Running time 2:30 - one intermission
t A Potomac Stages Pick for a performance not to be missed
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Storyline: A New York City policeman, approaching his own 50th birthday and potential retirement from the force, meets a ninety year old used furniture dealer in the attic of his childhood home to arrange for the sale of the remaining furniture which had not been disposed of after the death of his father. His wife sees the proceeds from the sale as the last chance to straighten out their finances before his retirement, but there is the question of the financial interest of his brother with whom he's been all but estranged for years. When the brother shows up in the middle of the negotiations, all the emotional sores are reopened.

Miller, the master playwright whose 1949 Death of a Salesman and 1955 A View from the Bridge are being revived by Arena Stage right now, demonstrated again in this 1967 drama his ability to structure a play with nearly seamless progressions from basic concept to individual character development to climax in carefully measured steps. He never gets ahead of his audience, but never seems to be holding back for the slowest among them. He never aims for the lowest common denominator. It all simply seems to work. This particular revival came about because Robert Prosky and his sons agreed to do the show together at the Cape May Stage, an equity house in a converted church in the beach town in New Jersey where Robert and his wife have a summer home and where his son Andrew has performed many times. That was the summer of 2006. This January, they returned to the roles at Philadelphia's Walnut Street Theatre, the oldest continuously operating theater in America in a joint production with Theater J.

Robert Prosky turns in a performance that must be considered an instant classic. His humor, the way he allows the humanity underlying the character to shine through the curmudgeonly crust of age, and most impressively, the way he deflects attention from himself to the others on stage with him are quite unique. Two of the three who share the stage are, of course, his own flesh and blood. Andrew Prosky, who was impressive in the 2006 Contemporary American Theater Festival in West Virginia (most specifically in Richard Dresser's Rounding Third) has the more sympathetic role of the tormented younger brother, and he gives the kind of performance that would be the talk of the evening if it weren't for his father's even better work. John Prosky has the less satisfying and smaller role of the older brother who arrives on the scene late in the first act after all that fabulous interchange between the old furniture dealer and the younger brother has won the hearts of the audience. He does what can be done with it, and builds to an emotionally impressive peak in the second act. Leisa Mather joins the family as the policeman's wife.

Under director Michael Carleton, the production provides a sumptuous design for the space where the action takes place. Robert Kramer's attic set is piled high with old furniture and objects that might well tempt a used furniture dealer. The dinning room table, armoire, library table and, most particularly, the harp which are topics of conversation during the play, look for all the world like the real thing. The costumes also reinforce the feelings of the time (the play takes place in the mid-1960s) and the relative positions of the characters. The rumpled suit for Robert Prosky is as right for the role as is the actor - and that's saying a great deal.

Written by Arthur Miller. Directed by Michael Carleton. Design: Robert Kramer (set) Colleen Grady (costumes) Jason Arnold (lights) Kate Kilbane (stage manager). Cast: Leisa Mather, Andrew Prosky, John Prosky, Robert Prosky.

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Running time 1:15 - no intermission
Judy Gold stands tall in this one-woman comedy routine
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Storyline: Judy Gold and playwright Kate Moira Ryan traveled across the United States and interviewed over 50 Jewish women, of different ages, occupations and ethnicities. From these interviews - and Gold’s own relationships with her Mother, a former partner and children - comes this one-woman evening of stand-up comedy.

Playwright Kate Moira Ryan and Judy Gold had a high concept. Knowing what they knew about Gold’s mother-daughter relationship, they set off to learn how comedy might inform or how it might be used to reduce pain, suffering and hurt. They schlepped across the USA to interview Jewish woman. And after many such interviews 25 Questions was developed. About nine of the interviewed women’s stories were used in the production. The different points of view were mostly limited to whether a woman was a Reform, Conservative or Orthodox Jew. There was one convert to the faith. She was Chinese. There were no Black Jewish women, no Hispanic Jewish women, and no poor Jewish women. Some did have old Yiddish inflected accents.

Stand-up comedy is a blood sport. There you are, under a spotlight, with the audience waiting to be convulsed. Judy Gold has no problems taking on any audience. She just stands center stage and puts the fear of God into you with her strong gestures, tall frame and brass. She is a delightful deliverer of great comedy. Yet, there are times when she gets lost in the back and forth between mocking humor and the more contemplative presentation of Jewish women and their struggles as Jews, as woman, as Mothers and as people with differing views of how God might be in their lives. Gold delivers her mother-daughter vignettes with much yelling, invective, hand movements and rolling of eyes. She bounds around with deadpan looks and boisterous attitudes, hating New Jersey, wondering why her brothers were loved more than she, and falling in love with a woman. These are a pleasure to watch. But there are also the vignettes based upon the interviews of other women. Here the comedy trails off. The vignettes range from the notion of how horrible events, such as the Holocaust, can be turned into either a positive way to live out one’s life or how the unexpected death of a brother can lead to a life lived in fear. Other vignettes ask “Does one sit Shiva if your dead child is Gay?" and "How does one explain a long term relationship's breakup to a young child when he has two Mommies?” One of the high points of the evening was an unscripted give and take with a couple in the audience. At this point Gold was just plain real. A bantering hoot without being hurtful.

The technical work for the production is as would be expected for a standup comedy production; microphones, a side chair and necessary spotlights. The preshow music is of interest in setting up the performance and includes soft pop musical groups of the later 1960’s-early 1970’s such as The Carpenters, The Fifth Dimension, Captain and Tenille, Carly Simon, and The Association with song titles such as “Close to You,” "Beautiful Balloon,” “Love Will Keep us Together,” “Anticipation” and the anthem “I am Woman.”

Written by Kate Moira Ryan with Judy Gold. Directed by Karen Kohlass. Design: Louisa Thompson (set) Jennifer Tipton (lights) Jorge Muelle (sound) Damon W. Arringtron and Kate Kilbane (stage managers). Cast: Judy Gold.

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Running time 2:05 - one intermission
A klezmer musical version of a whimsical story
Click here to buy Singer's Book of Stories

Storyline: Shlemiel, the beadle of the tiny town of fools called Chelm, is sent off to spread the word of the supposed wisdom of the town fathers. He's tricked into coming right back into town, but thinks he's stumbled on a duplicate of Chelm. When he finds his wife and children, he thinks they are duplicates too, but he falls back in love with Mrs. Shlemiel, thinking she's a different woman. His "infidelity" is discovered and he's banished - only to be tricked again, and so he returns to what he thinks is "Chelm One."

Not sure just what "klezmer" is? Think of the wedding dance in Fiddler on the Roof - you got it!  Fiddler was a kind of klezmerization of show music, if you will. This, on the other hand, is more klezmer and much truer to the klezmer traditions. Those traditions grew out of the dance music played at wedding parties in east-European Jewish communities when the devotional music of the ceremony was blended with the joyous release of celebration. Here, with a four piece band, the music becomes practically irresistible. The story is pretty catchy, as well with its folk tale simplicity and underlying theme of being able to leave the errors of your past behind you - at least for a while.

