The Brothers Size production currently running at American Players Theatre was absolutely phenomenal!!! Best I've seen in The Touchstone since The Island (about prisoners in apartheid South Africa.) Gavin, one of my absolute favorite actors (specifically when he plays roles about the difficulties of the living while Black experience) decided to take on directing this and it was brilliantly acted, emoted, staged.... It was so dynamic and the use of song/rhythm/music throughout added power to the narrative and brought in African American heritage rather than being a gimmick or distraction. It was gorgeously well done (and just because the actors were fucking cut and spent most of it shirtless or in white tanks so you could appreciate their arms/chests/backs/abs/shoulders so the visual eye candy was yum) -- heavy subject matter and a journey of deep raw emotions and times where your choices are between bad and worse. But this production of it is stand out amazing.
Frankly, if you're a theatre fan at all or find the telling of hard to hear but important to keep sharing the lived experiences of Black Americans, it's worth finding your way to Wisconsin to see this current production in Spring Green. it just is. They're a world class classic Shakespearean core company and while they're incredible there are few that I would say are worth a long drive or flight just for that production if no other reason to be in Wisconsin. This play is worth coming to the play in the woods theatre company outside of small town between fields/barns on a single lane highway somewhere northeast of Madison middle of nowhere JUST for this production. Because in addition to classics of the cannon and 2-3 Shakespeare plays every year, they hire incredible actors/directors to tell important (and hard) stories in the Touchstone and every season they have at least one play about the truths of being Black in America. (This year they also have A Raisin in the Sun in the outdoor theatre, so they have two.) And they're not afraid to get political about BLM and human rights in the booklets and in the productions even when the audience is primarily white.
No comments:
Post a Comment