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Tell us what you thought: what worked, what needs work?
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Saturday, November 1, 2008
Bus Accident Play
Saturday 1 & Sunday 2 Nov, 2008 BUS ACCIDENT PLAY By Raúl Castillo Directed by John Ortiz Featuring Carlo Alban*, Florencia Lozano*, Gina Maria Paoli*, Richard Petrocelli*, Elizabeth Rodriguez* & Felix Solis*
Excellent work last night - you've created a second Hurricane Gloria. And I love the dark presence of Hector. You've got a great set up - and lots of mystery. Finish finish finish!
It is exciting to see a work like this by a young playwright. Raul's voice as a writer is strong and earnest, and he has spent time inside of each character to make them unique and distinct. Also, the relationships are strong and real, because instead of falling into the pitfall that many young writers do of "telling," Raul instead "shows." The way each character speaks and relates to another illuminates them as much as what they are saying.
I also respect that I both never doubted Raul's frame of reference and yet I also never felt like I was witnessing some kind of diatribe on the author's solipsistic experience of his culture and upbringing. When the play began, I thought it might be a play where the main character is really just a barely masked version of the author. But to my surprise and delight, it was not an autobiography, nor does that character become the story's main protagonist. He's just one voice in an ensemble of voices. That was such a refreshing turn at the play's first moments. I am sure that there are autobiographical elements to this story, but I never found myself trying to figure out what they were. I was just experiencing a great story.
I think Bus Accident play is a remarkable work in progress that is full of real potential. I can't wait to see how it progresses.
I could not agree more with this comment: ", the relationships are strong and real, because instead of falling into the pitfall that many young writers do of "telling," Raul instead "shows." The way each character speaks and relates to another illuminates them as much as what they are saying."
So many plays, especially by "emerging" playwrights, fail to develop stong, real connections between the characters. When Elizabeth Roderiguez and Felix Solis were onstage, it really felt like their characters had known each other since childhood and had an intense history together. Their relationship was magnetic and fascinating. I'm always looking for that kind of thing to come across onstage, and it's rare.
The script provides real atmosphere, too. It felt like the characters were really inhabiting the bordertown scene. The direction and performances in this piece ratcheted it up so that it was more like a "real" play than like a reading...except that it isn't finished!
I hope the ending will avoid common pitfalls (triteness, maudlin-ness, sudden melodrama, too much closure), and that the playwright will tightly, even ruthlessly, edit the final work. (Except, not any of those scenes involving the brother and childhood girlfriend, I could've watched them for seven hours.)
I also liked that the deceased character was such a palpable presence onstage--although these characters are each very different, and sometimes at odds with each other, it's clear that they're all mourning the same person. Dead/absent characters need to be just as developed as living ones, or a play becomes tinny and superficial--Bus Accident Play achieves this.
Excellent work last night - you've created a second Hurricane Gloria. And I love the dark presence of Hector. You've got a great set up - and lots of mystery. Finish finish finish!
ReplyDeleteIt is exciting to see a work like this by a young playwright. Raul's voice as a writer is strong and earnest, and he has spent time inside of each character to make them unique and distinct. Also, the relationships are strong and real, because instead of falling into the pitfall that many young writers do of "telling," Raul instead "shows." The way each character speaks and relates to another illuminates them as much as what they are saying.
ReplyDeleteI also respect that I both never doubted Raul's frame of reference and yet I also never felt like I was witnessing some kind of diatribe on the author's solipsistic experience of his culture and upbringing. When the play began, I thought it might be a play where the main character is really just a barely masked version of the author. But to my surprise and delight, it was not an autobiography, nor does that character become the story's main protagonist. He's just one voice in an ensemble of voices. That was such a refreshing turn at the play's first moments. I am sure that there are autobiographical elements to this story, but I never found myself trying to figure out what they were. I was just experiencing a great story.
I think Bus Accident play is a remarkable work in progress that is full of real potential. I can't wait to see how it progresses.
I could not agree more with this comment: ", the relationships are strong and real, because instead of falling into the pitfall that many young writers do of "telling," Raul instead "shows." The way each character speaks and relates to another illuminates them as much as what they are saying."
ReplyDeleteSo many plays, especially by "emerging" playwrights, fail to develop stong, real connections between the characters. When Elizabeth Roderiguez and Felix Solis were onstage, it really felt like their characters had known each other since childhood and had an intense history together. Their relationship was magnetic and fascinating. I'm always looking for that kind of thing to come across onstage, and it's rare.
The script provides real atmosphere, too. It felt like the characters were really inhabiting the bordertown scene. The direction and performances in this piece ratcheted it up so that it was more like a "real" play than like a reading...except that it isn't finished!
I hope the ending will avoid common pitfalls (triteness, maudlin-ness, sudden melodrama, too much closure), and that the playwright will tightly, even ruthlessly, edit the final work. (Except, not any of those scenes involving the brother and childhood girlfriend, I could've watched them for seven hours.)
I also liked that the deceased character was such a palpable presence onstage--although these characters are each very different, and sometimes at odds with each other, it's clear that they're all mourning the same person. Dead/absent characters need to be just as developed as living ones, or a play becomes tinny and superficial--Bus Accident Play achieves this.