The two leading women are the most memorable. There's McWilliams, doing some of her finest work in a light-hearted role, making the part of Mrs. Shlemiel both very funny and quite touching. Migliaccio is a fabulous comic shrew - complete with pickle to pound on the head of her husband. The men are good but not quite as much fun. Thomas Howley does get a good deal of the foolishness of Shlemiel's gullibility right and Dan Manning mugs his way through multiple bits as Migliaccio's mate, the town's leading "wise man" who suffers the indignity of the attacks from her club-like gherkin while holding forth with his hair brained theories. The town's other "wise men" are portrayed by four highly talented individuals, each of whom rarely bursts out of the ensemble to display individuality. Thus, the talents of Matthew Anderson, Rob McQuay, Fred Strother and Howard Stegack seem at times wasted, but, in fact, they are simply sacrificing the spotlight for the good of the ensemble. Under-utilized in the first half but coming brightly into the spotlight with the second act's second song "Papa Don't Be Meshuga" are Justin Pereira and Isabel Thompson as Shlemiel's children. Pereira is particularly sharp with the comedy of the song.

The infectious beat of this music is never quite as contagious as in the on-stage solo taken by Clarinetist David Julian Gray along with the violin fiddled by Daniel Hoffman that opens the second act. The first act had a brief musical intro that used a single reference to "If I Were A Rich Man" from Fiddler but it is that second act opener that really gets the audience going.

Conceived and adapted by Robert Brustein based on the play by I. B. Singer. Music by Hankus Netsky. Lyrics by Arnold Weinstein. Directed by Nick Olcott. Additional music and arrangements by Zalmen Mlotek. Music direction by Derek Bowley. Choreography by Michael Bobbitt. Design: Misha Kachman (set) Kathleen Runey (scenic artist) Kathleen Geldard (costumes) Andrea Moore (properties) Martha Mountain (lights) Maribeth Chaprnka (stage manager). Cast: Matthew A. Anderson, Thomas Howley, Dan Manning, Rob McQuay, Amy McWilliams, Donna Migliaccio, Justin Pereira, Fred Strother, Howard Stregack, Isabel Thompson.  Musicians: Derek Bowley, Daniel Hoffman, David Julian Gray, Joe Link.

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Running time 1:55 - one intermission
A fast paced spearing of Hollywood's studio system
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Storyline: A new Head of Production for a major studio, an expert at working the system, has a dream project dropped into his lap by a subordinate anxious to get ahead. As they prepare to pitch the big boss, they are distracted by an earnest and sexy temporary worker and one bets the other he can bed her in just one night. She, on the other hand, has a project of her own to pitch.

Mamet's ability to light up the stage with bright dialogue is on display here. He puts some fabulous words in the mouths of these three characters and they all ring true. When the head of production says he wants to film a sophomoric novel about the effect of radiation on society he says it is because he believes in the book, to which the subordinate who wants him to do his project instead responds "I believe in the Yellow Pages but I don't want to film it!" and challenges him to "tell it to me in one sentence ... if you can't tell it to me in one sentence, they can't print it in TV Guide." Mamet never delves below the surface of the characters, however. That may well be because he doesn't believe they have anything under the surface, but the facile byplay of these characters is in stark contrast to the depth of understanding of the tormented sales staff in Glengarry. No one would market Glengarry as a comedy, however. This lighter work is simply a comedy. A very good comedy.

Danton Stone is suitably smarmy as the Head of Production who talks a mile a minute when he wants something, which is practically every waking moment. "I'm going to do you the honor of speaking frankly" is a line that slithers from his mouth with an intimidating, I-dare-you-to-question-my-integrity pose. Many of his one-liners are directed to Peter Birkenhead, who is energetic and tightly wound as the nearly hyper would-be producer. Both are new to Theater J and the Potomac Region. A familiar face, however, is that of Meghan Grady, a frequent player at Synetic who was most recently on this stage in Either Or. She's the real pleasure in the trio, absolutely nailing the fast flying flippantry of the contest of wills between her and Stone in act two.

Daniel Conway provides not one but two striking sets for the three-act play. The first set is the executive office in the movie studio. It is used for acts one and three. In between is the apartment of the Head of Production where his seduction of the temporary worker - or is that his seduction by the temporary worker? - takes place. The production takes a fifteen minute intermission between acts one and two to allow changing the set but just a quick stretch break while the stagehands put it back together. Since Theater J's home in the Goldman Theater is a thrust stage without a curtain, the shift is conducted in full view of a fascinated audience, many of whom applaud once the change has been accomplished.

Written by David Mamet. Directed by Jerry Whiddon. Design: Daniel Conway (set) Kathleen Geldard (costumes) Michelle Elwyn (properties) Cory Ryan Frank (lights) Neil McFadden (sound) Karen Currie (stage manager). Cast: Peter Birkenhead, Meghan Grady, Danton Stone.

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Running time 2:20 - one intermission
A powerful drama of a family caught in the politics of the modern middle east

Storyline: In the year 2012, the family of the leader of a Jewish settlement in an area of the West Bank which was taken from Jordan in the Six Day War of 1967 is torn by the emotional pressures of their differing reactions to Israeli agreements in a United States brokered peace agreement. The agreement would threaten their ability to remain in their home and live in their community.

Motti Lerner, whose Passing the Love of Women was produced here in 2004, wrote an earlier version of this play twenty years ago. Theater J asked him to update it after doing a one-night reading of his original script, and he has re-thought some of the political events that trigger the reactions of the family members but has retained the family-centered aspects of the play. This is the premiere of the English language version of the play. It is a blend of timelessness in his family-centered set of character studies, and timeliness in his treatment of a completely believable political scenario. Just who is President of the United States, Prime Minister of Israel or President of the Palestinian National Authority isn't at issue here. It is the impact of their actions on one family that is. That reduces geopolitics to personal terms. Lerner manages to incorporate the different views that different people even in the same family can have.

Michael Tolaydo turns in another polished performance that reveals the workings of a mind and a conscience in a fundamentally good man who has to face the consequences of his own actions, in this case years of leadership of a Zionist settlement in the area that might well be "returned" in a peace agreement. The script gives him plenty of opportunity to show growth and development and he takes every advantage. Laura Giannarelli is particularly understandable as his long supporting wife whose love for him is tested by her love for the rest of her family. Alexander Strain is superb as their younger son whose home is his hope. Lindsay Haynes, as their daughter, and Joel Reuben Ganz, as her husband, do fine jobs with satisfyingly complex characters. Of all the eight-member cast on stage, only Norman Aronovic, as a neighbor who is both in-law to their daughter and the secretary of the settlement, seems a bit artificial. The rest all interrelate in a very believable representation of an extended family under pressure.

