivery man, on the brink of possible salvation.

This is a show that is sure to have a cult following as it sings its twisted anthem for the new cannibals. Or perhaps we are just watching the latest "lost generation."

Theater review

Mary-Arrchie Theatre Company. By Kirk Lynn. Dir. David Cromer. With ensemble cast.

CROWDED HOUSE Cherrywood’s cast runneth over.

Photo: Ryan Bourque

Being at a party is like being on a train, suggests a character in Cherrywood. You want to sit by the beautiful people or, if those seats are taken, by people who are familiar. Lynn’s übermalleable script—first produced by his Austin, Texas, collective the Rude Mechanicals, the play consists of lines and stage directions that aren’t assigned to characters—is like an express train through Austin’s youth culture (not so different from Chicago’s or any college town’s): It makes stops at music snobbery, pungent analyses of party behavior, bourgeois political chatter and the supernatural-ish suggestion of werewolves.

Given the holes Lynn and the Rude Mechs leave to fill, any director mounting this script serves as de facto cowriter. That’s what makes it an ideal match for Cromer, a director who bursts with concepts but always has truthfulness at heart. As with his current, exquisite Writers’ Theatre revival of A Streetcar Named Desire (not to mention the still-chugging transfer to Off Broadway’s Barrow Street Theatre of his Hypocrites-born Our Town ), Cromer, with scenic designer Andre LaSalle, has bent Mary-Arrchie’s space to his desire to get his audiences breathing the same air as his cast. Cromer’s ballsiest move, though, is the size of that cast. For his Cherrywood , he’s cherry-picked around 50 of the non-Equity scene’s most arresting actors to populate his party—about the same number onstage as can fit in the house. Remarkably, it feels not gimmicky but absolutely necessary.

Lynn’s text makes subtext its supertext, with partygoers voicing their inner monologues as the script traipses merrily across genres—from locked-room murder mystery to pop philosophy, from sci-fi to poli-sci. But Cromer’s direction of his dozens of actors somehow transcends mere choreography (though actual choreography does appear, in joyful dance sequences by Patrick Andrews) to become a real meditation on group dynamics. The paranoid party eventually, organically opens into an examination of how abstract talk of capital-C change can become paralyzing when we’re confronted with the actual opportunity, and responsibility, of becoming the change we’ve been waiting for. (It might be of interest to certain impatient voters—of which I’m one—that Cherrywood was first performed in 2004.)

There are metaphorical flourishes in Lynn’s script that teeter on the edge of lib-privilege preciousness, such as Caroline Neff’s monologue on superstores and pricing guns. There are also fantastic individual performance moments, including Geoff Button as a socially skittish partygoer, Allison Cain as the neighbor with a historical chip on her shoulder, Rich Cotovsky’s shambling possible shooting victim and Ryan Bourque’s reluctant group conscience. This iteration of Cherrywood is ultimately an overwhelming, sense-assaulting ensemble piece that almost demands a second viewing to fully soak in. It’s also a production that I think could only take place—let alone succeed—in Chicago.

The Modern Comparable

By Kirk Lynn

Directed by David Cromer

Produced by Mary-Arrchie Theatre, Chicago

At Angel Island

Large cast experimental work has its provocative moments

Mary-Arrchie Theatre and David Cromer and an experimental play are an explosive mixture destined to evoke strong reactions. With a cast of 49 (yes, 49!), set designer Andre LaSalle had to dismantle the basic layout of  Angel Island turning it into a shabby apartment rectangle setting with audience on all four sides.   When the entire cast is onstage, which is for most of the play, the space is wall-to-wall people.

I have mixed feeling about Cherrywood since I’m still thinking about it. My research determined that Kirk Lynn wrote Cherrywood “as a simple list of lines, a play without characters, allowing actors to assemble their roles from the lines they chose to speak.” I’m not sure how much of the above that director David Cromer allowed? I do know that Cherrywood is more of a theatrical event, a sort of happening, than a conventional play. It has a basic structure and several ongoing motifs despite a meandering dialogue spiced with socio-political rants and references “for anyone who wants to change.”

Cherrywood begins with a housewarming party wherein a red flyer promotes “party tonight for anyone who wants to change.” The word gets out and the party attracts a large group of mostly 20-30somethings poor souls in search of sex and free beer. The group appears to be Avenue Q rejects who are being cajoled into drinking a special milk drink that promises to make them into powerful werewolves. The milk promises personal transformation for these alienated souls. Posing the question: if you could change one thing about yourself, would you do it?

