RACE
Subject: Quicktake - "RACE" adapted by Jamie Pachino from Studs Terkel
Date: Sun, Jan 21, 10:22 AM
Quicktake on RACE
Studs Terkel's oral histories, the outgrowth of news work in Chicago, will like those of his Victorian predecessors become the chronicle of the last half of the 20th Century from the midwestern working class viewpoint, warts and all. Theatre On Fire, Darren Evan's new effort, brings this compendium of American attitudes towards race to the stage over issues such as dating, property values, job opportunities, and racially motivated fears. The focus of the last is the murder of 14 year old Chicagoan Emmett Till fifty some years ago, as recounted by his mother, voiced by Dee Crawford. Other members of the ensemble have their own moments, with Ann Carpenter playing everything from an elderly civil rights protestor in Atlanta to a housefrau ready to move when the second black family comes into the neighborhood. The cast creates a kaleidescope of attitudes towards race issues exploring the underlying frustration of both white and black, left and right at this thorny social issue. Jamie Pachino's distillation from Terkel's interviews and observations is rather despairing.
Evan's has directed this fast-paced show, compiled from Terkel's book of the same name, on a set of runways placed which occupy most of the space in Charlestown Working Theatre's black box space. The audience sits around the periphery or out in the middle of the action. Most are seated on double-stacked plastic milk crates (cushions are provided). The 90 minute show is a mutual experience as the ensemble plays in their midst, often speaking alone. Designer Audra Avery's maze of platforms, surrounded by sections of wire fence, recalls the sidewalks of the inner city, and the confines of the projects. Evans has used appropriate music for the Civil Rights movement and the unrest of the '60s to puntcuate the show, underlining how little things have really changed.
"RACE" adapted from Studs Terkel by Jamie Pachino, 19 Jan. - Feb. 3
Charlestown Working Theatre
442 Bunker Hill Ave. Charlestown, (866) 811 - 4111
CWT
posted by will at 10:22 PM
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