While the cast is entirely local, the production features an international mix in the creative team. The director, Sinai Peter is an Israeli who was an Artistic Director at the Haifa Municipal Theatre. The attractive set of the modern home with its panoramic view of the settlements in Samaria is by Kinereth Kisch and the contemporary costumes, which so nicely reinforce each performer's efforts to establish individual characters, are by Dalia Penn. Both are Israeli artists working with local lighting designer Martha Mountain and properties designer Michelle Elwyn. The sound for the production is handled by local sound designer Clay Teunis with incidental music composed by Israeli Hannah Kakohen. The result is a physical production that feels right, giving American audiences a chance to feel a bit of what daily life is like in an area of our world where tension and domestic life co-exist.

Written by Motti Lerner. Directed by Sinai Peter. Design: Kinereth Kisch (set) Dalia Penn (costumes) Martha Mountain (lights) Clay Teunis (sound) Hannah Hakohen (incidental music) Stan Barouh (photography) Maribeth Chaprnka (stage manager). Cast: Norman Aronovic, Becky Peters, Joel Reuben Ganz, Laura Giannarelli, Lindsay Haynes, John Johnston, Alexander Strain, Michael Tolyado, and the voice of Dan Raviv.

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Running time 2:35 - one intermission
A powerful holocaust play impeccably performed

Storyline: A German evangelical Christian with an expertise in chemistry is caught up in the Nazi movement and his knowledge of extermination chemicals is found to be of importance to those in the party and the government who administer the mass murder programs of the Reich. He's appalled when his mentally disturbed sister is a victim of the systematic killing of the "mentally deficient," but gets caught up himself in the program when his knowledge of Zyklon B which promises to be a more efficient chemical for the gas chambers in the concentration camps.

Keneally gives us a look into the quandary facing one tiny cog on the gigantic gear that powered one element of a horrific aspect of human history. This is the role of a holocaust play (or book or movie) - to let us, or force us, to think in terms of individual actions rather than sit back and comfortably condemn broad sweeps of history. The result isn't a particularly pleasant evening in the theater, but, then, it shouldn't be. It should be difficult to look this moment in history in the face without blinking, and Keneally gives us the opportunity to do that by focusing in so closely on real people that make real choices rather than specks blown by the irresistible winds of history.

Paul Morella leads a cast of well known faces. His ramrod stiff posture reveals the pressure inside as he grapples with the series of blows history has for him. He's particularly good at revealing the reluctance to believe the nearly-unbelievable, and the power of the blow when he realizes the consequences of what is expected of him. Ralph Cosham is solid as his even stiffer father who is assailed by no doubts at all, who can actually say with a straight face "to tell a government what it wants to hear is not a lie, it is a civic courtesy." Two women put a human face on the dilemma and they are nicely played by Elizabeth H. Richards and Meghan Grady. The rest of the cast are called upon to play multiple roles given that Keneally has written a play with more parts than most theaters can afford to fill. John Lescault has four roles ranging from a pastor to the Papal Nuncio and Conrad Feininger is both a civilian investigator and an SS police chief. All do creditable jobs in each of their roles.

James Kronzer's set reflects what has become known as "Nazi Architecture," that strange amalgamation of Imperial Roman grandeur and Art Deco fluidity. He carries set pieces beyond the proscenium to draw the audience into the strange world of the Third Reich. The most dramatic image of the evening is saved for the very last. Morella's character has meticulously saved the paperwork which, in true Teutonic spirit, he believes will prove his version of events to be the truth. As he is taken away after the fall of the Reich, all that remains on stage is his stack of papers - highlighted by a spotlight. It is a call to study the record, find the truth and remember.

Written by Thomas Keneally. Directed by Daniel De Raey. Design: James Kronzer (set) Misha Kachman (costumes) Michelle Elwyn (properties) Martha Mountain (lights) Ryan Rumery (sound) Stan Barouh (photography) Kate Kilbane (stage manager). Cast: Ralph Cosham, Parker Dixon, John Dow, Conrad Feininger, Meghan Grady, John Lescault, John-Michael MacDonald, Paul Morella, Elizabeth Richards, Clay Steakley.

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Running time 1:40 - no intermission
A solo performance featuring five members of one family

Storyline: One actress portrays five members of a family - father, mother, two daughters and a grandmother. Bonds of love are stretched but never broken as each pursues his or her own idea of happiness.

Don't look here for a revelation of this family's secrets. You will simply have to attend and let Glaser tell them in her own way. Suffice it to say that each of the five characters are talking about their family trials and tribulations, hopes and dreams, pressures and bonds. There is affection in each characterization although there is also great humor in the magnification of quirks and peculiarities. You get the feeling that none of the five would allow anyone outside the family to say any of the things they say about themselves.

Each of the five characters are strongly sketched, with an emphasis on their peculiarities at the start but an equal emphasis on their family ties by the end. At each change of character Glaser changes costumes on-stage, costumes she has been wearing over a plain black leotard, and discarding whatever wig completed the image of the previous character. The result is a bit repetitive, with each vignette lasting approximately the same amount of time and following approximately the same structure. By the fourth or fifth vignette, you can pretty much predict how the presentation will proceed. Even so, you are carried along by Glaser's obvious affection for her subjects.

The most intriguing feature of the spare set design is the mirror into which Glaser stares as she applies different styles of makeup. It is a see-through mirror so that all of the audience can see her actions while she can see her own reflection to apply the makeup. At times it makes her monologue seem as if she is talking to herself in the mirror rather than to the members of the audience. It emphasizes the intimacy of the revelations and forms something of a compact with the audience who are both listening and eavesdropping. Such are the pleasures of solo-shows.

Written by Sherry Glaser and Greg Howells. Based on the New York production directed by Bob Balaban. Design: Rob Odorisio's set adapted by Thomas Howley. John-Paul Szczepanski's lighting design adapted by Jason Arnold. David Elias (stage manager). Cast: Sherry Glaser.

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Running time 2:20 - one intermission
t A Potomac Stages Pick for a lovely and lively memoir of life in an unorthodox family
Click here to buy the memoir

Storyline: In the stage adaptation of her own memoir, Laura Shaine Cunningham remembers what life was like in her youth in the Bronx in the 1950s when, at age eight, she lost her mother and was raised by her two eccentric uncles.

