Category: Touchstone Theater

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American Players Theatre: Christopher Fry’s A Phoenix Too Frequent

When you first read parts of the American Players Theatre description of Christopher Fry’s A Phoenix Too Frequent, you feel you might be about to experience a challenging tragic drama:

In ancient Greece, Dynamene is prepared to die from grief over the death of her husband and has barricaded herself, fasting, in his tomb. She has brought her faithful servant along to die with her (a plan that said servant is not 100% on board with).

But I have taken that entirely out of context and Christopher Fry has instead provided us with a witty understated comedy that plays off classic sources from Homer to Sophocles to of course, Shakespeare! Instead we find ourselves roaming from troubled to amused to relieved…as the somber circumstances play out via Fry’s immaculate verse…to the captivating human interaction…laced with humor in character definition, an absurd situation, and his carefully manipulated clever English! It’s all a delight until the crisis appears when all seems lost. But as with most classics, there is a deus ex machina of sorts and life and love prevail. So that covers the play…but again from the APT:

Here we have the classic “boy-meets-girl, boy-dies, girl-meets-handsome-soldier-in-the-first-boy’s-tomb-while- waiting-to-die-with-her-faithful-servant” story. It may sound ridiculous. And it is. But youth is often a ridiculous ride, and it’s hard to be hopeless for long when you’re on it. Feel free to laugh with them as they attempt to find their way in the literal dark, with a bellyful of wine and all the earnest, wobbly assurance of people dealing with death just as they’re learning to live life. Quirky and Greeky and oh so funny, with a deceptively deep story, this one promises a delightful time

screen capture by Ed Heinzelman: we need darker vowels

Now our story revolves around just three characters: our widow, Dynamene played by Phoebe Gonzalez, her handmaiden, Doto played by Tyler Meredith, and our handsome stranger, the soldier, Tegeus played by Christoper Sheard. These three weave the words into actions that tell the story with complete awareness of the absurdity of the situation and cleanly emphasize the humor in the text. Director Keira Fromm has them interacting in and around the minimal stage with a certain grace…even during the various crises and entanglements shall we say. It works on every level and certainly invites us to stay engaged with the players, the story. and the action. And of course the emphasis on the humor seems invisible until it subtly reaches our conscious funny bone.

And the minimal stage couldn’t be better suited to the action, the deceased’s crypt, benches, and the entrance are all clearly defined and perfectly appropriate to an undisclosed but clearly ancient Greece. Thank you Jeffrey Kmiec! And the blue lighting was dramatic, ethereal, and unobtrusive all at the same time. Something that I wouldn’t have ever considered….so thank you, Jesse Klug!

Tylelr Meredith as Doto: photo courtesy of the American Players Theatre

The opening scene quickly introduces us to the world weary and street smart Doto who gets a lot of the early laughs and chuckles as she lays out her predicament. All worked around a restlessly sleeping Dynamene (how Ms. Gonzalez manages to do this without laughing is funny in itself…Ms. Meredith get a similar ‘respite’ later but gets to do it out of sight of most of the audience instead of center stage! ). So you want to feel for Doto right away and it is a great deal of fun to listen to the rather unique English she employs and the street cred she exhibits when Tegeus ‘bursts’ on the scene! Bravo Ms. Meredith!

Christopher Sheard as Tegeus, Phoebe Gonzales as Dynamene; photo courtesy of American Players Theatre.

And the pas de deux between Dynamene and Tegeus is magic. Not only the language but the dance itself as they struggle to engage and keep their distance and engage while moving about the set. There isn’t even a more convincing scene in Shakespeare! The timing, looks, leers, restraint, and finally surrender to love all works to perfection. Ms. Gonzalez and Mr. Sheard amplify those emotions without our noticing any effort and with our full approval. And it makes the coming crisis that more shocking and poignant when it comes. I won’t discuss it any further.

Given the feel of the poetry, the period, the geography, and the story, this is plainly a ‘classical piece’, and more appropriate to this season in particular as it follows a similarly toned and previously presented Iliad and the other current production of Sophocles Oedipus. This seems like a prime central focal point of a ‘Greek’ triad!

A Phoenix Too Frequent runs through October 3, 2021 and tickets are available for the in person presentations at the Touchstone Theatre or to stream online!

left to right: Christopher Sheard as Tegeus, Phoebe Gonzalez as Dynemene, and Tyler Merideth as Doto; screen capture by Ed Heinzelman

you fall easily into superlatives…

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Ready For More American Players Theatre? Two Additional Offerings For Fall!

Beyond their original summer season: The American Players Theatre Announces Its Live Summer Season: The Road Back, there are two additional fall plays to enjoy.

At the outdoor Hill Theatre, you can see Oedipus by Sophocles performed from an adaptation by director David Daniel. Oedipus will run from September 17 – October 9.

For the first time in decades, we welcome to our Hill one of the great Greeks – an infamous murder mystery that has riveted audiences around the world and across time. But Oedipus is not a story that can be defined by its final act, shocking though that act might be. Poetic and profound, it is in many ways the story of us; about how the people we love carry us from bad times to good, and sometimes back again. And at its heart, an extraordinary hero – flawed like we all are flawed, yet brave enough to do what he must to protect his community. Even if it means his undoing. It’s a rare gift to see the Greeks outside under the stars, as they were meant to be seen. Rarer still to witness one that was conjured just for this place; built from decades of the energy that flows from this community. From you, our audience. We are because you are.

And at the indoor Touchstone Theatre, APT will be presenting their second Shakespeare play of the season, The Taming of the Shrew! Taming will run October 14 – November 14 and is directed and has been adapted to a five actor presentation by Shana Cooper.

