THE MORNING LINE
DATE: Wednesday, May 20, 2015
FROM: Michelle Farabaugh, Melissa Cohen, Jennie Mamary Katie Aramento, Eliza Ranieri
PAGES: 19, including this page.
May 20, 2015
Sheen Center Cancels Event Featuring Neil LaBute Play About ‘Mohammed’ By Jennifer Schuessler
A downtown Manhattan performance center has canceled an event featuring a new play by Neil LaBute with a title making reference to “Mohammed,” on the grounds that the play is offensive to Muslims.
The event, called “Playwrights for a Cause” and featuring four new short plays about censorship in the arts, was set to take place on June 14 at the Sheen Center for Thought and Culture in Greenwich Village, as the opening of the Planet Connections Theater Festivity, a monthlong arts festival at various locations.
On Tuesday, the Sheen Center canceled the contract for the event, which was organized as a benefit for the National Coalition Against Censorship.
William Spencer Reilly, the executive director of the Sheen Center, said in an email that the play and its title was not in keeping with the mission of the center, which opened last year with funding from the archdiocese of New York and is named for former Archbishop Fulton J. Sheen.
“When an artistic project maligns any faith group, that project clearly falls outside of our mission to highlight the good, the true, and the beautiful as they have been expressed throughout the ages,” Mr. Reilly said, referring to the center’s mission statement, which describes it as serving Catholic and non-Catholic audiences alike.
The Sheen Center, he added, “will not be a forum that mocks or satirizes another faith group.”
Mr. LaBute’s one-person play, which was written for the event, is about an actor asked to perform in an offensive satire. A description posted online reads: “The prophet ‘Mohammed’ stands on a barren stage, recalling the first time he made love to a white woman. Is this reality or a theatrical convention? Where do the lines between ‘satire’ and ‘censorship’ intersect or is nothing sacred when it comes to the theater?”
The play’s title refers to “Mohammed” as having an erection. In an email, Mr. LaBute said that the play did not depict “the actual prophet ‘Muhammad’ (spelled differently than my title),” but declined to say more, citing his desire to preserve the audience’s sense of surprise.
In an email, Glory Kadigan, the founder of Planet Connections, described the play as “a discussion of whether or not it’s all right to poke fun at religion or religious figures.” She said the group did not have titles or scripts for the plays when the contract was signed. “None of us knew what the writers would write,” she said. The group is seeking another stage, she said.
Mr. Reilly said he had signed the contract in February but had only become aware of the play’s title earlier this week, after a staff member noticed it on the Planet Connections website. After seeing the script, he decided to cancel the event in light of what he called the play’s “clear offense to Muslims.”
Total Daily Circulation – 1,897,890 Total Sunday Circulation – 2,391,986 Monthly Online Readership – 30,000,000
The other plays written for the occasion — by Erik Ehn, Halley Feiffer and Israel Horovitz — treat censorship issues relating to race, gender and sexuality, which were also set to be discussed in a panel discussion following the performances.
Mr. LaBute, in a statement, said the Sheen Center was “was absolutely within their right” in canceling the contract but said he was saddened by the decision.
“This event was meant to shine another light on censorship and it was unexpected to have the plug pulled, quite literally, by an organization that touts the phrase ‘for thought and culture’ on their very Web site,” Mr. LaBute said. “Both in life and in the arts, this is not a time to hide or be afraid; recent events have begged for artists and citizens to stand and be counted.”
May 20, 2015
Review: ‘The Way We Get By’ After a One-Night Stand By Ben Brantley
Anyone who’s ever woken up in a strange apartment with an unexpected bedmate and a deathly hangover will appreciate the brute fear that pervades the first moments of “The Way We Get By,” a slight but spirited new play by Neil LaBute, which opened on Tuesday night at Second Stage Theater.
It’s not just the pained walk of that man in his boxer shorts (Thomas Sadoski), lumbering across the stage like a zombie in search of brains, that commands instant pity and terror. So does the what-the-hell-have-I-done expression plastered on his face like a “Wanted” sign, and the subtle, ominous hum (the throb of conscience or merely traffic in the distance?) that underscores every step he takes.
Since this is a work by Mr. LaBute, who as a filmmaker and dramatist loves to play nasty games in the dark, we are prepared to assume the worst. Like the presence of a decapitated corpse somewhere on the premises, or an old troll with a satisfied leer waiting under stained sheets.
Surprise! The only thing lurking in the other room turns out to be a gorgeous woman — played, as it happens, by a gorgeous movie star, Amanda Seyfried, wearing only a “Star Wars” T-shirt. This is no waking nightmare; it’s a red-blooded American boy’s dream come true!
Thomas Sadoski and Amanda Seyfried star in this play by Neil LaBute about an encounter with unexpected consequences. Credit Sara Krulwich/The New York Times
But wait. Why does this boy, Doug (Mr. Sadoski), seem so reluctant to return to bed with this girl, Beth (Ms. Seyfried), after what has clearly been an ecstatic experience for both? Why do they flinch whenever the conversation leans toward what they might have in common? Who, or what, is being betrayed in this uncomfortable setup?