At its height, the party is one  gathering of folks who don’t know one another and they find it difficult to communicate their thoughts to each other. There is loads of drinking, a long line to the bathroom with necking and dancing and loads of babbling dialogue from a group of intensely uptight and restless anti-social 20-30somethings. The story changes with each blackout until a gunshot shoots one of the older folks.

After the gunshot, the party becomes a mysterious whodunit that tensely turns into an inquisition. A strong sense of community dynamic emerges as leaders dictate the rules of this newly formed society. Large themes are referenced as fear, control, and apprehension rule the party.

The acting from many of the 49 cast members was emotional, sensual and riveting. Kudos to director David Cromer for navigating his cast through the maze of raw escapism happening in the manic atmosphere. Carlo Lorenzo Garcia leads the talented cast.

Cherrywood is a provocative and challenging work that will leave story-structured theatre patrons scratching their heard asking: “What is the play about?” Fans of large, very large ensemble work performed with liberal freedom by the cast in a experimental structure will find Cherrywood a treat. It sure is different. Serious theatre partons and theatre professionals should take in Cherrywood to see if Cromer’s intriguing staging can make  art from a shaky incomplete script. You may not like Cherrywood, but you’ll be glad you experienced this unique theatrical event. I’m still not sure what to make of Cherrywood as I’m still digesting it.

Recommended

Tom Williams

The designation of “Jeff Recommended” is given to a production when at least ONE ELEMENT of the show was deemed outstanding by the opening night judges of The Joseph Jefferson Awards Committee. The entire production is then eligible for nomination for awards at the end of the season. www.jeffawards.org

reviewed by Katy Walsh

Fliers announce ‘Party Tonite for anyone who wants a change.’ Mary-Arrchie Theatre presents the Midwest premiere of Cherrywood: The Modern Day Comparable . A foursome decides to host a party. They have three kinds of chips, an array of music, bottles of booze and a shots of… milk? In response to their fliers, the guests arrive and fill up the house. The usual party suspects are all present. Free loading crashers. Whiny girl. Depressed divorced guy. Unwanted neighbor. Gaggle of gals in bathroom line. P.D.A. couple on the dance floor. Hot shirtless guy. Person continually announcing ‘I’m wasted.’ Sporadic drunken wrestling. It feels, looks and sounds familiar except with a couple of twists: Somebody brought a gun. Everybody has been drinking wild wolves’ milk. People are opening boxes of their secret desires. Cherrywood: The Modern Day Comparable is a virtual reality party experience without the pressure to mingle or the aid of a cocktail.

In a large living-room-like space, the audience seats encircle the action. Closely matched in numbers, the 50+ wallflowers watch the 49 performers party. It’s such a tight fit that I needed to move my purse before a guy sat on it. Director David Cromer has gone fire-code-capacity to create an authentic party.

The proximity blurs the fourth wall completely in deciphering between the party gawkers versus goers. I consciously refrain from shouting out an answer to ‘name a good band that starts with the letter ‘A’.’ It seems like a jumbling of improv mixed in with scripted lines. Crediting playwright Kirk Lynn with some of the best lines, it’s existentialism goes rave with the ongoing philosophy ‘if you want something different, ask for it.’ Lynn writes dialogue describing cocktail banter as ‘question-answer-it-doesn’t-always-happen-like-that’ mockery. One character describes herself with ‘everything I do is a form of nodding. I want to break my neck to stop nodding.’ In a heated exchange, the neighbor jabs, ‘you remember the world? It’s the room outside the door.’ It’s genuine party chatter. Some conversations are playful. Some are deep. Some just don’t make any sense. Clusters of people are sharing philosophical drunken babble throughout the room. A gunshot brings the house of strangers together in a communal bonding alliance.

For the theatre goer looking for a break from classic plot driven shows, Cherrywood: The Modern Day Comparable is performance art. It is a ‘Party Tonite for anyone who wants a change.’ For those who wonder what Chicago actors and designers do off-season, this is an opportunity to fly-on-the-wall it. If you’ve anticipated they hang out together and party, this would be your imagined drunken haze. The who’s who of storefront theater is boozing it up. It’s a Steep, Lifeline, Dog & Pony, House, Griffin, etc. reunion bash, and man do they know how to party!

