S TA G E
STATE’S RITES
The Kentucky Cycle takes commitment — and rewards it.
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THE PITCH
NOVEMBER 15-21, 2012
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D E BO R A H HIRS CH
also a mirror held up to a compromised culture, one whose people, these characters, might ultimately find redemption.
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unger for land dominates history, right up to the present day. And that drive to stake territory is the force behind the long, violent Kentucky Cycle. Robert Schenkkan’s Pulitzer Prize–winning saga tells two centuries of a sadly American story, with nine one-act plays unfolding across two productions that total nearly seven hours. It doesn’t feel quite that long sitting through both parts (performed in repertory) at the Metropolitan Ensemble Theatre. The production, directed by Karen Paisley, is admirable in its scope (30 actors) and methodical in its pacing, giving weight to Schenkkan’s words and their cadence. Across both halves, the ensemble is strong, and several leading actors stand out, including Scott Cordes, Matt Leonard, Chris roles through the decades. Leonard returns Roady, Manon Halliburton, Michael McIntire, as Michael Rowen’s son, Patrick, battling his Jordan Fox, Bob Paisley and Jessica Franz. father, now portrayed by Cordes. (Cordes covStill, it takes commitment. ers five Rowen incarnations, Leonard three, The minimalist staging suggests an Andrew among other small roles.) Wyeth painting, and many scenes are comThe Rowens aren’t the only family in the forposed like artwork. The opening is a choreoest. A neighboring homestead is owned by the graphed tableau, as though the actors inhabit Talberts, and a family descended from slaves a glass-enclosed museum exhibit. Then the becomes part of the generational drama. (The story unspools into knots of murder, decepprogram includes a family tion, greed, corruption and tree, which proves useful.) revenge — all of it tangled The Kentucky Cycle These Hatfields and McCoys around a plot of land sought Through December 2 at don’t allow ambitions to fade by one sociopath in 1775, and Metropolitan Ensemble or old resentments to lie. then by his dysfunctional Theatre, 3614 Main, The stage is built inches progeny. 816-569-3226, metkc.org from the first row of seats, In Part I, Michael Rowen and the cast members travel (Leonard), desperate for a Next to Normal the aisles in a proximity piece of land, cheats and kills Through November 18 at Just that wrests your attention. Earl Todd (Roady), a trapper, Off Broadway Theatre, 3051 As Part I keeps stacking and then does the same to Central (in Penn Valley Park), its brutalities, you long for the American Indians with 816-405-9200, some disengagement, a little sheandher productions.com whom Todd traded. Next, refuge. But vivid images imhe kidnaps and rapes a napress and remain in mind: a tive woman, Morning Star lone trapper by a campfire, a tribe of Cherokee, (Halliburton), enslaving her as his wife. And Morning Star giving birth alone, a courtship on Rowen’s crimes are just beginning. a hillside, a Civil War drowning. Starting with this ugliness, the Cycle’s first It is 1885 by the time Part II begins. The five one-acts are a virtual assault on the senses. Rowen family is courted by smooth-talking And that unease deepens as the family’s brutal J.T. Wells (McIntire), a rep for a mining comhistory repeats itself. pany salivating over the land’s mineral rights. We see the actors in Part I reappear in many
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Before a fall: McIntire, Freeman, Kyle Dyck, Cordes and Halliburton. In flirting with the Rowens’ young daughter, Mary Anne (Hannah Freeman), he displays whatever side of his salesman self a situation demands. In the four one-acts comprising Part II, we move into the early 20th century and a more contemporary morality tale: poor versus rich, have-nots versus haves. In this case, that means owners and miners in 1920s Kentucky. The Rowens have lost their coveted land to the mining company and become dependent on the dangerous work it brings. As in John Sayles’ 1987 fi lm, Matewan, the harsh treatment of coal workers and the violence surrounding union organizing are depicted in stark terms. Here, Paisley takes a dominant role as the adult Mary Anne, struggling to get by with her family in a workers’ camp. The length of this drawnout segment, however, lessens the impact of its final moments. Against a landscape turned to waste by strip mining, the decades 1954–1975 complete The Kentucky Cycle, and a relatively swift denouement closes the story’s circle. Onstage as in history, greed is a powerful motivator. But this Kentucky isn’t just a microcosm of America’s murderous Manifest Destiny. It’s
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he small She & Her Productions has taken on this month’s other production of a Pulitzer-winning drama, this one a rock musical that picked up three Tony Awards. Next to Normal (book and lyrics by Brian Yorkey, music by Tom Kitt), directed by Tiffany Garrison-Schweigert, arrives on the heels of the touring Broadway show, which came through Kansas City in June and played the Kauffman Center. That’s a tough act to follow, but this is a moving, funny play no matter where it’s seen, or how often. With 37 musical numbers and seven musicians (directed here by Jim Vinkenberg), the two acts (and two and a half hours) are no small undertaking. The very competent live band hits all the right notes, but their volume often overpowers the dialogue and lyrics, even with miked actors. And that’s a shame because those actors render the songs beautifully. The plot follows a nuclear family confronting a member’s chronic bipolar disorder. Diana Goodman (Kristin Leathers) suffers the manicdepression. Her husband, Dan (Robert Hingula), hopes treatment brings healing. Teenage daughter Natalie (Deanna Mazdra) feels her mother’s neglect. And adolescent son Gabe (Daniel Beeman) vies for attention. Doctors (Graham Fairleigh) and Natalie’s boyfriend (Matthew King) add dimension to the story. Dan holds this family together, and Hingula (a lawyer by day) centers this production as well in a sensitive portrayal of a husband who loves his wife and wants their life to return to the way it once was. And Beeman’s Gabe lends a powerful presence. Some of the script’s demands are difficult to pull off, but it’s next to impossible not to feel the impact of this Next to Normal.
E-mail deborah.hirsch@pitch.com
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