Last night we went to the opening for 3 shows at Art Resources Transfer -- Jonathan Feldschuh, Merrill Wagner, and M. Sovan Kumar. Jonathan also has a show at Cynthia Broan right now. The pottery installation by Kuman is really beautiful, and I LOVED the Merill Wagner works. She rocks, as usual.
After the opening we saw Blue Surge, by Rebecca Gilman, at the Public Theater. Info on the production in Chicago at the Goodman is available here and here. It seems to be mostly the same cast, and the same director as that production. She has a reputation for writing plays that are a bit didactic, and have their hearts in the right place, but don't necessarily work as theatre. This is the first play of hers I've seen, and I have to agree.
I think the direction by Robert Falls, and the cast, outshined the play. The cast was uniformly excellent. Rachel Miner was totally convincing as a young woman still in her teens who realizes that working in the local "massage parlor" makes more sense for her than working at Wendy's. Joe Murphy plays a cop trying to "escape" his background and make something of himself, with Amy Landecker as his middle class artist girlfriend. The other two actors, Steve Key as a goofy, slacker cop, and Colleen Werthmann (member of Elevator Repair Service) as another hooker, are also awesome. We spoke to Key afterwards to tell him how much we enjoyed it.
The play has its moments, I will admit. The scene between Beth (upwardly mobile) and her boyfriend Curt (who isn't) is really strong. All of us that came from small, poor towns where most people have dead end jobs and drink too much would find a lot that's familiar in that scene. He wonders if she stays with him to shock her artist friends, and she's disappointed that he's not more successful. After all, she says, anyone who is smart enough and tries hard enough can "make it" in America. I would like to think that, and I'm lucky to be where I am now compared to where I came from, but I don't think that's the way the world works for most people. I went to a high school where most people didn't think of going to college, and thought it was frivolous to do so. I'm glad I escaped, but I can't really say that I'm "better" than the people who are still there. I'm lucky.