Running Time: Ninety minutes with no intermission

Rehearsals have been going swimmingly, it’s such a pleasure to have David Cromer back in the space again. The cast and designers have been hard at work creating this theatrical experience. We are super excited to share this work with you!

In the meantime here’s a little bit about the play…

CHERRYWOOD was written as a series of simple lines, a play without characters, allowing the actors to assemble their roles from the lines they chose to speak, originally devised and created by the Rude Mechanicals and Kirk Lynn of Austin, TX in 2004.

“Welcome to the neighborhood. CHERRYWOOD is probably unlike any place you’ve lived before. Or maybe it actually is all the neighborhoods you’ve ever lived in.”

In a world full of anxiety, when the only thing on TV is the NEWS, people stay at home waiting for trouble to be at a low enough level, and then someone decides to throw a party. Flyers are distributed at random offering hope to anyone looking to CHANGE. Posing the question: if you could change one thing about yourself, would you do it? Cherrywood is a hilarious and intriguing bender loaded with great music, social commentary, and cutting edge structure.

This will be a party for those who want to CHANGE…

June 24 - August 8, 2010
Thurs-Sat at 8PM | Sun at 7PM

July 25th show is at 3PM
No Show on July 4th.

Tickets: $18-22
Student/Senior/Group Discounts Available.

August 20-22, 2010

***NOW ACCEPTING SUBMISSIONS***

The 21st annual performance mashup celebrates the anniversary of the Woodstock Music and Art Fair of 1969. Three days of non-stop entertainment include more than 50 theater groups and performers on the Angel Island stage!

Application can be downloaded from here:
http://www.maryarrchie.com/abbie.html
http://maryarrchie.com/abbie/Abbie22docs.doc

You can email completed applications to rich@maryarrchie.com and bring signed copies of the contract to a meeting. We need 2 copies of the contract and 1 show form per submission.

There will also be a meeting Sunday MAY 9th at Mary-Arrchie at 12:00PM (NOON) for participants.

Anything goes, time limit 1 hour or less, get a group together and submit a project today! SPREAD THE WORD!

We are looking at a great turnout this year!!!!

Best,
M-A!

UPCOMING ABBIE FEST MEETINGS:

JULY 11th at NOON

JULY 25th at NOON

((This is Mary-Arrchie’s third Orgie Award, previous awards include 2007 for Grant Sabin, Set Design of Killers & 2006 for Richard Cotovsky, artistic director of Mary-Arrchie for creating an arena where new or offbeat Chicago talent has the freedom to explore wild theatrical ideas.))

Read the entire press release below: (CONGRATS TO ALL THE WINNERS!)

THE WINNERS OF THE 2009 ORGIE THEATRE AWARD ARE:

Richard Cotovsky (Direction) How To Disappear Completely and Never Be Found Mary-Arrchie

Jeff Dorchen (Playwriting) Strauss at Midnight Theatre Oobleck

Mike Driscoll & Simone Jubyna (Production) iTsarovia! Citizens Relief

Sara Gorsky (Acting) Breed With Me The Mammals

Ed Jones (Acting) Poseidon! An Upside-down Musical Hell in a Handbag Productions

Keith Kupferer (Acting) The Unseen Red Orchid

Diana Slickman (Unsung Theatre Hero – Performing, Writing, Organizing) Various Theatres

Robbie Q. Telfer & Shanney J. Maney (Creation/Curators) The Encyclopedia Show The Encyclopedia Show

Special Acknowledgements (no kash, just kudos):

~ Goodman Theatre’s A Global Exploration: Eugene O’Neill in the 21^st Century for hosting exciting work from theatres around the world, as well as the local Neo Futurists’ bold rendition of Strange Interlude

~ The Magpies Project’s Happy Family Series for providing a stage for some of Chicago’s most quirky and provocative talent

Winners of the Orgie Theatre Award will each receive a sealed award certificate and one hundred dollars. 

ORGIE THEATRE AWARD

The “Orgie” is an award to encourage original, innovative, risky, thrilling, inspiring, and possibly outlandish work in Chicago theatre.  All theatre disciplines are eligible to receive an Orgie Theatre Award  –  directing, acting, playwriting, music composition, ensemble work, lighting, sound, props, set design, artistic direction, producing, et al.