Klein establishes her adult-looking-back-on-childhood character quickly and builds a very touching bond with Becky Peters as her mother. Taylor made another fine casting choice when she avoided having Peters double on other parts once the mother has died. There's enough doubling with Cam Magee taking on multiple roles. As it is, the cast is fairly large for this intimate house - ten actors in the dozen roles. Those actors are well selected. Paul Morella displays a marvelously light comic touch as the uncle who hides his identity in the shroud of secrecy ("All will be revealed in due course" he says in response to any effort to extract information.) David Elias has the sharper role to play as the first uncle to arrive in young Lilly's life - an uncle so desperate to leave bachelorhood behind that he's known to propose before a first date. Elias does a very nice job of avoiding being too quirky. Susan Moses creates a nosey neighbor with just a hint of a soft side to her.

Knowing that Halo Wines is featured in the cast - indeed, listed second only to Klein in the program - you may wonder when intermission arrives and she's yet to make an entrance. Her role, that of the grandmother who goes by the name/description of "Etka from Minsk" and never by "Grandmother" or any of its diminutives, is a bit too large to be called a cameo but is properly categorized as a supporting one. Casting Wines, as effervescent and enjoyable as she is, tends to unbalance the production just as it is progressing toward resolution. It doesn't damage the show as much as, for instance, the casting of the late Dorothy Loudon in Kander and Ebb's Over and Over a few years back, but it does give the final third of the show a rougher road to hoe than need be, and Wines' performance isn't quite as polished as the billing would lead you to expect. For example, she has a bit in her first scene that establishes that she has one good ear and one good eye - and they aren't on the same side of her head. The bit is quickly forgotten, however, as she never again seems to have any difficulty seeing or hearing people all around her.  

An airy atmosphere is established by the choice of setting - filmy sheers, scrim at the back revealing projections and two movable platforms that swivel and combine to create everything from apartments to Central Park fences. No effort is made to actually recreate Lilly's paint scheme for the apartment she shares with her uncles - it is a good thing since that paint scheme is patterned on an orange and vanilla creamsicle. The cast is made to serve as stagehands a bit too often, moving the stylized set pieces about.

Written by Laura Shaine Cunningham based on her memoir. Directed by Delia Taylor. Design: Kathleen Runey (set) Michael Skinner (projections) Melanie Clark (costumes) Michelle Elwyn (properties) Colin K. Bills (lights) Mark Anduss (sound) Stan Barouh (photography) Lindsay Miller (stage manager). Cast: David Elias, Tiffany Fillmore, Lindsay Haynes, Tom Howley, Tessa Klein, Cam Magee, Paul Morella, Susan Moses, Becky Peters, Halo Wines.

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Running time 1:30 - no intermission
t A Potomac Stages Pick for a gentle memory play of successive generations of fathers and sons

Storyline: As he approaches the final moments of his life, an elderly man looks back on his relationship with his father and with his son and grandson. He had been a symphony orchestra conductor, his son a jazz band leader and his grandson is into rap music, while his own father claimed to be non-musical, interested instead in operating a family business.

Brustein is the founder of both the Yale and the American Repertory Theatres and a former Dean of the Yale Drama School and Professor of English at Harvard. As a theater critic for the New Republic for nearly half a century, he has guided the thinking of theater students and scholars with thousands of reviews and no fewer than 15 books. With credentials like that it is rather daunting to be in a position to offer a critique of his work. On first exposure, which is often all a reviewer gets, this gentle memory play appears earnest and sincere with a clear desire to be liked. But the language seems a bit too formal for conversations inside a family and way too much time is absorbed in conversations the real purpose of which appears to be to tell the audience who these people are and what their relationship is. None of the characters seem to finish the sentences of another or to even speak in the kind of familiar shorthand that family members do in private conversations. Perhaps the addition of a genealogical chart of the characters to the program would help a bit so that you can study the relationships beforehand so you don't have to be distracted from the play to think through just who is who. After all, the play is only an hour and a half and there is a lot of material to absorb. In the meantime, here's the shorthand version: Abe begat the conductor Richard who begat David who begat Sean. Minnie, who is Abe's wife, and Naomi, who is Richard's wife, are both played by one actress, in this case Susan Rome, while David's first wife, Christine, is played by Anne Petersen.

The central character is given a lovely rendition by Bill Hamlin, doing some of his best work here at Theater J which is saying a lot, for he has turned in some memorable portrayals on this stage. In the dual role of his younger self and also his son is Sean Dugan who played the role in the piece's workshop at the Vineyard Playhouse in Massachusetts this summer. It is is his first exposure on stages in the Potomac Region and his work is strong enough to make us hope it wont be his last. New York based Mitchell Greenberg is sharp as both the conductor's memory of his own father and as a middle-aged version of the conductor himself. Local actor Joe Baker makes his Theater J debut with some nice touches indeed as the rap-intrigued teenager. Anne Petersen, who also appeared in the workshop version of the play, has a single strong scene as the youngest woman in the piece, while Susan Rome takes on a double role and is a bit confusing as to which she is when, the mother of the conductor or his widow.

As audiences at Theatre J have come to expect, the production is given an intelligently designed set, appropriately lit and enhanced by an effective sound design. Indeed, the sound design is credited to Matt Rowe, a frequent contributor to theaters throughout the Potomac Region and head sound technician at Signature Theatre. The primary aspect of the sound here is the music that fills the conductor's head, and the program also credits the work of the sound designer from this summer's  workshop presentation, which probably means he made the original choices of recordings of the music of Mahler, Rachmaninov, Artie Shaw and others used in the show. Since the story plays out in the memory of the conductor, there is no real effort to capture any rap - a music he couldn't recognize as music anyway.

Written by Robert Brustein. Directed by Wesley Savick. Design: Lewis Folden (set) Kathleen Geldard (costumes) Andrew Conway (properties) Colin K. Bills (lights) Matt Rowe (sound) David Remedios (original sound design) Stan Barouh (photography) Rebecca Berlin (stage manager). Cast: Joe Baker, Sean Dugan, Mitchell Greenberg, Bill Hamlin, Anne Petersen, Susan Rome.

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Running time 1:45 - one intermission
t A Potomac Stages Pick for a joyous klezmer
 musical version of a whimsical story
Click here to buy the book

Storyline: Shlemiel, the beadle of the tiny town of fools called Chelm, is sent off to spread the word of the supposed wisdom of the town fathers. He's tricked into coming right back into town but thinks he's stumbled on a duplicate of Chelm. When he finds his wife and children he thinks they are duplicates too, but he falls back in love with Mrs. Shlemiel, thinking she's a different woman. His "infidelity" is discovered and he's banished - only to be tricked again, and so he returns to what he thinks is "Chelm One."

