Event
SHINING CITY by Conor McPherson
The Paradise Theatre School will open its 2009 season with "Shining City," a contemporary adult ghost story by Conor McPherson, March 13, at 8 p.m. Erik Van Beuzekom directs.
The play received two Tony Award nominations, including Best Play, after it opened on Broadway in 2006. Paradise co-artistic director Erik Van Beuzekom will direct an intriguing cast that includes David Wayne Johnson, Scott Nolette, Sam Cavallero, and Patti Quintero.
In present-day Seattle, John (Nolette) seeks help from a therapist, Ian (David Wayne Johnson), because he claims he saw the ghost of his wife, Mari, recently killed in a car accident. But John is haunted by more than the terrifying spectre of his dead wife. He agonizes over the near moribund state of their marriage before the tragedy, and the role he played in its collapse.
Yet his counselor and confidante Ian is haunted by the impending demise of his own relatioship to Neasa (Quintero). A whirlpool of betrayal, fear, and confusion grips the characters as they struggle to understand themselves and each other, and to make their way along the often dark woods of love. Cavallero rounds out the cast as Laurence.
"We chose a play by one of the best and most prolific playwrights of our time," says Van Beuzekom. " 'Shining City' speaks to powerful themes of humanity in our modern age--emptiness, loneliness, and soul. It's a play that's very accessible and uniquely witty. The characters are complex but easy to relate to as well. It's a feather in the cap of the writer to portray people in both lights."
The drama constitutes a kind of ghost story for adults. As such, it has its harrowing moments, as all good ghost stories do. The dialogue sustains a groping, fragmentary quality that echoes ordinary conversation but with a muscular, jazzlike rhythm that casts a gripping, hypnotic spell. Each scene is so well constructed as to comprise a one-act play in itself. Its frank sexual situations recommend it to a mature audience.
"The more you explore this play, the more you realize its brilliance," says Van Beuzekom. "Conor McPherson picks up where Harold Pinter left off. Even the pauses and silences are powerful."
A question-and-answer session between performers and audience follows each show. The play runs Friday and Saturdays from March 13 to April 4. Showtimes are 8 p.m. A pay what you can performance is set for Thursday, March 19 at 8:00 p.m and a matinee will be performed Saturday April 4 at 2:00. Buy tickets for $10 at the Food Co-op in Port Townsend, online at brownpapertickets.com, or 24/7 Tickets Hotline 1 800 838 3006. The Paradise Theatre School is located at 161 Center Road in Chimacum.
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LocationThe Paradise Theatre School
161 Center Rd
Chimacum, WA 98325
United States
Categories
| Kid Friendly: No |
| Dog Friendly: No |
| Non-Smoking: No |
| Wheelchair Accessible: No |
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