2010

‘Rumplestiltskin’ by Katie Labahn

‘Wit’ by Margaret Edson

‘Margaret Edson’s Pulitzer Prize-winning play grabs the audience by the lapels and launches into a taut and unsentimental exploration of one woman’s life and death — narrated by none other than the remarkable woman herself. Stephanie Barton-Farcas’s arresting performance as Vivian is the driving force behind Nicu’s Spoon’s successful production of this supremely difficult work. By turns self-righteous and vulnerable, glib and reflective, she offers an empathic portrait of a woman suddenly faced with the task of making sense of a life’s worth of triumphs and regrets. With a story that could easily turn maudlin, director Alvaro Sena is wise to keep the pacing quick, balancing poignant moments with frequent bursts of levity. An ensemble of sullen and inept medical interns (Michael Abourizk, Phrannie Lyons, Anouk Dutruit, and William Reid) are the frequent targets of Vivian’s droll and unforgiving wit, and the same actors double as the inarticulate students that she cheerfully eviscerates in the classroom vignettes. Onstage bedpans, pelvic exams, and radiation treatments lend the hospital scenes an uncomfortable intimacy, and we share Vivian’s sense of humiliation when she realizes that her doctor’s oafish assistant, Jason Posner (Sammy Mena), is one of her former students. In an unexpected outpouring of tenderness, Jason tells Vivian that cancer research is for him what 17th-century poetry was for her: a life’s passion.When Vivian’s beloved mentor, E.M. Ashford (Wynne Anders), shows up at the hospital to comfort her former pupil, the scene is moving not just because Vivian’s death seems imminent, but because all of her clever commentary has finally ceased. It is Ashford’s voice that takes over, bravely searching for the words to offer a friend who always knew just what to say. As Ashford crawls into the hospital bed and begins reading tearfully from a children’s book, we realize that for the first time, Vivian is silent — content, at last, to relinquish control of her own story.’ Eileen Reynolds, SHOW BUSINESS WEEKLY

‘This brilliant play is so blessed with subtle foils and intricacies that even the experience of simply observing its players is in itself a remarkable exercise in intellect and emotion. The doctors, like the protagonist, place research above the need for kindness. Professor Bearing’s condition presents a wonderful opportunity for additional information on advanced ovarian cancer, though there was never a chance of their arguably brutal treatments presenting a cure. She understands this, however – she “read between the lines” – but as a devotee to all that is intellectual, she did not protest. The roles within this gloriously complex play require heroic stamina and an arsenal of talent, as each scene is uniquely intense, whether through reflective philosophizing, soothing bonding or tumultuous drama. The respective roles absolutely have to be handled with the necessary professionalism to be effective. Under the superb direction of Alvaro Sena, they were executed with such passion and grace that this mammoth of a play came alive and was instantly felt; it was pensive, and heartbreaking, and most of all, witty.’ Olga Privman, Reviewfix.com

‘Somewhere between endurance and death is the small surrender that precedes the great surrender, and it is in this twilight that Margaret Edson’s Pulitzer Prize-winning Wit takes place. Vivian Bearing, Ph.D., is a powerhouse character, a paint-peeling, rafter-shaking, highly calibrated machine designed for the analysis of verse and the concentration of scorn. Ms. Barton-Farcas brings remarkable vocal strength to the role, along with a kind of wounded energy. Playing a high-powered personality enervated by cancer is a difficult balancing act, a real challenge, and Ms. Barton-Farcas performs admirably. And she has to: Like a good number of recent plays—too many, in truth—Wit is very nearly a monologue. Bearing begins by addressing the audience directly and continues to do so, offering a running commentary on the play, her life, Donne, and the state of modern cancer therapy, which comes off a good deal worse than do the metaphysical poets. And unlike Mr.Horton Foote’s plays, Wit is powerful because it mostly eschews the easy sentimentality inherent in its emotionally supercharged situation. Professor Bearing is a no-nonsense critic, of her own intellect as well as others’s, and though she ultimately gives in to the final descent, she maintains a cool critical distance from her own experience until the moment finally comes that doing so is impossible. But what she is engaged in throughout the play is a quest to meet mortal limitations with real valor outside of traditionally male contexts such as the battlefield. She is trying to die a good death. And there are few story lines more powerful than that one.’ - Kevin D. Williamson is a Deputy Managing Editor at National Review.

‘Beautiful Thing’ Jonathan Harvey

‘Kinberly Akimbo’ by David Lindsey-Abaire