When a famous writer dies under mysterious circumstances, family and friends gather in his cabin on a remote island in Puget Sound to box up his belongings. In the process, they come to realize just how much they love, despise and need one another.
World premiere dark comedy by award-winning playwright John Bunzel
Directed by Jack Stehlin
with: Eve Danzeisen
Stephen Tyler Howell
Eric Curtis Johnson
Luke McClure
Bruce Nozick
Susan Wilder
Scenic design: John Iacovelli
Lighting design: Josephine Wang
Sound Design: Christopher Moscatiello
Costume Design: Florence Kemper
Publicity: Lucy Pollak
Casting: Victoria Hoffman
Stage Manager: Derek R. Copenhaver
Propmaster: David Saewert
Graphics: AVK Creative
Produced by: Jeannine Wisnosky Stehlin
Susan Wilder, Stephen Tyler Howell, Luke McClure, Eric Curtis Johson, Eve Danzeisen and Bruce Nozick in Boxing Lessons by John Bunzel, directed by Jack Stehlin at The New American Theatre. Photo by Jeannine Wisnosky Stehlin
Director Jack Stehlin keeps the performances sharp, the lines crackling, and the play running at full throttle. Kudos as well to another brilliant set from John Iacovelli – convincingly cluttered, but just south of hoarder, with the numerous seascapes bringing their own zany charm to the cabin.
The fine cast delves deeply into potentially surface characters, navigating Bunzel's wild plot twists like kids on a carnival ride...
Partners in mayhem, Bunzel and Stehlin have a fine sense of the ridiculous developed over their long association. They are enjoying themselves immensely — and so are we.
Director Jack Stehlin does a bang-up job of getting this crew to coordinate their disparate roles and create a new whole. Of course, he's lucky to be working with a talented ensemble cast who know just how to shock the audience in their understated way. John Iacovelli's set is perfect for the play – chaotic yet contained. Christopher Moscatiello's sound, Josephine Wang's lighting, and Florence Kemper Bunzel's costumes add just the right note of casual and sometimes unexpected.
...local playwright John Bunzel has created a family that towers over the others, at least in cataloguing and reveling in their depravities. Child abuse, infidelity–hetero and homosexual, alcoholism, bedwetting, internet porn, opioid addiction etc. Name your vice, I'm sure it's mentioned sometime during the play. It contains just about everything except the kitchen sink but that off stage item is mentioned several times. There are just way too many secrets revealed in a 90-minute one-act to be believable...
Whether you leave Boxing Lessons with memories of your family's own dysfunction or grateful to have dodged the dysfunctional family bullet, the Green family cabin is one well worth visiting. Just be glad you don't have to move in.
Boxing Lessons is a ninety-minute wonder, skillfully directed by the company's artistic director, Jack Stehlin, abetted by a sterling creative staff that shoehorns a production rife with detail into the minimal space of a forty-plus-seat theatre.
The brilliant playwright, John Bunzel's sparkling dialogue will have you hanging on every word. The inspired direction is by New American Theatre's Artistic Director Jack Stehlin, celebrating their first year in this new location. This premiere should now travel triumphantly around the stages of America and the world.
It's a good set-up for laughs, and Bunzel mines it for all it's worth, in conjunction with a carousel of zany plot twists and revelations. It's mostly funny and entertaining, capably directed by Jack Stehlin, whose cast turn in spirited performances. John Iacovelli's cabin interior is superbly crafted, and Josephine Wang does an effective job with the lighting schema.
John Iacovelli's beautifully cluttered set fills the tiny New American Theatre stage. Jack Stehlin's deft direction smoothly choreographs the actors into creative stage pictures. Personal revelations and sniping reminiscent of Albee's Virginia Woolf... reminds us of that author's demise... ending with an enigmatic footnote from the author's hand.
Strong acting chops make the dark story work. The last word is silence.
Director Jack Stehlin keeps the performances sharp, the lines crackling, and the play running at full throttle. Kudos as well to another brilliant set from John Iacovelli – convincingly cluttered, but just south of hoarder, with the numerous seascapes bringing their own zany charm to the cabin.
The fine cast delves deeply into potentially surface characters, navigating Bunzel's wild plot twists like kids on a carnival ride...
Partners in mayhem, Bunzel and Stehlin have a fine sense of the ridiculous developed over their long association. They are enjoying themselves immensely — and so are we.
Director Jack Stehlin does a bang-up job of getting this crew to coordinate their disparate roles and create a new whole. Of course, he's lucky to be working with a talented ensemble cast who know just how to shock the audience in their understated way. John Iacovelli's set is perfect for the play – chaotic yet contained. Christopher Moscatiello's sound, Josephine Wang's lighting, and Florence Kemper Bunzel's costumes add just the right note of casual and sometimes unexpected.
...local playwright John Bunzel has created a family that towers over the others, at least in cataloguing and reveling in their depravities. Child abuse, infidelity–hetero and homosexual, alcoholism, bedwetting, internet porn, opioid addiction etc. Name your vice, I'm sure it's mentioned sometime during the play. It contains just about everything except the kitchen sink but that off stage item is mentioned several times. There are just way too many secrets revealed in a 90-minute one-act to be believable...
Whether you leave Boxing Lessons with memories of your family's own dysfunction or grateful to have dodged the dysfunctional family bullet, the Green family cabin is one well worth visiting. Just be glad you don't have to move in.
Boxing Lessons is a ninety-minute wonder, skillfully directed by the company's artistic director, Jack Stehlin, abetted by a sterling creative staff that shoehorns a production rife with detail into the minimal space of a forty-plus-seat theatre.
The brilliant playwright, John Bunzel's sparkling dialogue will have you hanging on every word. The inspired direction is by New American Theatre's Artistic Director Jack Stehlin, celebrating their first year in this new location. This premiere should now travel triumphantly around the stages of America and the world.
It's a good set-up for laughs, and Bunzel mines it for all it's worth, in conjunction with a carousel of zany plot twists and revelations. It's mostly funny and entertaining, capably directed by Jack Stehlin, whose cast turn in spirited performances. John Iacovelli's cabin interior is superbly crafted, and Josephine Wang does an effective job with the lighting schema.
John Iacovelli's beautifully cluttered set fills the tiny New American Theatre stage. Jack Stehlin's deft direction smoothly choreographs the actors into creative stage pictures. Personal revelations and sniping reminiscent of Albee's Virginia Woolf... reminds us of that author's demise... ending with an enigmatic footnote from the author's hand.
Strong acting chops make the dark story work. The last word is silence.