Ah, the tale of Kate and Petruchio, and how each cracked the code to the other’s ferociously defended heart. It’s a Shakespearean rabble-rouser, held up as the ultimate battle of the sexes. But look closer, and you’ll discover a lively satire about how society tries to bend this couple into shapes they’re simply not built for. Cheer them on as they shatter everyone’s absurd expectations. After all, their dramatic (and often uproarious) journey toward love isn’t just entertaining. It’s revolutionary. A wild and theatrical adaptation featuring the famously combative couple, with three other incredible actors playing Bianca to Baptista, and every ridiculous role in between.

and as always, to see and read more about the American Players Theatre, CLICK HERE!

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American Players Theatre: An Iliad: A Living Classic or A Trojan Horse?

The American Players Theatre is currently offering An Iliad, directed by John Langs, in their intimate Touchstone Theatre. This presentation is an adaption by Lisa Peterson and Denis O’Hare, of Homer’s The Iliad, from the 20th Century translation by Princeton professor Robert Fagles.

Most everyone reading this probably has some knowledge of the Trojan War…whether through study of The Iliad in a college classics course, reading an excerpt in a literature course during your educational career, reading it in a prose translation for fun or high school English, a movie adaptation at some point, or maybe even more likely a Disney or Warner Brothers cartoon using the Trojan Horse as a prop. So certainly we are all familiar at some level with Helen of Troy, “the face that launched a thousand ships”, and of course, the aforementioned Trojan Horse.

So given that familiarity, my next statement will seem a bit unusual…but the rest of my response to the play requires…A Spoiler Alert…read beyond the next quote at your own risk!

Rage – Goddess, sing the rage of Peleus’ son Achilles,

murderous, doomed, that cost the Achaeans countless losses,

hurling down to the House of Death so many sturdy souls,

great fighters’ souls, but made their bodies carrion,

feasts for dogs and birds,

and the will of Zeus was moving toward its end.

first line of Robert Fagles translation of The Iliad, © 1990

So this play wasn’t what I expected at all…I expected twenty actors…playing multiple roles…as Greeks, Trojans, or Olympians…in togas or armor…keeping me totally off balance trying to keep them all straight. Instead we have the cornerstone of the APT’s acting company, Jim DeVita, appearing as The Poet and Alicia Storin as The Muse.

Alicia Storin and Jim DeVita in An Iliad, 2021. photo by Liz Lauren and courtesy of the American Players Theatre.

So let Achilles rage on.

If not on the shore of Troy amongst the boats of the Greek fleet, where do we find ourselves? Well, in a contemporary college lecture hall…well…maybe..not. Rather a contemporary college lecture hall of some twenty five years back when overhead projectors and white chalk on blackboards was still the resident technology. But even then it isn’t like any lecture hall we’ve ever experienced…it’s obviously been vandalized in a number of disturbing ways.

Opening set for An Iliad, 2021, photo by Liz Lauren and courtesy of American Players Theatre

And why has the room been vandalized? When The Poet enters he just starts putting things straight…while he begins talking to his class (i.e. the audience)…and although obviously disgusted and disapponted…he never expresses a true moment of surprise. (btw: the orange and red book just left of center is a copy of Robert Fagles translation of The Odyssey…curious or clever prop selection?) But he never offers an explanation for this state of affairs. Is this a modern reflection of the war whose history we are about to experience…or a comment on the turmoil around colleges deciding to eliminate departments of the classics or reduce classes and coursework in the classics…or is it just my overactive imagination? But if you have an idea about why we are learning in the wreckage, please comment below (and if this is your first time commenting it won’t show up until the moderator, me, approves it).

And so we meet The Poet, someone not unlike a favorite or notable educator in each of our experiences…a bit rumpled…certainly a bit weary…and extremely passionate about their area of expertise. And he introduces himself indirectly while at the same giving us the opening line in Greek and the Fagles translation as published above. And here, although we see a mortal man whose attributes say late 20th Century college professor…the speeches we hear say we are in the presence of an immortal Homer come to sing his song one more time.

Every time I sing this song, I hope it’s the last time.

The Poet in An Iliad

And what a song it is, the song of the Trojan War. And The Poet displays all of the personalities…all of the antagonisms and interactions…and pulls us in. But the cost is high for this story teller, who intimately knew many of the people involved. You quickly understand his weariness and eventually feel the anger and passion and then the sense of loss and maybe even a bit of modern PTSD involved in his effort to make us a part of this story.

How do you know when you’ve won?

The Poet in An Iliad
Jim DeVita with a model of Troy, An Iliad, 2021, photo by Liz Lauren and courtesy of American Players Theatre

And the story, the modern play here, is a tapestry built on Fagles modern translation and embellished with the colors and contrasts written for the storyteller by Peterson and O’Hare. A modern contrivance and a modern convenience that brings us back to my title: An Iliad: A Living Classic or A Trojan Horse?

Why did I ask this question? Because after settling in with Homer, we expect the recitation of the epic story of the Trojan War. The victories, the losses, the glory for Greece. But in addition there is an active anti-war thread woven into the tapestry that eventually comes to an obvious conclusion in the final minutes. What better vehicle? What a better messenger? A story and plea thousands of years in the making.

Alicia Storin and Jim DeVita, An Iliad, 2021, photo by Liz Lauren and courtesy of American Players Theatre

Where do the old gods go?

The Poet in An Iliad

So, please plan to see this re-timed and re-tuned epic. It plays live on stage in the Touchstone Theatre at the American Players Theatre in Spring Green through August 15, 2021. An At Home streaming option is also available through that date! Tickets are available here: *An Iliad contains adult language and content with a run time of an hour and 50 minutes. This response was written after viewing the remarkable streaming option.