ALMOST ASLEEP

From: "will stackman" profwlll@yahoo.com

Subject: Quicktake - "Almost Asleep" by Julie Hebert

Date: Wed, Oct 4, 11:32 PM

Quicktake on ALMOST ASLEEP

     One of the innovative companies producing at the old firehouse at the base of Bunker Hill Ave. in Charlestown, a few blocks from the Sullivan Sq. T-stop on the Orange Line is Molasses Tank Productions. Their fall offering is Julie Hebert's short but intense drama, "Almost Asleep." This ensemble piece is essentially a nightmare, as a woman's persona fragments into five characters. Susan Gross plays The Chatterer, who recounts a brutal encounter which an incident at work earlier in the day has brought back to mind. Becca A. Lewis is The Sleeper, who is able to repress this past--much of the time. Wendy Nystrom is The Dreamer, who tries to make sense of her fears. Kristin Shoop is The Fool, who survives by childlike play. And Loann West, who also did the set and costumes, is The Warrior, a strong and bitter realist.

     Artistic director Steve Rotolo, one of the group's founders, has staged the piece simply, allowing the poetic flow of words, which occasionally overlap, to build a dense abstract of this unnamed woman's mental turmoil, a mix of fear and hope. "Almost Asleep" builds to a crescendo and fades on an image. The show is less than an hour long, but just long enough. The author had worked with various contemporary theatre groups, several on the West Coast, and is currently writing for the Scott brothers T.V. hit, NUMB3RS.

    The Charlestown Working Theatre has a number of interesting shows scheduled this year. Next up is a brief visit at the end of the month by a mask and movement duo from Brelin, Theatre Kranevit, perrforming a piece based on the Bros. Grimm, followed in mid-November by the Obie-winning Great Small Works performing their latest effort, "The Rapture Project". This Greenwich Village/Cambridge based tabletop puppet company continues to create sharp political shows. CWT is only a short walk from the Sullivan Sq. Station on the Orange Line. Park at that lot or come abit bit earlier and find street parking nearby.

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"Almost Asleep" by Julie Hebert, Oct. 5 - 21

Molasses Tank Theatre at Charlestown Working Theatre

442 Bunker Hill Ave., Charlestown, (617)242.3285
Molasses Tank