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Reviews
IN THE SHADOW OF A DREAM
THEATRE:
CSV Cultural Center
OPENED:
July 17, 2004
CLOSED:
July 20, 2004
PERFORMANCES:
Sat, Sun, Mon, Tue at 7pm
CAST:
David Little, Jeff Wigadre, David Blatt, Blanche Cholet, Kate Hampto, J.M. McDonough
AUTHOR: John Adams
DIRECTOR:
Alec Harrington
Written by San Diego playwright John Adams, this drama brings a Person With AIDS and a violent homophobe face to face--an event that changes them forever.
NyTheatre.com Review Review
Amy Rhodes · July 17, 2004
Fans of the Los Angeles Lakers basketball team are currently in mourning, following the last June's definitive defeat in the Finals and the subsequent firing of guru coach Phil Jackson and trading of MVP Shaquille O’Neill. Back in the 80s, though, the Lakers won five NBA Championships, and had a historic rivalry with the Boston Celtics. Playwright John Adams uses the competition between these two teams as a catalyst for change in his play In the Shadow of a Dream.
Set in 1985, during the NBA Finals between the Lakers and the Celtics, the play follows the journey of a nineteen-year-old basketball prodigy named Joey. Joey is a die-hard Celtic fan as well as a violent homophobe. When a male undergrad hits on him after a college basketball game, Joey nearly beats him to death. Joey is kicked off his basketball team and put on probation, where he assigned to take care of Buck. Buck is a middle-aged gay man who is dying of AIDS. Buck, as it turns out, is also a Lakers fan.
Joey’s homophobia is not something he is willing to let go of easily and Buck unremittingly brings this to the forefront of their conversations. It isn’t until Buck forces Joey to drive him from Ohio to Los Angeles to see the NBA finals before he dies that they learn to accept one another, even though they are rooting for different teams.
In the Shadow of a Dream tells a straightforward story about redemption and acceptance. Adams’ writing makes the story both funny and touching. David Little is captivating as Buck, bringing relentless energy to the character. As Joey, Jeff Wigadre is honest and sincere, allowing himself to take an emotional journey. Director Alec Harrington does a nice job of letting moments germinate, but could have served the play by quickening the pace.
FRUIT FLAVORED
Fruit Flavored is an evening of three solo performance pieces by gay and lesbian artists. The pieces are: Bad Habits - (Lesbian nun tells all) by Kelli Durham; Bobby Brady Was A Homosexual by Derek Zasky; and Skinny Isn't Sexy or Why I New Had An Eating Disorder by Elizabeth Whitney. This show is part of the Fresh Fruit Festival.
NyTheatre.com Review
Eric Pliner · July 15, 2004
Fruit Flavored, the Fresh Fruit Festival’s night of solo performances, starts small and gets bigger. Each of the three works presented as part of this hour-and-a-half evening of theater has strengths, sometimes owing to the smallness of the plays, and sometimes in spite of it.
Kelli Dunham’s BAD HABITS (Lesbian Nun Tells All) is chock-full of witty lines about her experiences as a Mission of Charity nun. After a stint as a well-intentioned but aimless volunteer stuck in Haiti without an assignment, Dunham lusts after a Mission of Charity nun, and, eventually, falls in love with the concept of joining the team. She winds up at a convent in the Bronx, where she becomes Sister Mercy and both despises and enjoys the strict tutelage of a dominatrix-like Mistress, who trains the nuns-to-be. Dunham is an understated performer; her material is compelling, and her writing is often hilarious. I was captivated by the story and Dunham’s writing.
Derek Zasky’s TIMEBOMB or Bobby Brady Was a Homosexual features shirt-and-tie-clad Zasky as a vivacious performer. His put-on comic mini-accent, great timing, and energetic delivery offer a nice share of laugh-out-loud moments. His material, a summary of Brady Bunch episodes with an overlay of psychodrama, has a singular challenge: there’s only one joke. Zasky incorporates personality details and inner monologues of various Brady characters in an amusing way. But when it works—and there are moments when it does—Derek Zasky is fun to watch.
In SKINNY ISN’T SEXY OR WHY I NEVER HAD AN EATING DISORDER, Elizabeth Whitney builds on the best aspects of both of her colleagues’ work. Opening in a bubble-gum pink, cheerleader outfit, dancing to Toni Basil’s “Mickey,” Whitney leads the audience through her journey to self-acceptance. She turns her story of a rail-thin, high-femme, confused lesbian teen with a Tom Selleck-loving butch gym teacher as her only role model into a funny, captivating, and high-energy performance that sparkles with keen commentary. Sure, Whitney is a skilled comedienne with a Kristin Chenoweth voice and excellent timing; but she’s also thought-provoking and insightful. She shares the ways that her identity was obscured by everything from others’ perceptions of her body to the limited worldview of 1970s feminism, all while wearing wrists-full of jelly bracelets and maintaining sunny self-expression. Elizabeth Whitney may be performing solo, but she—along with Zasky and Dunham, and everyone who puts together the community-building Fresh Fruit Festival—is most certainly not alone.
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