The Orgie Theatre Award committee is an anonymous collection of theatre artists and patrons.  The name “Orgie” is taken from the word “original.”  To be granted an Orgie, a nominee must receive a majority of the committee’s votes.  The Orgie Theatre Award committee does not claim to be fair, unbiased, or reasonable.  Our goal is to encourage a spirit of originality and adventure in Chicago theatre.

This year, we opened up the nominations to the Chicago theatre community. We received over a hundred orgitastic suggestions for courageous & inspiring Chicago theatre artists to award. We would like to thank everyone who took the time to send us their clever and impassioned nominations.

COME TO OUR ORGIE ORGY!

If you’d like to celebrate the winners, the Orgies, Chicago theatre artists, or just want your shot at a free beer:

The Spot

4437 N. Broadway Upstairs

Thursday, March 11 - 9:00 pm – 12:00

First 20 people to say “Orgie” get a free beer

Take pictures & send them to us - we’ll post them on our somewhat-soon-to-be-created website.

Thanks!

- Orgie Theatre Award Committee

If you don’t want to hear from us, or if you know someone who is not hearing from us but wants to, let us know: orgietheatreaward@yahoo.com

Questions, comments, ideas, lavish praise, bitter remarks: orgietheatreaward@yahoo.com

]]> http://www.maryarrchie.com/wordpress/?feed=rss2&p=112 http://www.maryarrchie.com/wordpress/?p=111 http://www.maryarrchie.com/wordpress/?p=111#comments Sun, 07 Mar 2010 07:00:29 +0000 admin http://www.maryarrchie.com/wordpress/?p=111 Mary-Arrchie’s ‘The Rant’ Illuminates and Devastates

Mary-Arrchie Theatre presents:

The Rant

by Andrew Case
directed by Sharon Evans
at Angel Island Theatre through March 28th (more info)

reviewed by Paige Listerud

Much about Andrew Case’s play The Rant masquerades as a typical cop show. There are interrogations with guys in police uniform across bare tables under unforgiving lights. All the same, the play’s dialogue is too whipsmart for television. It’s subject—an investigation of police misconduct—pushes beyond the conservative boundaries of cop/good-perp/bad formulas dominating network television. Finally, the sophisticated handling of media relations between public and police is all too knowing and wise.

Case invests eight years’ experience on police misconduct issues for New York City into this no-holds-barred one-act, and it shows—like a house on fire. The result is a sorely needed resuscitation of public dialogue on the hope of preserving justice in a system hideously compromised by racism, truncated by police cultural codes of loyalty and silence, and all too often cynically betrayed by the fourth estate.

Public Advocate Lila Mahnaz (Lindsey Pearlman) wants to get at the truth. The autistic son of Denise Reeves (Shariba Rivers) has been shot and killed during a police response to a call. Her own background as an Iranian Persian-American, informs her view of police behavior with jaundiced skepticism and almost revolutionary fervor. Her pursuit of the truth takes her down a winding road that exposes police corruption, the exploitation of and by the press, and the comprehendible, but frustrating, unreliability of witnesses. Her progress acts as a great meditation the difficulty of getting to the whole truth, encompassing many of the pitfalls of well-meaning advocacy.

Director Sharon Evans’ superlative cast nails this intelligent drama to the wall. Rivers’ aggrieved Denise, mother of the slain boy, packs a lifetime of angry suffering into every uttered syllable—it’s a weight she both resignedly shoulders and also wields as a weapon against her detractors. Pearlman’s public advocate displays the earnest pluck and self-righteousness of youth running smack into the roadblocks of police obfuscation and threats. At the same time, she is forced into confronting the barriers created by her own relatively privileged life. Earl Pastko as Mahnaz’s clandestine journalist contact, Alexander Stern, is perfectly sharp, jaded, neurotic, and totally New York. “I no longer believe in facts,” says Stern, “I believe in leverage.” Emanueal Buckley’s performance as Officer Charles Simmons potently rounds out the play. His sorrowful closing monologue seals the play’s mounting despair on the possibility of ever seeing justice done.

I’m of two minds about Heath Hays’ rough and ready set design. At times the primitively constructed flats—clear plastic stretched over wooden frames–servesMatthew Gawryk’s visceral lighting design superbly and fits the anarchist vibe of theMary-Arrchie Theatre to a T. At other times it seems too ghetto-fabulous for its own good and there’s no need for that here. The play is already gritty and fabulous. The cast is rock-solid fabulous. Mary-Arrchie has a hit on its hands. Audiences should run, not walk, to see it.

Rating: ★★★★