Structurally, Brustein's book for the musical is a delight, both in the flow of the story and in the way so much of the plot and character information is provided in song rather than dialogue. There's really very little talking and quite a lot of singing here, which is great when the songs are as tuneful and clever as they are. Most of the music is by Hankus Netsky, founder of the Klezmer Conservatory Band, and the lyrics are by Arnold Weinstein, whose credits range from the comic Punch and Judy Get Divorced to a serious adaptation of Ovid's Metamorphosis. The songs do tend to repeat a point here and there a bit, three choruses rather than four would often work. Still, it is a short, quick show. The second act begins with an entr'acte that really gets the audience clapping and swaying and the exit music is so much fun that the audience didn't exit until it was over. (David Julian Gray's clarinet wails and sways with positive panache.) So, why wasn't there an overture? With a show that lasts less than two hours even with an intermission, it certainly wasn't because they thought it was too long. The strength of the entr'acte was such that they could simply have played it as the overture - I wouldn't mind hearing it twice.

An article on klezmer stated that "enthusiasm is more important than talent, though talent doesn't hurt either." The cast here has both enthusiasm and talent. We all know that Amy McWilliams, Donna Migliaccio, Rob McQuay and Dwayne Nitz are amazingly talented. Here McWilliams makes the part of Mrs. Shlemiel both very funny and quite touching. Migliaccio is a fabulous comic shrew - complete with pickle to pound on the head of her husband, played by Dan Manning, who makes an imposingly foolish Groman Ox. (Don't you just love the names? Too bad they weren't able to include Shmendrick Numskull from another story in Singer's storybook.) Max Talisman, who recently finished the run of Caroline, or Change at Studio, shows a comic delivery capability he didn't get to display in that musical. Nitz not only takes on multiple roles, he takes a turn on the drums as well.

In the title role is Tom Howley, whose work in the region in the past hardly seems to have presaged the charm and energy he displays here. His resume includes puppeteer in Glen Echo, a slot in a show during the Fringe Festival, doing commercials for a cable news station, wielding a hammer at the West End Dinner Theatre until it folded a few years ago, and, currently, constructing sets here at Theatre J. He is confident, funny, touching and in fine voice in the lead. You might try to remember the name as it will probably be in the cast list of many shows in the near future.

Conceived and adapted by Robert Brustein based on the play by I. B. Singer. Music by Hankus Netsky. Lyrics by Arnold Weinstein. Directed by Nick Olcott. Additional music and musical direction by Zalmen Mlotek. Assistant musical direction by Daniel Hoffman. Design: Franklin Labovitz (costumes) David Elias (stage manager). Cast: Peter Gil, Tom Howley, Rob McQuay, Amy McWilliams, Dan Manning, Donna Migliaccio, Dwayne Nitz, Howard Stregack, Max Talisman, Isabel Thompson. Musicians: David Julian Gray, Daniel Hoffman, Alex Tang.

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Running time 2:35 - two intermissions
The world premiere of an intellectually challenging play

Storyline: As Nazi totalitarianism stifles all artistic or intellectual freedoms in occupied Paris, Pablo Picasso takes all the measures he believes necessary to avoid any involvement that might draw the attention of the authorities who might just decide to eliminate him before he gets to create all the great art he believes is in him - but at what price to his friends, his colleagues, his lovers or his own humanity?

The show opens on a projection sequence in which the elements of Picasso's famous cubist painting Guernica fly in and assemble into Picasso's final arrangement. The sequence demonstrates the essence of his approach of dissecting his subject - in this case, the destruction by the Nazis of that Basque city in 1937 - and then displaying the elements in a manner that invites a fresh look. With Mitchell Hébert as Picasso visible through the screen applying paint with vigorous strokes of a brush, it seems like a scene from Sondheim's Sunday in the Park with George. But it is soon clear that this won't be a musical and that it won't be about the process of art, it will be about the worth of art in relationship to the worth of human life and values such as duty, and friendship.

Hébert's Picasso is a brutal presence cloaked in the mantle of fame, even when he's not doing anything but hiding out in his studio. There's no softness, no human concern for others and no apparent capacity for self doubt in this widely acknowledged master artist. Hébert breathes life into the portrait, but no heart - but perhaps that's his point. This is in contrast with the other "heavy" in the story, the fictional Nazi officer, played with equal parts passion and pride by Saxon Palmer. Watching these two, the contrast is marked - even when they aren't doing much. Palmer hovers on the edges of many of the scenes, a constant reminder of the consistent presence of Nazi power in occupied Paris. At times he seems to be part of the background but one you can never shake. Hébert, on the other hand, always draws your eye even when he's just smoking a cigarette (no one smokes on stage as well as he!).

Theater J's production feels substantial, but suffers from the use of a cast of seven to portray fifteen characters. Only Hébert, Kathleen Coons as a modern journalist and Katherine Clarvoe as his lover of the time, the photographer who famously documented his creation of Guernica, are free from doubling. Palmer has to take a turn playing Jean Cocteau which becomes confusing - is he really Cocteau, or is he the Nazi impersonating Cocteau, or is it a figment of the imagination of Picasso? Keeping the characters straight is difficult as the always intriguing Jim Jorgensen plays four different characters, the solidly satisfying Bill Hamlin assays three and the sadly underutilized Lawrence Redmond has three fairly colorless characters to play.

Written by Ariel Dorfman. Directed by John Dillon. Design: Lewis Folden (set) Kate Turner Walker (costumes) Michelle Elwyn (properties) Martha Mountain (lights) Ryan Rumery (sound) David Elias (stage manager). Cast: Katherine Clarvoe, Kathleen Coons, Bill Hamlin, Mitchell Hébert, Jim Jorgensen, Saxon Palmer, Lawrence Redmond. 

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Reviewed April 8
Running time 2:20 - one intermission
t A Potomac Stages pick for sparkling dialogue
 delivered with style

Storyline: Three couples have returned home in the wee hours of the morning following Truman Capote's legendary 1966 Black and White Ball at  New York's Plaza Hotel. Not all have returned to their own apartments, however. One couple, who crashed the party, is at home. The others have switched partners for a while, although not always with the intention of intimacy. All six have found the evening much less satisfying than they expected. They think the fault must be in their own lives, not in any failing on the part of Capote or the literati assembled at "The Party of the Century." Of course, that would be unthinkable.

When Richard Greenberg gets fascinated by something, the result usually ends up on stage in a form that is fascinating for the audience. Here his interest is in the party for something less than 600 people in the ballroom of the Plaza Hotel which was ostensibly to celebrate the publication of Capote's groundbreaking hit journalistic novel "In Cold Blood," but turned out to be much more a celebration of celebrity. Greenberg uses the occasion to explore the fascination that fame and its accompanying power can have for those who don't have it. Many of the characters here have expected this night of all nights to be a defining point in their lives. None has liked what they got. They do talk about it with great aplomb, however, exchanging quips and bons mot at a furious pace. Taking place as it does in what Frank Sinatra sang about as "the wee small hours of the morning" and among people who have had a most exhaustive, if not completely exhausting evening, it is amazing that any of them can rise to the literate expectations of their partners and keep up the level of banter. But they can and they do.

