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The Private Life of the Master Race

Cloud Tectonics

516 (five sixteen)

I Kreon

Two Rooms

The Private Life of the Master Race

The New York Times:

''Broadway Brecht is being served by the "Threepenny Opera" production at Studio 54 and, this summer, by the New York Shakespeare Festival's "Mother Courage" with Meryl Streep in Central Park. A different Bertolt Brecht is now on display further downtown, via the Roust Theatre Company's production of the 1938 play "The Private Life of the Master Race," in a new translation by Binyamin Shalom. This Brecht is angry, passionate, bare-bones and uncompromisingly personal and political.

Mr. Shalom's translation is vivid, clever and spare, preserving the spirit of Brecht's complex moral and social vision. It offers a fluid rendering of the language that doesn't get in the way of the dialogue's directness: a translation that doesn't sound like a translation.

Roust's co-founder James Phillip Gates directs with an eye to simplicity, the unit set designed by Richard Hoover suggesting the outlines of houses, rooms and roadsides. In the two most famous of these short plays, Tracy Hostmyer is especially affecting and controlled as a Jewish woman leaving her Aryan husband in "The Jewish Wife," and Betty Hudson and Brad Russell find considerable comedy as they suspect their son of betrayal in "The Informer."

As the very young Roust Theatre Company demonstrates, Brecht is as provocative and contemporary as ever.''

Variety:

''Roust Theatre Company's production deserves attention.''

Theaterscene:

''The Roust Theatre Company's production is in many ways a commendable dramatic endeavor...an accomplished cast, an outstanding ensemble, headed by the Roust's co-founder, and the play's producer, Tracy Hostmyer. Mr. Gates' obvious passion for the material [make this] a noble effort.''

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Cloud Tectonics

The New York Times:

''A solid, nicely acted version of José Rivera's ''Cloud Tectonics'' [is] on the stage at the Culture Project. Though it's a thin play, it has its share of interesting ideas about time and perception and love, and it's a good workout for three young actors. The three (beautifully directed by James Phillip Gates) do fine work...the piece builds to a lovely concluding thought about love over a lifetime.''

Backstage:

''Cloud Tectonics is a strange, haunting piece, the effects of which linger on long after one leaves the theater...The three players, under James Phillip Gates' sensitive direction, give very strong performances, making each character believable in unbelievable circumstances.''

nytheatre.com:

''A dreamlike atmosphere permeates everything in Jose Rivera's Cloud Tectonics. Director James Phillip Gates tunes right into Rivera's wavelength, creating a world where time does indeed feel like it's standing still. If an entire production could be said to figuratively float by, it would be this one; the overall effect is hypnotic.''

Variety:

''Helmer Gates does a remarkable job of sustaining the enchantment of the mood.''

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516 (five sixteen)

Time Out/NY:

''**** [FOUR STARS] Truth and lies take on new dimensions in Katharine Clark Gray's thought-provoking new drama. Its cleverness and intelligence...could live on at any number of theaters. The cast of three share a simultaneously intense and witty chemistry.''

nytheatre.com:

''If you want to see what a top-notch company can create together, I have four words for you: Go see this production. The script is solid and polished, if not air-tight. The acting is snappy and genuine; a real lesson in back-to-basics talking and responding that is utterly engrossing. The directing is smart and the design is streamlined and unobtrusive, allowing the actors to get down to business and stay there for the duration of the short two-hour run time.

Katharine Clark Gray's crackerjack script is captivating, even when she diffuses some of its focus. The first act is a whirlwind text and plot that pit the characters against each other with undeniably entertaining and provocative results. But in the second act, the changing characters pull away from each other, redefining each other and themselves. They feel more isolated than they were, an effect caused by how the plot takes a real turn.

The actors in 516 (five sixteen) are plenty skilled. There's no weak cog in the machine: Kristina Valada-Viars is savvy, sassy, and sharp as Annalee, the keen ghostwriter (who prefers to be called an "assistant"). Ryan Tresser effortlessly turns from irritating to heartfelt and is always compelling as Sigurd, the equally smart if not so savvy film major (don't dare call them "movies"). And Angela Vitale is at once graceful and cutthroat as Martie, the eager-to-break-the-rules-to-teach-a-lesson (even if the lesson is simply "don't fuck with me") professor.

516 (five sixteen) takes on many subjects: education, communication, exploitation, manipulation, isolation, to name a few. All of them are worth your attention. Go see this production.''

Backstage:

''516 (five sixteen)...a dark academic comedy about a hyper-intellectual dropout hired to write term papers for an arrogant media-studies student...much theatrical gold [is] spun from the spectacle of nasty-minded characters ripping each other to shreds.''

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I Kreon

offoffline.com:

''Take a wild guess which world leader this line describes: ''His brilliant emptiness shines throughout the land.'' Well, alright, it could be a great number of them, but New Moon Rep and Roust Theatre Company's I Kreon leaves no room for doubt which 'W' we're talking about. The play focuses on one of the most important questions that the War on Terror has brought to the forefront - how must we treat our enemies? Between Guantanamo and Saddam Hussein's ugly end, most Americans have this question floating around the landscape of their political consciousness, and adapter-director Aole T. Miller does well to bring his feelings on the topic into the shared space of the theater. However, this adaptation of Sophocles' Antigone, one of our most basic reference points in creating political theater, ultimately chooses a tactic of mocking over serious debate.

