AmericanTheaterWeb Original News & Reviews

In conjunction with a two-day February 13-14 conference, “Dreaming the Americas: Legacy & R/Evolution in Performance” — and in collaboration with Frank Hentschker and the Martin E. Segal Theatre Center, Graduate Center CUNY — the unincorporated theatre alliance NoPassport is proud to launch four new titles under its NoPassport Press imprint. These unique collections of plays gather together in stylish paperback volumes the most significant body of works from three trailblazing U.S. playwrights, as well as thrillingly poetic and dramatic reconfigurations of the Sophocles classic, the Antigone.

Intended for readers of literature, avid theatergoers, actors, theatre producers, teachers and students of theatre, these four exciting play anthologies are prefaced by smart new essays and fresh introductions written specifically for this series from several of today’s most important experimental playwrights Naomi Wallace, Fiona Templeton, Octavio Solis and Lisa Schlesinger, as well as Marianne McDonald, a professor of ancient Greek drama and ancient classics.

These new titles are:
1) MATTHEW MAGUIRE: THREE PLAYS — consisting of The Tower, Luscious Music and The Desert, with preface by Naomi Wallace;
2) JOHN JESURUN: DEEP SLEEP, WHITE WATER, BLACK MARIA - A MEDIA TRILOGY, with preface by Fiona Templeton;
3) AMPARO GARCIA-CROW: THE SOUTH TEXAS PLAYS — consisting of Cocks Have Claws and Wings to Fly, Under a Western Sky, The Faraway Nearby and Esmeralda Blue, with preface by Octavio Solis;
4) ANTIGONE PROJECT: A PLAY IN FIVE PARTS — consisting of modern-day versions of the Greek classic by Tanya Barfield, Karen Hartman, Chiori Miyagawa, Lynn Nottage and Caridad Svich, with preface by Lisa Schlesinger and introduction by Marianne McDonald.

Matthew Maguire is a two-time Obie award winner: one for acting in 1998 and most recently for direction of his 2006 play Abandon at La MaMa E.T.C. He is co-artistic director of Creation Production Company, which he founded with Susan Mosakowski and an alumnus of New Dramatists.

John Jesurun, the winner of the MacArthur “genius” grant in 1996, is widely acknowledged as one of the foremost innovators of avant-garde theatre, creating virtuoso works that overlap media and language in surprising and unpredictable ways. His works include Chang in a Void Moon, a series of episode plays with various media forms, pop-cultural constructs and entertainment genres.

Amparo Garcia-Crow is a native Texan and acclaimed performer, director and playwright who founded Inspirit Studios in 2006 as a clearinghouse for her dramatic, narrative and musical creations. She is also a screenwriter.

The Antigone Project is a kaleidoscopic reconfiguration of the Greek classic, produced at the Women’s Project in the 2004-2005 season, under the direction of Annie Dorsen, Dana Iris Harrel, Anna Kauffman, Barbara Rubin and Liesl Tommy. Tanya Barfield is a 2003 Helen Merrill Award winner and the author of the play Blue Door. Karen Hartman’s work includes Going Gone and Motherbone. Chiori Miyagawa conceived the Antigone Project for the company Crossing Jamaica. Lynn Nottage, a 2007 MacArthur “genius” grant winner, is the author of the plays Ruined and Intimate Apparel. Caridad Svich is an award-winning playwright, translator and lyricist.

The NoPassport Press imprint:

NOPASSPORT PRESS is a division of NoPassport that aims to bring new, challenging playscripts, translations, essays and theatre criticism to the field.

In February 2008, NoPassport Press officially launched its first batch of titles — all play anthologies. These titles are: OLIVER MAYER: COLLECTED PLAYS, with a preface by Luis Alfaro and an introduction by Jon D. Rossini; ANNE GARCIA-ROMERO: COLLECTED PLAYS, with a preface by Juliette Carillo; ALEJANDRO MORALES: COLLECTED PLAYS; and two volumes of LORCA: MAJOR PLAYS by Federico Garcia Lorca in new translations by Caridad Svich, with a preface by James Leverett and introductory essays by Amy Rogoway and Svich.

All NoPassport Press titles are available for purchase, in general access editions, via lulu.com and Amazon.com. They can also be found at Drama Book Shop in New York City. Paperback U.S. list price is $20.00 each.

It would take a person with a pretty stony heart to resist the charm exuded by Michael Countryman in Donald Margulies' theatrical seafaring adventure, Shipwrecked! An Entertainment – The Amazing Adventures of Louis de Rougemont (As Told by Himself, which opened last night in a Primary Stages production at 59E59 Theaters.

Countryman, playing Rougemont, bursts with a sort of vivacity and innocence that's generally found only in children who have not yet reached puberty. His eyes twinkle and his smile simply beams as Rougemont recounts a tale reminiscent of any number of children's adventure stories. After quickly recounting the details of his sickly childhood with his mother (Donnetta Lavinia Grays) in mid-nineteenth century England, Louis gets down to meat of his story, describing the events that took place after he left home – at 17 or thereabouts – and joined the crew of a ship headed toward the Pacific on a pearl diving expedition.

Louis, whose mother used to read tales of the sea to him, can't believe his good fortune at actually getting to live out what he has heretofore only dreamt about, the kindness of the ship's captain (also played, and exceptionally well, by Grays), or his luck in making a best friend in Bruno (one of the many roles played by Jeremy Bobb), the ship's canine mascot of sorts. Similarly, once Louis has begun his seafaring tales, theatergoers may find themselves growing a bit incredulous. Details of this genial man's story – no matter how endearingly told – just don't add up or seem to bear any relationship to reality; unless of course it’s the sort of world that's found in reruns of television's "Gilligan's Island."

The disconnect that theatergoers might feel with the story – as curious events seem to become more frequent – is only enhanced by the story-theater manner in which the production, directed by Lisa Peterson, unfolds. Countryman and company perform on just a circular platform made of thick wooden planks that's surrounded by the musical instruments and other gadgets that make sound effects and serve as props. Scenic designer Neil Patel uses ladders up to the theater's architectural walkways to give a sense of breadth and Stephen Strawbridge's lighting design is, without a doubt, atmospheric. Such theatrical devices charm, but they also, at this stage, are overly familiar to theatergoers.

Thankfully, Margulies has a surprise or two stowed below deck, and just as "Shipwrecked" seems to have grounded itself hopelessly, the play takes on a sort of ingenious contemporary relevance, and one wonders if Louis wouldn't be a marvelous guest on today's talk show circuit, starting with an appearance on "Oprah."

The final third of "Shipwrecked" does indeed atone for languors that theatergoers may experience along Louis' journey, and regardless of the slow trade winds that may buffet the play, there's always Countryman's buoyant performance as the young man who endures all that life throws at him.

---- Andy Propst

Shipwrecked! plays at 59E59 Theaters (59 East 59th Street). Performances are Tuesday at 7pm; Wednesday through Friday at 8pm; Saturday at 2 and 8pm; and Sunday at 3pm (2/15) and Wednesday at 2pm (2/18). Tickets are $60.00 and can be purchased by calling 212-279-4200 or by visiting www.TicketCentral.com. Further information is available online at www.PrimaryStages.org.