Cara E. Peterson and Casey Sean Grimm (foreground) as Man and Woman,
and Amy Sawyers as Rebecca, Ray Ready as Stephen, and Kathy Lynn Sliter as Claire (back)
in Paula Vogel's 'the long christmas ride home', now playing at the Bartell Theatre.
THE LONG CHRISTMAS RIDE HOME
by Paula Vogel
A SHIVER-MAKING EXPERIENCE! EXQUISITE!”
“The most visually exquisite production of the season. Deeply affecting, stirring and eloquent. It’s enough to make even die-hard agnostics believe, at least for an instant, in the mystical powers of drama.” —Ben Brantley,
The New York Times
* * * * *
(front) Casey Sean Grimm as Man, and Amy Sawyers and Kathy Lynn Sliter
(background R to L) in Paula Vogel's puppet play 'the long christmas ride home'
From reviews by showbusinessweekly.com and theatermania.com:
There’s plenty of entertainment to be
found, but it’s of the more introspective sort one would expect from a show
based on the art of Bunraku, Japanese puppet theatre. The Long Christmas Ride
Home seamlessly integrates American theatrical comedy and the centuries-old art
form into a unique and very special show that, puppets or no, feels like nothing
else to show up recently on the New York boards.
It all starts with the story, which finds a husband and wife driving their three children, Stephen, Rebecca, and Claire (the show’s primary puppet characters) home after a catastrophic Christmas dinner with their grandparents. A man and woman, in the car’s front seat, narrate the action while their children—portrayed primarily by three actors, with a number of additional puppeteers cloaked in black from head to toe providing assistance—fight, argue, threaten to get sick, and so on.
These puppets have a near-complete range of motion that allows every extremity and every joint to define a character emotionally by representing them with exacting physical precision. Manipulated by two puppeteers each and given voice by the parents/narrators and then by actor/puppeteers, the puppets are incredibly expressive despite their impassive faces. The doll-like stand-ins symbolize the children’s terrible vulnerability to their father’s foibles in ways that real actors can’t. With puppets, Ride Home avoids the pitfalls of too-precious adults playing children, as well as the limits of child actors.
* * * * *
Paula Vogel (born November 16, 1951, in Washington, D.C.) is an American Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright and university professor. She is best known for her Pulitzer Prize-winning play How I Learned To Drive, which deals with child sexual abuse and incest. The Baltimore Waltz, a tribute to her brother, won the Obie award for Best Play in 1992 and her anthology, The Baltimore Waltz and Other Plays, has been published by TCG. Other plays include Hot ‘N Throbbing, Desdemona, And Baby Makes Seven, The Mineola Twins, and The Oldest Profession. [FYI: Hot ‘N Throbbing and The Oldest Profession were staged by Mercury Players in 1998 and 1999, respectively.]
CAST
Man: Casey Sean Grimm
Puppeteers:
Woman: Cara Peterson Kelly Murphy
Minister: Monty Marsh Jessica Joan Evans
Rebecca: Amy Sawyers Sean Langenecker
Stephen: Ray Ready Leanne Schmidt
Claire: Kathy Lynn Sliter
Bartell Theatre, 113 E. Mifflin St., Evjue Stage
Performances: June 8 - 23, 2007
Performance Times: June 8, 9, 14, 15, 16, 20, 21, 22, 23 @ 8 pm, June 10 & 17 @ 2pm
Ticket Prices: $15 / $5 Student Tuesdays & Wednesdays / General Admission
Go to
www.brownpapertickets.com for reservations, or 608-661-9696 x5 (Season Ticket Reservations) for additional information.