By the time Kreon, the thinly veiled equivalent to our own authoritarian leader, comes around to realize the error of his dogmatic ways, it is too late for him to rectify his actions. At that same point in I Kreon it is already too late for the talented company to produce a lasting impression on its audience.

As the title suggests, the production focuses not on Antigone (Claire Siebers), but on her uncle, King Kreon (played with an intelligent flare by James Luse). To a modern audience Kreon's actions seem debatable at best. He refuses burial rights to his own son because he feels that he betrayed the homeland, in this adaptation by attacking and destroying two Theban towers. Kreon would rather leave Polynices' body to the dogs. In one of the many strong lines spoken by the masked Chorus, Miller hints at the comparison he is drawing between the death of Polynices and that of Saddam Hussein: ''What honor is there in killing a man after death?'' the Chorus asks the obstinate king.

The Chorus, with their touching repetition of poetry, accompanied by the haunting recorded soundscape of the piece, do manage to provide some emotional depth to the production. Their fine Balinese masks and fluid movement conjure some of the Greek spirit of the play. But the adaptatio's ''Greekness'' - and while aiming to please a twenty first century audience, I Kreon definitely attempts to find a fifth century BC Athenian vibe - falls short with its main exploration, that of the character of Kreon. Where Sophocles gave the hard lined king un-ignorable strength of argument, Miller gives him laugh lines taken from various twentieth century villains. It is undeniably funny to watch James Luse's odd triple amalgamation of King Kreon, Dr. Evil and George W. spew lines such as "There is no compromise between the rights of slaves and those who rule the modern world." However, Antigone survived this long, and indeed is one of the classics that most interests modern audiences (this is at least the third production of the play this year in New York alone) because of the dual nature of the play. It is both subversive and traditional. It presents the establishmen's point of view while questioning it in the deepest possible way. It thrives on the tension between right and wrong, and on the complexity of every political act. This production's great need to take a stand chokes the complexity out of the classic, and presents Kreon alone with the mess he created and deserves. It is for this reason that the emotions never quite grip, even when he finally does see that he brought disaster on himself, his family and his country.

The attempt to use a classic in order to let out a loud cry in opposition to our present political situation is to be applauded, as is the playful theatricality, the tasteful design (set and costumes by Shana Mckay Burns, lighting by Andrew D. Smith) and the well-rounded ensemble. But when your villain does not seduce you with his arguments, watching his downfall will not be the tragic experience Antigone was written to be.''

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Two Rooms

nytheatre.com:

''Roust Theatre company's current production of Lee Blessing's Two Rooms is a wonder of simplicity. It radiates an earnest humanity that puts an empathic face on complex political issues. It is not just good theatre; it's commendable work.

Two Rooms, written in 1988, is the story of a couple, Michael and Lainie Wells. Michael is an educator in Beirut, who is kidnapped and held prisoner by terrorists. Meanwhile, back in America, Lainie clears out Michael's old office and repaints the walls so that she can live as she imagines he's living in captivity. Michael's cell and Lainie's self-created prison are the two rooms of the title. By using their imaginations to communicate through these rooms, they try to figure out what their lives are now, how to live them, and how they got there in the first place.

Throughout the play, Lainie pursues Ellen, a State Department employee, to bring her information about her husband, and most importantly, to bring him home. Lainie is pursued in turn by Walker, a newspaper reporter hungry for the story of this bereaved widow and the ineptitude of the government in trying to bring her husband back. Conflict arises when Lainie agrees to talk to the press-an act that greatly angers Ellen and the State Department.

Director James Phillip Gates works well with his design team and cast to create both the intimate and tender dream world of the two rooms, and the stark reality of the world these characters are faced with. The cast is uniformly strong. Garrett Lee Hendrick is effective as Walker and Tori Davis is appropriately tough as nails as Ellen. As Michael, Joe Osheroff has an honesty from start to finish that makes his character's journey riveting. As Lainie, Tracy Hostmyer is particularly compelling, both as the tender and loving wife living in her imagination and as the fragile and guarded woman living in the real world on the edge of collapse. The last moment of the play between Osheroff and Hostmyer is completely heartbreaking.

In an interview with the New York Times in 2004, Blessing talked about his play:

''Two Rooms was written in the late '80s about an American being kidnapped in Beirut, but right after 9/11 it was done in five productions in four cities. And every one of them asked me if I would rewrite, and I said sure. And a week into rehearsals they said, ''Actually you don't need to rewrite it because the problem is chronic.''''

The speeches in Two Rooms about Islamic fundamentalists, the frustrating bureaucracy of the American government, and the self-importance of the media all still ring as true today as they did four years ago when he said this, and as they did 20 years ago when he wrote them. The recent escalation in violence in Lebanon should be evidence enough of the relevance of doing and (perhaps more importantly) going to see Two Rooms.''

TheaterOnline.com:

''...an excellent production by the Roust Theatre Company, boasting fine performances.''

TheCinemaSource.com:

''It's simple, it's effective, and it's heartbreaking.''

Variety:

''Its characters and conflict cut close to the bone.''

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