To Fly

Back from Fly at Ford's, based on the story of the Tuskegee Airmen.

cast of FLY ~ photograph by Scott Suchman

 

I loved the production but was particularly impressed with the use of dance as a character and as a dramaturgical choice. It's an element that is unexpected in a non-musical but always adds richness and dimension. As the non-speaking tapping narrator, Omar Edwards was powerfully expressive.

Omar Edwards ~ photograph by Scott Suchman

 

In one scene, slowed down to a series of gestures, the black airmen are selected to guard the white bombers in a mission over Berlin. The blacks teach the whites their ritual of writing down their fears and throwing the paper into a fire; they are ultimately united by their fear, their bravery, their duty, and their freedom in flight.

It's truly an inspiring story, but Fly does not shy away from depicting the racism that the men faced. Ford's veteran actor James Konicek ("Captain O'Hurley"/"Instructor 2") seems to be called on frequently for these types of white-bigot characters. The heart-in-throat moment, though, came from Matt Bassett as one of the white bombers telling the black airman escorting him, "I'm sorry," an apology for having witnessed a lynching triggered by an incident at his father's store.

The small Sunday matinee audience gave the men a standing ovation. I wouldn't mind seeing this again, if only to try another seat. Honestly, are there any good seats at Ford's? I was in A-110 in the balcony, where the guard rail blocked half my view of the stage. I moved back a couple of rows and over a bit, still couldn't see around people and pillars.

No action on the Ford's stage should ever take place within 10 yards of the edge closest to the audience. Upstage is good. *g*

Still straining to see, I ended up in the second to last row of the balcony, which is where I fell in love with Ford's Theatre in the first place.

FLY plays at Ford's Theatre through October 21.
Written by Trey Ellis and Ricardo Khan.
Directed by Ricardo Kahn.

Cast:
Omar Edwards as Tap Griot
Christopher Wilson as Chet Simpkins
Eric Berryman as W.W.
Mark Hairston as Oscar (also dance captain)
Damian Thompson as J. Allen
James Konicek as Captain O'Hurley/Instructor 2
Matt Bassett as Staff Sergeant/Instructor 1/Barman/Bomber Co-Pilot Shaw (also fight captain)
Clark Young as Instructor 3/Colonel Snopes/Bomber Pilot Reynolds

love, hosaa
theater-flyer

 

 

 





Haunting Tigers

Late again to recap the Thursday preview performance of Bengal Tiger at the Baghdad Zoo, now playing at Round House Theatre in Bethesda.

Danny Gavigan and Felipe Cabezas, photo by Danisha Crosby

Eric Hissom (the Tiger) by Danisha Crosby

Maboud Ebrahimzadeh and Pomme Koche, by Danisha Crosby

Maboud Ebrahimzadeh, by Danisha Crosby

I will say first that this powerful play was powerfully performed in spite of a sleepy weeknight audience. There are times when I think a production can be too overpowering for its audience. We sat there in the dark for far too long before erupting into polite applause. I felt sad for the actors, who were nothing short of phenomenal.

Such is the theatrical experience.

The play delivered what I thought was lacking in last year's ravages-of-war production, ReEntry.  The latter offered monologue memories of what happened "over there," while the Baghdad Tiger shows what happened, both internally and externally, for the soldiers grittily but poignantly played by Danny Gavigan and Filipe Cabezas. The lesson is that moral questioning doesn't end with death, and that guilt lives on to haunt us.

Eric Hissom as the anthropomorphic Tiger achieves enlightenment in death but remains the creature of basic needs that he was born to be. "Heaven," he determines, is simply where he is not hungry.

The deteriorating garden where translator Musa (Maboud Ebrahimzadeh) has constructed his fantastic topiary "zoo" is both "God's garden" to the Tiger and Uday Hussein (Pomme Koche)'s garden, a tribute to ego and self-indulgence (and a place to lure Musa's young sister to her ruin).

Again, responding simply as a member of the audience, I wish my friends could have shared the experience with me. (Some can't tolerate the violence, others the cussing). It wasn't escapist entertainment with a tune to whistle the rest of the week. It was what theater, to me, is supposed to be: a place to feel something and experience something and think about something I would not otherwise feel, experience, or think. And it haunts, long after the darkness descends.

Bengal Tiger at the Baghdad Zoo by Rajiv Joseph, directed by Jeremy Skidmore, plays through September 30, 2012.

Cast
Tiger: Eric Hissom
Tom: Danny Gavigan
Kev: Felipe Cabezas
Mousa: Maboud Ebrahimzadeh
Uday: Pomme Koche
Hadia/Iraqi Teenager/Nurse: Salma Shaw
Iraqi woman: Nadia Mahdi

Kudos also to the sound designer, Eric Shimelonis, for just a fantastic, full-immersion aural experience.