How wonderful to see Brigid Cleary back on this stage delivering lines that match the level of her craft. She opened Tony Kushner’s Homebody/Kabul on this stage under director John Vreeke with a monologue of memorable impact. Now, with the same director, she opens Greenberg’s latest with a dialogue scene shared with Jeff Allin. It has the same hypnotic effect of setting the entire tone of the evening. Allin adds a laconic touch of class to the scene, especially during the first half when the two are masked. When they remove their masks, somehow the magic of mystery is diminished. But, then, isn't that the point? Maia DeSanti manages to keep the speech impediment of her character from being either her sole defining feature or a cheap gag, while Todd Scofield is subtly superb as her husband, a millionaire from the Midwest where people don't necessarily care quite as much about the cult of personality as they do on the Upper East Side of Manhattan. Colleen Delany is both funny and touching as the wallflower he has accompanied home because they seem to have been left behind by their respective spouses. Cameron McNary is the artist who may or may not be reading patron of the arts DeSanti's intentions correctly.

A sense of stylishness permeates the production and it is isn’t limited to the work of the author and the actors. All the design elements contribute as well. Kathleen Geldard’s costumes, especially those for the ladies, capture the glitter of the characters’ pretensions with unerring accuracy. The masks go a long way toward establishing each character’s expectations for the evening. Daniel Conway has designed an elegant set with rotating panels that switch from Jackson Pollack-style paintings and modern sculpture to exposed brick and bric-a-brac. The feel is right and helps the cast make the most of the material. All in all -  what a kick!

Written by Richard Greenberg. Directed by John Vreeke. Design: Daniel Conway (set and lights) Kathleen Geldard (costumes) Suzen Mason (properties) Matt Rowe (sound) Stan Barouh (photography) Delia Taylor (stage manager). Cast: Jeff Allin, Brigid Cleary, Colleen Delany, Maia DeSanti, Cameron McNary, Todd Scofield.

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Reviewed February 15
Running time 1:30 - no intermission
t A Potomac Stages Pick for visual, aural and emotional impact
Click here to buy the original script

Storyline: A woman in a Georgian village is loved by a young man of insufficient means to impress her father who arranges a marriage for her to a wealthy man from a neighboring village. Heartbreak takes her lover's life, but his spirit is so attached to their love that it takes possession of her. Her father arranges for an exorcism but the bond of love between the two youngsters is too strong for temporal intervention.

Synetic's Paata Tsikurishvili and Theater J's Hannah Hessel have adapted the 1920 play by S. Anski. The full title of the play was The Dybbuk, or Between Two Worlds: A Dramatic Legend in Four Acts. The original script ran to about fifty pages. When arena stage mounted an adaptation in 1975 with Diane Weist in the role of the possessed girl, and again when Tony Kushner adapted it, the text ran to a hundred pages. The team that could do Hamlet in silence doesn't need pages and pages of words. Instead they use just a few, punctuated by crystal clear story-telling in posture, gesture and dance. The result strips the story of verbiage and emphasizes emotion in a production of beauty, energy, and driving momentum that builds to a marvelously visual and aural climax.

Typical of a Tsikurishvili show, the first few scenes seem somehow dislocated or even confusing. But go with the flow - for they do coalesce into a story that takes hold of your imagination and carries you away while treating you to visual pleasures. It builds nicely, with a slight dip in intensity for the wedding dance sequence. Then it regains both momentum and power as the supernatural aspects of the story kick in. Choreographer Irina Tsikurishvili performs the role of the girl herself and is both dramatic and fluid, while many of the Synetic regulars perform with their usual precision, including the always expressive Irakli Kavadze in the role of the father who wants material wealth for his daughter. New to the troupe is Andrew Zox who is quite at home in the style as the young man whose spirit can't do without the girl.

Kavadze is also credited along with Paata Tsikurisvhili with the sound design of the show which has the sonic impact we've come to expect from Synetic. They use a selection of full symphony orchestra pieces that sound very much as if they were written as the scores for movies (think Bernard Herrman and his Alfred Hitchcock scores). Scenic designer Anastasia Ryurikov Simes uses native costumes of Georgia, some strangely reminiscent of Cossack garb, and simple but striking set elements such as hanging books for the scene in the synagogue. The simplest effect is the most effective, the light that signifies the final triumph of love.  

Adapted by Hannah Hessel and Paata Tsikurishvili from the play by S. Anski. Directed by Paata Tsikurishvili. Choreographed by Irina Tsikurishvili. Design: Anastasia Ryurikov Simes (set, costumes, properties) Colin K. Bills (lights) Irakli Kavsadze and Paata Tsikurishvili (sound) Lindsay Miller (stage manager). Cast: Daniel Eichner, Philip Fletcher, Meghan Grady, Joel Reuben Ganz, Dan Istrate, Julia Kunina, Olena Kushch, Irakli Kavsadze, Geoff Nelson, Armand Sindoni, Irina Tsikurishvili, Nathan Weinberger, Michael C. Wilson, Andrew Zox.

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Reviewed December 21
Running time 1:30 - no intermission
A good natured rock concert with a storyline
Very brief semi-nudity
Click here to buy the CD

Storyline: While performing some of their hits, the rock group Betty enacts the tale of how the three members of the group met, formed a band, got jobs, recorded their songs, toured both as intro acts and as the featured act, broke up and got back together.

This autobiographical piece was, of course, written by its three principals. Two are sisters - Amy and Elizabeth Ziff. They are the daughters of the late Irv Ziff who was a well known character actor in the Potomac Region prior to his death in 2000. Amy is the principal narrator of the piece and it appears she has been the onstage spokesperson for the group during the concert appearances. She has an open, free personality and an easy sense of humor. Sister Elizabeth is a bit more caustic and shows her temper in brief flashes. (A flash is also what earned the "Very brief semi-nudity" advisory above, for she lifts her top for just a moment to get a bit of attention at the top of the show.) Alyson Palmer, the tall statuesque one, takes longer to establish her personality which is probably appropriate as the last one to join the group. Once she's firmly ensconced, however, she's as strong and individualistic as the others.

The contributions of either the original director, Michael Greif, or the credited director of this staging, Sarah Bittenbender, is harder to determine than those of the on-stage talent. Someone honed this material into effective theatrical shape, finding ways to segue smoothly from playing music to telling the story and places to insert touches of humor or conflict in order to keep the evening from just being just a slightly augmented concert. Whoever gets the credit, the result is a show that does more than let you get to know the music of Betty, it lets you know the three women who constitute the band. It may not make everyone care a lot about them either as individuals or as a group, but it does give you more than a mere string of songs, no matter how well performed.