At this point, dear theatergoer, you might want to stop reading if you have any intention of seeing “The Way We Get By,” which has been directed with finesse by Leigh Silverman, although I’ll try to be discreet. Or stay with me till the end of this paragraph, so I can say that there are several good reasons to see the show (it’s short, it’s sexy, it’s starry, it’s well acted) and others not to (it’s contrived, it’s manipulative and even at 70 minutes, too long for its limited purposes). Your call.
For those of you still with me, I can report that “The Way We Get By” is both thoroughly typical and atypical of Mr. LaBute, who relishes the art of thwarting expectations. Like the three short works in “Bash: Latter-Day Plays,” which made his reputation as a dramatist, “The Way We Get By” hinges on a screw-turning reversal or two.
Those plays began with seeming blandness, then took hairpin turns into lands of unsettling, retributive grimness. So did subsequent macabre dramas like “The Mercy Seat” and “Wrecks.” But then there was a period, starting with his Tony-nominated “reasons to be pretty” (starring Mr. Sadoski), in which Mr. LaBute forsook his misanthropic snarl for a tentative, hopeful smile.
Total Daily Circulation – 1,897,890 Total Sunday Circulation – 2,391,986 Monthly Online Readership – 30,000,000
Mr. LaBute wears both expressions in “The Way We Get By,” in which shocks are succeeded by the equivalent of comforting pats on the arm. His troublemaking side is only teasingly in evidence.
Here he has it both ways, in an extended sketch of a boy-meets-(or remeets)-girl rom-com. As is usual with Mr. LaBute, the boy is, well, a boy, with the embarrassing immaturity implicit in that description, although he appears to be over 30.
The girl is a vulnerable knockout, weary of beauty’s burdens. This is another classic LaBute archetype, previously embodied by actresses like Piper Perabo and Amanda Peet. (Mr. LaBute’s plays have been catnip to rising young stars of Hollywood, a cultural capital he gleefully detonated in last season’s “The Money Shot.”)
In this case, the classic mating dance, with its steps of advancement and retreat, takes place in the annoyingly well-organized apartment that Beth shares with an (absent) anal-retentive roommate. (Neil Patel did the appropriately accoutered set.)
Doug and Beth are awkward with each other, as befits a couple on the morning after a one-night stand. Yet they are also reflexively at ease, especially when they roughhouse like kids.
The complications suggested by this couple’s layers of comfort and discomfort are given convincing physical life by the two performers. Mr. Sadoski (a star of “The Newsroom” on HBO) is a veteran stage actor, and he finds a charming assortment of vocal and kinetic variations on an arrested-development specimen we’ve all come to know well from recent fiction, film and, of course, Mr. LaBute’s plays.
Ms. Seyfried, whose screen work includes “Les Misérables,” “While We’re Young” and television’s “Big Love,” is new to theater, and she needs to develop her speaking voice, which at this point is small for the stage. But her timing, comic and dramatic, is beyond reproach.
And if she and Mr. Sadoski tend to talk at distractingly different decibel levels, there’s no denying the genuine chemistry that flickers between them, and occasionally flares into something dangerously irresistible.
The back-and-forth changes of emotional direction in the final moments of “The Way We Get By” tax credibility. But there’s been enough hands-on evidence that whatever Doug and Beth have between them — and just watch them helplessly drowning in each other’s gazes — it may well be worth fighting for.
The Way We Get By
By Neil LaBute; directed by Leigh Silverman; sets by Neil Patel; costumes by Emily Rebholz; lighting by Matt Frey; sound by Bart Fasbender; production stage manager, David H. Lurie; associate artistic director, Christopher Burney; production manager, Jeff Wild; general manager, Seth Shepsle. Presented by Second Stage Theater, Carole Rothman, artistic director; Casey Reitz, executive director. At the Second Stage Theater, 305 West 43rd Street, Clinton; 212- 246-4422, 2st.com. Through June 14. Running time: 1 hour 10 minutes.
WITH: Thomas Sadoski (Doug) and Amanda Seyfried (Beth).
May 20, 2015
Review: In Sara Fellini’s ‘In Vestments,’ Haunted by More Than Ghosts
By Laura Collins-Hughes
The teenager crouches on the rectory’s kitchen floor, idly inking his forearm with a ballpoint pen. His face is bruised, his complexion pale green, his hair dusted with white. He’s a ghost, and a persistent one, trailing his older brother, Nathan, through life.
That’s hardly the only haunting going on in Sara Fellini’s unwieldy new play, “In Vestments,” in which Isaac Byrne’s high-energy production is by turns earnest and campy, wrenching and visually eloquent. Set in a Roman Catholic parish called Our Lady of Perpetual Sighs, it’s performed in the intimate chapel of West Park Presbyterian Church on the Upper West Side, where the audience sits in pews lining the walls.
As the play begins, the priests face a quandary: What to do with sacramental wine that was tainted by plaster falling from the ceiling at the moment of transubstantiation, just as the wine became the blood of Christ?
