A protean comedy with shattering consequences. When Schiller and Arjay take Schiller’s parents to Europe, both couples learn what it means to be American in a world that no longer admires the U.S. Guinea pigs playing cricket, dead bodies that talk and an unexpected trip to a concentration camp lead to a shocking yet poignant conclusion. Sept. 9 through Oct. 21; Thursdays, Fridays, and Saturdays at 8:p.m., and Sundays at 7 p.m. Open Fist Theatre Company at Atwater Village Theatre, 3269 Casitas Ave., Los Angeles, CA 90039; Sept. 9 – Sept. 14 (previews): Pay-What-You-Want; Sept. 15 – Oct. 21: $30; (323) 882-6912; www.openfist.org.
Walking to Buchenwald
Reviews
A story told with humor, subtlety, and emotional impact featuring characters you and I can recognize and identify with in a world gone increasingly mad, Walking To Buchenwald makes for yet another Tom Jacobson winner.
Long ago, the term Ugly American was coined to describe rude and entitled American tourists trampling the world in their Bermuda shorts with ankle socks, loud Hawaiian camp shirts, and ever-present fannypacks, leaving a cultureless footprint behind wherever they traveled. But today, the stakes are infinitely higher. Suddenly, Tom Jacobson's newest narratively-challenged play takes on a new national dilemma: what it means to be an American in a time when we are no longer admired in the world but reviled—and sadly but appropriately feared.
The production, keenly directed by Roderick Menzies, is visually spare, with a scenic design by Richard Hoover consisting of three large pieces representing museum display cases and five chairs. Ellen Monocroussos's superb lighting design is crucial to the flow of the show.
SHARP, FUNNY AND AUDACIOUS… Catch it while you can.
Roderick Menzies directs with an invisible hand, never calling attention to himself. He trusts his actors, but my sense is that he is guiding them more firmly than they realize, for the performances meld into a singular force with a symbiotic power.
Not one word of Jacobson's script needs to be changed in dealing with/talking about the same-sex couples. Mildred's vivid recollection to Arjay of a bad date Schiller brought home's impeccably written sans pronouns. Amazing!
A story told with humor, subtlety, and emotional impact featuring characters you and I can recognize and identify with in a world gone increasingly mad, Walking To Buchenwald makes for yet another Tom Jacobson winner.
Long ago, the term Ugly American was coined to describe rude and entitled American tourists trampling the world in their Bermuda shorts with ankle socks, loud Hawaiian camp shirts, and ever-present fannypacks, leaving a cultureless footprint behind wherever they traveled. But today, the stakes are infinitely higher. Suddenly, Tom Jacobson's newest narratively-challenged play takes on a new national dilemma: what it means to be an American in a time when we are no longer admired in the world but reviled—and sadly but appropriately feared.
The production, keenly directed by Roderick Menzies, is visually spare, with a scenic design by Richard Hoover consisting of three large pieces representing museum display cases and five chairs. Ellen Monocroussos's superb lighting design is crucial to the flow of the show.
SHARP, FUNNY AND AUDACIOUS… Catch it while you can.
Roderick Menzies directs with an invisible hand, never calling attention to himself. He trusts his actors, but my sense is that he is guiding them more firmly than they realize, for the performances meld into a singular force with a symbiotic power.
Not one word of Jacobson's script needs to be changed in dealing with/talking about the same-sex couples. Mildred's vivid recollection to Arjay of a bad date Schiller brought home's impeccably written sans pronouns. Amazing!