Man From Nebraska

Powerhouse Tracy Letts penned a killer show several years ago - August Osage County - family drama - intense - drug fueled.  Wowza.  His latest installment off-Broadway, Man From Nebraska, is far from that prior mark. Intentional, I'm pretty sure.  This show is brooding, show, vacuous, empty, hopeless, and depressing.  This is not all necessarily bad, it just leaves you quite a different taste in your mouth than the prior installment. Sometimes life throws you curve balls.  Some people swerve to avoid them, others get beamed directly in the head.  Such is life.

Probably the hardest working actor on and off Broadway, Reed Birney, (Ken) helms this production and is basically whom the entire show revolves around Ken and his mid-life religious crisis.  Kathleen Peirce (Cammie Carpenter) is his devoutly religious wife who is left to deal with the fallout.  It was not lost on me that Ken was from dead-center America where religion is much more central to the lives of people.  Ken meets Harry Brown , the brilliant Max Gordon Moore and Tamyra, the lovely Nana Mensah.  It also did not get lost on me that in his mid-life crisis he flew the coop to London - a city that could not be more different than Nebraska.  Mr. Letts seemed to be hinting at these disparities in quite a bit of the dialogue - (Ken: "I lost my faith", Tamyra: "They throw you Yanks out for that these days?").

Part blistering critique of religion and America, part human condition, Mr. Letts shows us what happens when man questions long held beliefs as provincial and narrow as they might seem.  He may or may not find something more satisfying out there.  He may come back. Or maybe he won't.  Despite the rather hum-drum and depressing Nebraska life that Ken leads, we do find that he is able to expand his horizons if even for a brief period.

Frankly Mr. Letts' play doesn't really answer the question it merely scratches the surface and explores the topic.  If you are looking for definitive answers you won't find them here.

seating ARRANGEMENTS

There's a lot of Experimental Theater at The Flea. Seating ARRANGEMENTS is one such performance. You walk into the theater space and notice that there is a large horseshoe shaped banquet table with seating for about 16 - - and there are only 8 actors! You are asked if you want to join the feast. After a nervous "sure, why not", you start to think - are they going to talk to me? Am I somehow going to become part of this show? Are they serving food? The answer to all these questions is yes. But fear not - you won't be cross examined!

You will awkwardly indulge the cast as they chat with you - and sit right next to you! It's not exactly a scripted performance, but not exactly stream of consciousness either. Based on the short story Babette's Feast, the 8 actors speak directly to the audience as if we are all there part of their dinner party. They interact with each other as if they are in another time and place. Time, location, and characters bleed together.

The underlying concept is about what happens around the dinner table - how we all interact, the inappropriate things we say, or the things we don't say. It's a study in psychology and sociology. It's about topics that inevitably get broached - Religion, Politics and Love - sometimes appropriately, sometimes not.

Remarkably - I learned afterwards that there was no real script for this show. The actors all developed the stories based on their own experiences and beliefs. They melded them together in workshops and rehearsals. There's a violin, a rapper, a national anthem, and a dance. There's love, hope, revenge, and desire. It's a slice of life both current and past.

Kudos to the 8 performers from The Bats Theater Group - Donal Brophy, Jane Elliott, Ben Horner, Max Jenkins, Jocelyn Kuritsky, Nana Mensah, Bobby Moreno, and Sylvia Mincewicz.

Fear not - they serve wine. Drink up - and don't be shy. Wink at the adorable Max or chat up your cute neighbors. Who knows what might come of it.