cityboy in....

wonderland..so it seemed last evening at Local 621 on Bergen Street, where he witnessed his friend Sarah's production of a "Take" on All My Sons, by Julia  Jonas. All singing, all dancing, all theater---gone from his thoughts were the horror of the aggressive name calling by the two countries, the frustration at the over aggressive push of developers in Brooklyn, even the result of the evening's Yankee-Blue Jay game, instead an immersion in theater, with everyone talking about projects, feelings, and a great cast giving the piece a really dynamic vision.
  What this playwright is striving to do is to reinvent Miller's play changing the sexes of the sets of characters. Has she succeeded (so far, for it is a work in progress) ? To some extent, yes, she accepts the challenges of the plot of the original play, she does not avoid or shy away from them, and her dialogue at its best, challenges itself to be as serious as in All My Sons. So there are some very telling scenes and confrontations this is not an easy challenge to take on, and Juila does it successfully.  The original play was created in the shadow of World War II, it tempered the post war optimism with human frailty---the denouement was both personal and political. Here, the "betrayal" and its revelation have a human and family content but lack the larger world vision. Joe Keller, the protagonist of All My Sons, was involved in a larger issue---winning the war, which may have forgiven some of his expedient choices, that might have caused the death of his older son whom he worshiped and had high hopes for. The female protagonist of Juila''s play does not have the historical impetus to act--so the import is a little less--more pressure on the audience to accept the personal tragedy of her play. Still, a meaningful evening---I admire Julia's ambition and her vision-will be anxious to see how she and Sarah develop it. Once again, they were helped by a group of terrific actors--watching the bring the text to life, was very meaningful.
  Afterwards, had some terrific conversations with cast members and friends of cast members---members of the community---they are a very welcoming bunch. It is nice that they have always appreciated my dialogue with them.
  Now, back to the real world---tonight, I may go to Starr bar to see if I can find their manager and coordinate the party after the BAN march on one month from yesterday---at least that is the plan as it now stands. But, as you know, it is all open to change. I will report tomorrrow...