Special commendations should go to both David A. Arnold who designed the sound for the show and Mat Rowe who implemented the design as "Sound Engineer" for the unusual accomplishment of providing a good deal of dynamic range in a rock show. Yes, the loud stuff is quite loud, indeed. But there are soft moments of quiet harmonizing and the dialogue scenes range from soft, intimate discussions to loud arguments with appropriate gradations along the way. For a show that could simply be called "loud" this one has a surprising amount of aural variety.

Written and performed by Alyson Palmer, Amy Ziff and Elizabeth Ziff. Directed by Sara Bittenbender. Original New York production directed by Michael Greif. Design: Kevin Adams (original set and lights) Tom Howley (set adaptation) Lisa Ogonowski (lights) David A. Arnold (sound) Stan Barouh (photography) David Elias (stage manager). Supporting musicians: Tony Salvatore (guitar) Mino Gori (percussion).

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Reviewed November 6
Running time: 1:35 - no intermission
A biological-clock-is ticking comedy with scientific overtones 
Click here to buy the script

Storyline: As a music teacher reaches her fortieth birthday her life seems to be going nowhere. The man in her life has asked her to leave. Her best friend has moved away. Her father is suffering from a possibly terminal condition while her step-mother wants a divorce from him. What's more, that old biological clock keeps right on ticking. Then she starts receiving video mail from an old friend who is a comedian in Iceland and she meets a scientist who seems as intrigued with her as he is with his area of study, the "string theory," that might connect all the other theories such as Einstein's theory of relativity to create "a theory of everything."

Melinda Wade plays the forty-year-old birthday girl with a winsome exasperation, sweet but close to the end of her rope. She's not quite desperate yet but she feels it coming on. She has a running conversation in her mind with Lynn Chavis as her best friend who has moved to Iowa (the middle west being seen as moving to nowhere). Director Peg Denithorne stages these with both characters staring ahead in order to indicate the telepathetic nature of the exchange. Unfortunately, it is sometimes difficult to determine if Wade might be breaking the theatrical fourth wall to address the audience or simply staring off into space while thinking of her friend. Field Blauvelt and Gary Sloan are the two men in her life, each contributing solid performances.

Those solid performances can't compete, however, with the sparkle of Steve Brady or the intensity of Conrad Feininger. Each time either one gets on the stage the energy level shoots up and the attention given to the problems of Wade's music teacher take a back seat to these secondary stories. Brady's character appears at first only in vignettes as taped videos from Iceland where he is struggling with the twin temptations of alcohol and groupies (due to his local fame as a performer). Soon, however, he's entertaining other members of the cast either in a sauna (symbolized by the pail of dry ice and water he carries onto the set) or on horseback (a stool equipped with reins). As her father, Feininger is very much present in the teacher's life as he first attempts suicide and then recovers his health only to be left by his wife.

All this takes place on a stage defined by lines, shapes and notations. The back wall reads left to right starting with musical notes that meld mid-stage into mathematical formulae before merging into a globe. The entire thing is surrounded by a squared off proscenium deformed by the gravitational pull of that globe. Anne Gibson has returned to design this polished playing space. She has come up with striking sets going back at least to the room filling convent she designed for Theater for the First Amendment's The Sins of Sor Juana in 1999. Debra Kim Sigigny has designed some effective costumes for most characters, but gives Wade an unfortunately frumpy outfit that makes you wonder if the solution to her mid-life crisis might be as simple as a make over.  

Written by Jacquelyn Reingold. Directed by Peg Denithorne. Design: Anne Gibson (set) Debra Kim Sivigny (costumes) Katherine Osborne (properties)  Daniel Conway (lights) Bryan Miller (sound) Stan Barouh (photography) Delia Taylor (stage manager). Cast: Field Blauvelt, Steve Brady, Lynn Chavis, Conrad Feininger, Gary Sloan, Melinda Wade.

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Reviewed September 7
Running time 2:25 - one intermission
t A Potomac Stages Pick for absorbing intellectual combat and a memorable majestic performance
Click here to buy the book

Storyline: In Spain in the year 1263 the King of Aragon hosts a debate between a learned Jewish scholar and a Dominican Friar on the two questions "Has the Messiah come or is yet to come?" and "Is the Messiah a man or a god?" The pressures of court intrigue, the growing power of the Roman Catholic Church and the rise of anti-Semitism throughout Christendom set the stage for a battle of minds and hearts.

The play is by a scholar, not a playwright. The late Dr. Hyam Maccoby produced a lifetime of serious scholarly tomes on the history of Judaism including one, Judaism on Trial: Jewish-Christian Disputations in the Middle Ages, for which he translated the account of a formal disputation on Jewish versus Christian views of the Messiah and the life and nature of Jesus. That account forms the backbone of this play, but the scholar does more than merely recount an ancient debate.  Maccoby provides historical and human context through a number of subplots. Since play writing wasn't his principal skill, it is not surprising that not all the subplots play out well, but he gives nice substance to the King, the Queen and the Pope's representative, with only the subplots of the King's mistress and the disputant's daughter's admirer seeming too artificially theatrical. That Maccoby's source is the account written by one of the disputants might lead you to expect a one-sided view of the battle, but Jewish devotion to intellectual rigor in examining important questions is proven in part by the fact that the strengths of the Dominican Friar's arguments are put as clearly as are those of the Rabbi.

For those who remember Theodore Bikel best for his Tevye in Fiddler on the Roof, this evening seems almost as if Tevye had got his wish. In Fiddler Tevye sings of all the things he would do if he were a rich man. "The sweetest thing of all," he sings, would be to "discuss the holy books with the learned men seven hours every day." Bikel makes you feel his pleasure at the construction and consideration of a logical argument, and also the Rabbi's painful realization that this disputation is not merely an intellectual exercise. It has real consequences for his people. As he says, he doesn't know which to fear more: losing the argument or winning it. Edward Gero plays his opponent with just as much fervor - what a pair they make! Any production of a debate play turns in part on whether the audience believes that each debater really believes what he is arguing and is trying as hard as he possibly can to prevail. It is to Bikel and Gero's credit that this intellectual struggle is completely believable.

Supporting the cerebral combat are performances and design contributions of note. John Lescault makes a very human monarch. As his queen, Naomi Jacobson communicates more with body posture and a glance than many actresses with long speeches. As good as Andrew Long is in the scenes where his character tries to control events for the Catholic Church, he is even better simply sitting and listening to the debate rage on. His subtle facial expressions say volumes both about the church's stake in the struggle and his own thought process. Everything works together in this production, Daniel Ettingers' lovely set is dramatically lit by Colin K. Bills. The effect is amplified by the sumptuous costumes (Kathleen Geldard gives Jacobson a stunning gown that matches her throne) and even Ryan Rummery's sound design works with the action as sounds are synchronized with the closing of volumes or the pounding of fists. In every aspect, there is one feature - intelligence.

