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Photo by Don Kellogg

Tuesday, March 29, 2011

Dream of the Burning Boy

Roundabout Underground has done it again. Another outstanding production down in the black box theatre in the bowels of the Harold and Miriam Steinberg Center for Theatre. This production is also #2 at the RU for one of the most in-demand off-Broadway actors this season, Reed Birney.


Set in a small high school in Suburban America, the play deals with the issue of the death of one of the students – from both the perspective of the young students as well as Larry (Birney) one of the teachers. Young playwright, David West Read, has composed razor sharp dialogue in a tinder box situation for the characters. Without revealing the twists and turns of the plot, I’ll just say that Read takes the audience on a wild ride, never leaving the audience with a dull moment and always turns the expected into the truly unexpected.

Alexandra Socha (Rachel) turns in an outstanding performance, constantly churning out the sarcasm, intelligence, and wit of a young sister stricken by grief and at the same time eagerly seeking answers to her questions. Birney (Larry) turns in an emotionally complex performance, proving once again that he is a top-notch stage actor.

Don’t worry, there won’t be any flames on stage, the there will certainly be plenty of heat.