The 2009 Essential Theatre Power Plays includes our Playwriting Award Winner, JIM CROW AND THE RHYTHM DARLINGS by Vinnie Meli, as well as ICE GLEN by Joan Ackermann. She’s a playwright who’s been produced around the country for some years now – Horizon did her play THE BATTING CAGE a few years back. This one’s a romantic drama, set in 1919, about a reclusive poetess who does not want her poems published, and the editor to tries to persuade her otherwise. That may sound rather dry and dusty, but it’s immensely charming, touching and very funny.
- “Beautifully written…a story of nature and change.” —Talkin’ Broadway.
- “A lovely play which will leave you with a lot to think about.” —CurtainUp.
- “Funny, moving and witty.” —Metroland (Boston).
The third play is FOOD FOR FISH, by Adam Szymkowwicz It’s hard to describe – The New York Times put it well in their review: “Fabulously weird and weirdly fabulous.” I’d call it a melancholy comedy about longing. Three NYC sisters wish they could return to New Jersey (there’s a lot of Chekhov vibes in the play); a young writer prowls around the city, looking for lonely single women to kiss on street corners; a twentyish female scientist goes on dates with a different man every night, while during the day she works to isolate the human gene that makes people fall in love – she wants to control it, so you can choose who you fall in love with. There’s also some characters designed to be played by actors of the opposite sex – men playing women, and vice versa. This isn’t for drag-show comedy, but it does allow for some interestingly comical shifts in our perspectives on what men and women are supposed to be like. Like I said, hard to describe, but it’s funny and quirky and could also be beautiful – my favorite kind of play.
Peter Hardy