Written by Hyam Maccoby. Directed by Nick Olcott. Design: Daniel Ettinger (set) Kathleen Geldard (costumes) Colin K. Bills (lights) Ryan Rumery (sound) Stan Barouh (photography) Delia Taylor (stage manager). Cast: Theodore Bikel, Field Blauvelt, Tymberlee Chanel, Edward Gero, Matthew Gottlieb, Naomi Jacobsen, John Lescault, Andrew Long, John-Michael MacDonald, Rahaleh Nassri.

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Re-reviewed June 1
t Still a Potomac Stages Pick

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Reviewed May 8
Running time 2:30 - one intermission
t A Potomac Stages Pick for Intellectually and emotionally challenging material
Click here to buy the script

Storyline: Hannah Arendt had been a student of noted philosopher Martin Heidegger before the Nazis came to power in Germany. They'd even shared a brief affair. During the Nazi period, however, he came under the spell of Hitler's vision of the future while she fled because of her Jewish ancestry. After the war, she tries to come to grips with his views and his failure to explain himself to the world. 

As satisfying a job as Lescault does in the daunting challenge of presenting Martin Heidegger, the most impressive piece of acting here is actually that of Elizabeth Rich in the role of Arendt. Never mind that her character has the more politically correct set of opinions to voice. She has the challenge of making Arendt something more than a symbol of her views, she has to show the conflict between her affection for Heidegger the man, and her confusion over his ability to hold views she sees as completely incompatible with her understanding of his values - the values she studied under his tutelage and the essence of the man she came to admire and love. Her conflict comes through clearly and the pain it causes her is apparent in Rich's impressive performance. What is more, her intensity level from the first moment of the play drives the entire production.

That there is a fine supporting cast at work goes almost unnoticed in the heat generated by Rich and Lescault (a heat that is entirely intellectual and personal, there really isn't much sexual spark between them even in the single bed scene that is designed to remove any doubt about the level of physical intimacy the author assumes existed between these two). Steven Carpenter is suitably brittle, Bill Hamlin sufficiently suave and Kimberly Schraft just shrewish enough without descending into stereotype. But the focus never shifts from the two central characters and the evening rides on the shoulders of Rich and Lescault.

Once again, Theater J provides an impressive set on its small stage. Tony Cisek's assemblage of platforms, partitions and walls is covered with writing which Dan Covey highlights using stencil-like shields that throw patterns on the surface. The initial image of the lights flaring in synchronization with the igniting of a cigarette gets the evening off to a striking start. Ryan Rumery's all enveloping sound provides pace and a visceral feel for movement choreographer Cassie Meador's opening sequence. However, the real fireworks are still to come. They are the verbal exchanges between Rich/Arendt and Lesault/Heidegger, especially in the second act when Heidegger's devotion to the dream of greatness which he felt Hitler offered, and his sense of betrayal that the Third Reich didn't reach its goals, become painfully, awfully clear.

Written by Kate Fodor. Directed by Jeremy B. Cohen. Movement choreography by Cassie Meador. Design: Tony Cisek (set) Kate Turner-Walker (costumes) Dale Nadel (properties) Dan Covey (lights) Ryan Rumery (sound) Stan Barouh (photography) Michael Kramer (stage manager). Cast: Christopher Browne, Steven Carpenter, Bill Hamlin, John Lescault, Rahaleh Nassri, Elizabeth Rich, Kimberly Schraf, Ellen Young.

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Reviewed April 6
Running time 1:15 - no intermission
t A Potomac Stages Pick for a fascinating character impressively created
Price range $10-$30

Storyline: A woman who has been the victim of a brutal attack takes the audience into her confidence to explain her physical, psychological and spiritual recovery, a process which is very much still ongoing.

Buck's script is remarkable, not in its theatrical conventions or in its format, for in these it is fairly straight forward using a chronological approach to the story and a simple but effective projections to give a visual feel to match the subject. What is remarkable is its content - the open and honest exploration of her reaction to all that has been involved in her recovery to date. The script covers subjects large and small, and, indeed, it is the tiny details that bring it all to life. It is the honesty of her exploration of her own thoughts, fears and values that is unusual, and it is the deep sense of humanity, the gratitude toward the remarkable number of people who helped her survive and recover, and the open discussion of her feelings toward the unknown assailant that make this one-act encounter with her one that will linger in memory for a great while.

Buck's self-examination delivers the over-all story of her hospitalization, her therapy, her return to the working world and the role of the many people whose help and support was crucial. The tiny details and her own thoughts about these things are fascinating. Of the support she received she says "it's not about me anymore. There are all these people who have invested in putting me back together." Openly discussing the fact that she's a lesbian and bemoaning the fact that the police never even considered the possibility that the beating was a hate crime, she says "I want the satisfaction of classification" but also admits that "all crimes are hateful."  She acknowledges that it is still a recovery she must make herself. "I'm alone when I close my eyes - so I keep them open" she says. Told that few survive such a horrible beating, she replies "my soul chose to live. I'm here. Now what?"

Holly Twyford has a way of establishing contact with her audiences no matter if she's doing tragedy, romance, comedy or historical drama. It is usually just described as "stage presence." Here, as the only person on stage in the medium sized but still intimate Goldman Theater at the DC Jewish Community Center, she uses that presence in a very personal way. Whether she can actually see beyond the lights into the darkness of the hall or not, she seems to establish direct eye contact with the audience, making the narrative a very personal conversation directed at each individual. From time to time, when her character lapses into her own thoughts, Twyford's focus extends beyond the hall. Then, when she returns to the narrative, she re-establishes the contact with the audience with renewed impact. What is even more impressive, however, is that she never over-does any of these techniques. The performance is always about her character and her recovery, never about the actress and her skills.

Written by Jeanette L. Buck. Directed by Delia Taylor. Design: Caitlin Lainoff (set and properties) Kathleen Geldard (costume) Lisa L. Ogonowski (lights) Michael Skinner (projections) Adrianna Carroll Daugherty (sound) Stan Barouh (photography) Kate Olden (stage manager). Cast: Holly Twyford. 

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Reviewed January 16
Running time 2:05 - one intermission
t A Potomac Stages Pick for a tremendous performance in the title role
Click here to buy the novel

Storyline: The famous author of a work on the Holocaust is becoming more and more reclusive and has recently been diagnosed with a degenerative neurological condition. As he begins a major project of translating Virgil's The Aeneid, he hires a strangely scarred young woman as an assistant, not knowing that she harbors deep feelings of anti-Semitism. His sister is appalled by his selection but he defends her. As he comes to understand and value her, so she learns from him and gains a sense of self worth from his faith in her.

Oates was thrice a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize for fiction (Black Water, What I Lived For and Blonde) and has written many plays as well (I Stand Before You Naked, Tone Clusters). She even combines the two disciplines with adaptations of her own novels. Her novel <