The metaphor — poison in the very structure of the church — is worryingly on the nose, and the money- grubbing ways of Father Falke (Ted Wold), the ranking priest, similarly lack subtlety. But the play mostly gets better from there, even if it refuses to settle into a tone.
Presented by Theater 4the People, with free admission, “In Vestments” is a sort of dramaturgical jambalaya, flavored with the full-throated music of Jacques Brel, sung by Pierre Marais. It borrows from “The Rocky Horror Picture Show,” too, which is fitting: Almost everyone here is doing a kind of time warp, the past impinging on the present.
Nathan (Adam Belvo), a drug-addicted priest with red-rimmed eyes, is stalked by guilt over the death of his brother, Jack (Peter Oliver). Yves (Samuel Adams), a visiting priest with a slippery accent, is fleeing the memory of abuse.
Maeve (Ms. Fellini), Nathan’s sister, who cooks for the men, has her own reasons for clinging to the church, though she resents its silencing of women’s voices. Three nuns in full habit occasionally appear, never uttering a word, their faces completely covered in white.
And then there’s a bearded guy named Joshua (Eric Soto). Bare-chested in a crown of thorns, he hangs out unseen in the kitchen, affably clutching a mug of coffee in hands with puncture wounds. It’s a comical image, but there’s force behind it. He would love to help these people, if only they’d realize he was there.
“In Vestments” continues through May 30 at West Park Presbyterian Church, 165 West 86th Street, Manhattan; infinitesighs.com.
Total Daily Circulation – 1,897,890 Total Sunday Circulation – 2,391,986 Monthly Online Readership – 30,000,000
May 19, 2015 Brian d'Arcy James on His Tony Nom & Crazy-Fun Elizabethan-Era Fashion By Cait Rohan
We rang Broadway’s Brian d’Arcy James to talk about his Tony nomination for his work in Something Rotten!, his dream Broadway role, and crazy Elizabethan-era fashion trends. Broadway's new Elizabethan-set musical comedy Something Rotten! turns the typical Shakespeare story on its head. Brian d’Arcy James stars as Nick Bottom, one half of a playwright brother duo who always seem to play second fiddle to William Shakespeare's hit plays. Hilarity ensues when a local soothsayer tells the brothers that the future of theater includes signing, dancing, and acting and they attempt to pen the first world's musical. The seasoned Broadway actor’s performance is so good that it’s earned him his third Tony nomination, this time for Best Performance by a Leading Actor in a Musical.
We caught up with James to hear more on the Tony nom, Shakespeare-era style, and his dream Broadway role. How did you react when you found out you’d been nominated for a Tony? BRIAN D’ARCY JAMES: It was a stunning moment. It really just stuns you—like, I guess this is happening! It kind of takes your breath away. Also, the fact that Bruce Willis was the person announcing these names was an added layer of surrealism.
So, Something Rotten! takes place in Elizabethan times. What was the most ridiculous clothing piece from that era, and did you have to wear it? BDJ: Well, the obvious answer is the codpiece. So yes, that is the most ridiculous thing and yes, we all wear them. Gregg Barnes, the designer, does a great job at staying true to the time while giving it a very beautiful look as well. I must say that the codpieces are not coming back into fashion.
What is your favorite Shakespeare work ever? BDJ: I think that in terms of reading things, I would say Hamlet. But I worked on that a lot as a young actor. So Hamlet is kind of my favorite, but I had the opportunity to lead in Macbeth with Ethan Hawke, so that was also a stunning experience because it was the first time I did [Shakespeare] professionally.
If you win the Tony, where would you display it in your home? BDJ: Well, it would probably be on my desk for a little bit of time and then it would become obscured by the piles of paper that seem to collect there.
What are you wearing to the Tonys? BDJ: I am wearing a Thomas Pink tuxedo, that I just got fitted.
What is your favorite role on Broadway to this date? BDJ: The amount of fun I’m having doing this show, with all the people I’m doing it with… But when that dies down, this is the most fun show I have ever done—with the material, and the director, and the cast. I’ve always been a fan of musical comedies so this just makes me extremely happy.
How about your dream role on Broadway? BDJ: I was just talking about this the other day—maybe The Music Man would be a good role to tackle before I start walking in a walker with tennis balls beneath it.
What Broadway great inspires you the most? BDJ: Mark Rylance, one of my favorite actors, in a production of Jerusalem. I saw him on Broadway and the West End. It really kind of redefined my idea of being an actor—shifted the paradigm of it. It [made me] reexamine what I thought acting is and was, so for that reason I’m indebted to him. He really inspires me to continue down this road.
At what age did you see your first Broadway show? BDJ: I was 13 years old and I saw Dreamgirls at the Imperial Theatre. It was pretty incredible when I was able to perform Dirty Rotten Scoundrels in the theater that I saw my first show.
What’s your favorite thing about a New York City summer? BDJ: I think the evenings are the best, when it cools down a little and there’s this weird calm that only happens on hot summer nights in New York.