IT OR HER
Alena Smith
NY,U.S.A.
Alena Smith
“Somewhere between Pee-Wee’s Big Adventure and The Tell-Tale Heart, this provocative dark comedy explores the basement of a suburban home where Andrew has devoted himself unconditionally to his incredible collection of figurines. Suffering the loss of The Red One, he seeks to uncover The Ultimate Arrangement before his hideout is invaded, and his dark secret is revealed.”
45min
The Red Room
Wed 2/24,6:30,Fri 2/26,8:00,Sun 2/28,2:00,Mon 3/01,6:30,Thu 3/04,8:00
$15.00,$10.00
Alena Smith (Playwright) plays include THE SACRIFICES (Summer Play Festival), THE PIVEN MONOLOGUES (Joe’s Pub) and THE LACY PROJECT (A.R.T.; Ohio Theatre). Her work has also been produced and/or developed at the Public Theater, Playwrights Horizons, Soho Think Tank, the Yale Cabaret, the Philadelphia Live Arts Festival, Chashama, the Strand Theater, and a number of colleges and universities. Alena is a member of the 2009 Emerging Writers Group at the Public Theater, a 2008-09 Artists Fellow in Playwriting with the New York Foundation for the Arts (NYFA), and has been a finalist for the Princess Grace Award and the O’Neill Playwrights Conference. MFA, Yale School of Drama, ASCAP Cole Porter Prize in Playwriting.
Jessi D. Hill (Director) Latest credits include: Mia McCullough’s LUCINDA’S BED for Chicago Dramatists, Jeff Grow’s CREATING ILLUSION for terraNOVA Collective (2 New York Innovative Theatre Awards), Johnna Adams’ ANGEL EATERS for Flux Theatre Ensemble (6 New York Innovative Theatre Award Nominations), and THE CHILDREN’S HOUR for Astoria Performing Arts Center. Hill recently relocated to NYC from Chicago where she was a freelance director and Artistic Director of Stage Left Theatre Company. Hill is a returning guest director at Fordham University, and completed a four-month national tour as Staff Repertory Director with The Acting Company as well as a Directing Residency at The Ensemble Studio Theatre. She serves as the Groundbreakers New Play Development Program Director for terraNOVA Collective. Hill is the recipient of the 2008-09 Denham Fellowship from the Stage Directors and Choreographers Foundation and was recently named a finalist for the NEA/TCG Career Development Program for Directors. MFA: Yale School of Drama.
Brian McManamon (Performer) In New York, Brian has worked with MCC Theater, Ensemble Studio Theatre, Youngblood, P.S. 122, Target Margin Theater, the BE Company and many others. He is a company member of the Lynx Theater and The Lark Theatre’s Playground. Regional credits include the title role in HAMLET at Burning Coal, AMERICAN BUFFALO and SKYLIGHT at The New Repertory Theater, SINGLE LIVES at Boston Playwrights’ Theater, the world premiere of Sinan Unel’s play THE THREE OF CUPS at the Provincetown Theater Company, STELLYY at the Berkshire Fringe and SHAKESPEARE: THE REMIX at Capital Rep among others. Internationally, Brian performed in the world premiere of Pulitzer prize nominee Rolin Jones’ play THE JAMMER which received the Edinburgh Fringe First Award. Brian also toured to Zagreb, Croatia with the critically acclaimed New York based company Theater Breaking Through Barriers. Brian attended the British American Drama Academy (B.A.D.A.) at Oxford where he worked with Caryl Churchill on her play’s HOTEL and SHE BIT HER TONGUE both directed by Mark Wing-Davey. He serves on the acting faculties of the National Theater Institute (NTI) at The O’Neill Center and Vassar College’s Powerhouse Apprentice Training Program. He has a BFA in acting from Boston University and an MFA in acting from the Yale School of Drama.
Carolynn Richer (Production Manager) recently relocated to New York after graduating from the University of Notre Dame this past May with a B.A. in Theatre. She worked on the stage management team at the Notre Dame Shakespeare Festival serving as the Stage Manager for the Young Company production of THE DECEIVED and the Assistant Stage Manger for David Bell’s production of TWELFTH NIGHT. In New York, Carolynn was the Assistant Stage Manger for ACADEMY at the New York Musical Theatre Festival and interned for the ABroad Stage Company.
AMAZING show, creative, funny and troubling all at the same time. Brian McManamon is riveting!
IT OR HER
The “official” blurb about this show trivializes it and does not do it justice.
This is a beautifully written, nuanced and thought-provoking work with multiple levels of meaning, from the more obvious – don’t let the possession of things dominate one’s life – to the far subtler questions of who/what we are, how we become/became who/what we are, and how much control we can have, if any, have over ourselves, let alone over others. Can we ever really “invent” our selves, let alone, to use the oh-so-hackneyed phrase, “re-invent” ourselves? And, who the hell are we, really, anyway?
Unfortunately, we felt the director missed the boat by keeping Brian McManamon’s performance at fever-pitch from beginning to end. At the opening of the show, the audience tittered uneasily many times, not because the dialog or action was humorous, but because it was being played so over the top that it felt as though it should be funny. This is a “tragic” work and true tragedy only really works when the audience can, at least on some level, connect personally, and identify with the character.
Mr. McManamon is obviously a very talented actor, and had the show started quietly, with the protagonist not appearing crazed from word one, his meltdown and ultimate destruction would have been far more agonizing and meaningful. A subtler and more delicate performance would have allowed us to know Andrew and to understand him, not as a buffoon, but as a person with demons he cannot control and so builds an artificial world he can manage.
This is a show that needed to build inexorably to its conclusion. With the protagonist played as a lunatic from the start, that conclusion became obvious very early on and lost not only its element of surprise, but also its impact. At least that’s what we felt. But some of the audience members were still in the dark about what was in the trunk. And that, we suspect, was not what the playwright intended. Although, with a work like this…. perhaps such ambiguity is exactly what she wanted.
Bottom line: Outstanding work. Definitely recommend it. Just try to remember it’s not supposed to be “funny ha-ha,” and listen carefully to the words.
With all due respect, D&D Meltz, I couldn’t disagree more with your take on the production. I felt all aspects of the production (script, acting, direction, design) worked in complete harmony to create the very specific world in which Andrew dwells. The choices regarding acting style can be directly linked back to the text quite clearly, especially when you consider what kind of a man we’re dealing with – I mean, think about what’s in the box!
Oddly, your description of the script is right on when you say that the play is a “beautifully written, nuanced and thought-provoking work with multiple levels of meaning…” Your interpretation of those meanings are, of course, perfectly valid. However, your supposition that her dialog and action were not intended to be humorous is simply that – a supposition. I, for one, think it’s funny that Andrew thinks his figurines are whispering about him. I think it’s funny that his brother has taken on certain affectations in order to be taken seriously in the fashion world. (I think lots of other things in the script are funny too, but I don’t want to give it all away.)
You say different choices would have made it more obvious that Andrew is a “person with demons he cannot control,” but it seems that you’ve come to that understanding quite easily on your own, by listening to the play and by watching this production. Andrew is himself an oddity, a figurine trapped inside a trunk of his own invention, awaiting the descent of a band of men whose intentions, if not decidedly nefarious, are at least questionable. Let us have a little fun down there before the roof caves in, geez.
excellent!
great show!