A Living History...

Oct 30, 2006

One of the best things about being in New York City is the theatre. The sheer volume of it is just astounding. And being both a theatre geek and the brother of a dancer and arts organization employee, I’m fortunate in that I get a chance to see a lot of different stuff.

Today I went to see a reading of A Living History of Revivalism and Socialism Amongst the Harpist Community at Eminence, Indiana. In case you’re not familiar with the concept, a reading is just what it sounds like. The actors sit in chairs and read the script, with a narrator reading the scene descriptions and stage directions so that you have an idea of what’s going on. Obviously, it’s a very different experience than seeing a show. It’s much more like having a novel read to you than it is traditional theatre. It’s also a much more intimate experience, since there tend not to be many folks there (this one had maybe 30 people in attendance).

I actually very much enjoyed the reading. The play is a small affair; there are only four on-stage characters, plus one more major and a couple minor characters that are only heard over the telephone. There are some sections that didn’t work well, but mostly that was because they are clearly built for the stage and didn’t come through with the narrating of the stage directions (for instance, when it takes several sentences to describe a movement an actor will take a couple seconds to do, reading the stage directions throws the rhythm off). The actors themselves were quite excellent in their roles, really breathing life into the characters, despite the lack of costume or makeup.

As far as the play itself, it was worthy of the treatment these actors were providing it. I don’t want to ruin it, so I won’t discuss the plot, but it brings up some very interesting questions regarding faith, the treatment of people as commodities or sources of power, and our view and treatment of history. There are a couple rough spots and areas it could be tightened up a little, but overall it holds together surprisingly well.

I have some doubts as to how well the play will transfer to the actual stage, though. As I said, the general feeling is of a small affair, a close look into the lives of these four characters. However, the book currently calls for fairly expansive sets and set pieces, and I think they’ll run into difficulty because of that. If they manage to go all out and do everything, the intimate feeling of being right inside the lives of these characters has a good chance of being lost. On the other hand, there are some images in the play that seem to really require an expansive set dressing in order to achieve their full impact. I’ll be interested in seeing what decision they make.

Overall, it was a very pleasant outing, and I look forward to the play developing further and hopefully seeing it again on stage.