Kennedy's Children

This is a revival of an older play.  I'm not entirely convinced that it screams "revive me" or "this is all happening again", but it is certainly an interesting, politically relevant, and interesting reminder of an entire generation, what motivated them, what didn't motivate them, and how the decade of the 60's was and how it is remembered.

Robert Patrick's play is a reminder that the 60's was filled with a very diverse group of people eeking their way thru the decade.  Hippies, Vietnam soldiers (otherwise known as kids), Normal people, gays and other alternate lifestyle people, and movie star wannabes.  It's amazing how many of these continue to exist in basically the same way - and equally amazing at how some of them died out with the generation at the end of the decade.  It's also a reminder about sex, drugs, and war - who was for it and who was not - how drugs were used at home and over in the war.  The stories could not have been more different than the actual people themselves.  The 60's was not just one thing - it was war, it was upheaval, it was protest and it was the beginning of freedom for many of those who never quite had it before.

I thought the play was a bit repetitive and ran much longer than need be.  Certain themes were visited over and over quite unnecessarily.  At times the acting was brilliant and riveting - at others mostly due to the character, it was overbearing and over-the-top.

Nicole Greevy (Wanda), Emily Battles (Bartender), Colin Chapin (Sparger), Timothy Regan (Mark), Sara Minisquero (Rona) and Jessica Carollo (Carla) all presided with power and grace each in their own way in the dumpy black box theatre with the most uncomfortable seats in the East Village.  Perhaps the seats were a reminder of just how uncomfortable these characters must all have felt and how uncomfortable this entire decade must have been which was lead by the great loss of our own America Camelot when Kennedy was assassinated. These were all his children.