THE ARGUMENT at Theater J: The Reaction

Any time the word "abortion" comes up there are bound to be strong opinions. This word has as much a political and social stigma attached to it than any other I can think of. Alexandra Gersten-Vassilaros' play The Argument, first performed in 2005, was rewritten to suit modern audiences for a new production at Washington D.C.'s Theater J this fall. The Argument is, according to director Shirley Shirotsky, a play about abortion, but not about the political debate about abortion. Even so, this does not eliminate the elephant in the room.

The Argument is the story of a 40-somethings couple, Sophie and Phillip, who after falling for each other quickly and a period of a very happy relationship, get a surprise when Sophie finds out she is pregnant. Both characters have very different ideas of how to deal with this news and serving as the dramatic conflict for the play. The Washington Post's Nelson Pressley puts it well, saying "'The Argument' watches two supposedly mature people...claw each other to bits."

The play was updated since its 2005 premiere to better suit today's audience. While there were small changes, such as lines cut and added and the ability to relook at the characters, the rewrite also allowed Gersten-Vassilaros to update the technology in the play and change the economic background of the play, following the economic decline of the past few years.

In a review for The Washingtonian, Missy Frederick wrote that the play was "about the personal consequences [of abortion] for two characters and their relationship, rather than the ideological stances behind the debate...the result is a lot more interesting than a political polemic, even if the play’s conclusion is less than satisfying."

Audiences responded well to this personal approach to this often-discussed issue. The energy in the theatre after I saw the show was of a group of people that enjoyed what they saw and wasn't upset or emotional about a controversial subject that was discussed for the previous 90 minutes. Responses online were much more about the characters and the well-produced play than the hot-button issue at hand.

For Serotsky, the play "centers on the word choice, and resonates in various ways in the play. The first thing we think of in terms of abortion is politics of the pro-choice movement. But it's what it means to choose to either end the pregnancy or to choose to start a family. In Sophie’s life, we see her struggle with what has she chosen to do and what she has chosen not to do. We think we can do everything and say no to nothing. This builds an unrealistic view of our life."

Serotsky said that this play was a challenge because "it's such a personal play and requires actors to go to very dark and personal places." 

Since the show opened, Serotsky has had "a lot of interesting conversations" with audience members about their reactions to the show. These reactions were all over the spectrum, which is not surprising considering the subject matter. Overall, the play was "divisive, but people didn’t regret it."

PREVIEW: The Argument at Theater J

Theater J, located inside the Washington DC JCC will continue it's season with Alexandra Gersten-Vassilaros' play THE ARGUMENT. The play, originally written in 2005, was rewritten by the playwright for this production to better appeal to today's audiences.

THE ARGUMENT is about "Sophie, a charming, vibrant artist, and Phillip, a loyal, solid businessman, are a 40-something couple whose new relationship is rocked when Sophie learns she is pregnant. As each fights for the only future he or she can imagine, they are both forced to recognize the profound personal differences between them. And when the word "abortion" is introduced into the debate, all bets are off.

This newly commissioned 2013 edition of The Argument chronicles the arc of a relationship with humor, passion, brutality, and up-to-the-minute relevance."

While not exactly a "new" play, it'll be very interesting to see how audiences react to a play that was altered in a hope to better serve modern audiences and whether or not it was worth the rewrite.

The play seemingly deals with very touchy issues in an almost light and comedic way. I wonder if this is the case, and if so, how this will play on stage. I think the play's concept asks some interesting, relevant questions. It now depends on execution to see how the audience answers them.

Any time the issue of abortion is brought up, whether on stage, in film, or in real life, people have very strong reactions so it will be interesting to see if this play incites these strong reactions or if people will be afraid to really speak their minds on such a sensitive subject.

Preview: CROSSING at Signature Theatre

Signature Theatre in Arlington, VA is currently presenting it's second musical of its season, a world-premiere, CROSSING. CROSSING features a book by Grace Barnes, a playwright out of NYC, and Matt Conner, a local who frequently works and collaborates with Signature.

According to the synopsis on their website, "Crossing explores the interwoven stories of eight people from different decades of the past century who come together at a train station. Some are waiting for the train, others are waiting for visitors, a few are just…waiting. All of them are searching – for hopes and dreams, for new beginnings, for answers. As their stories are brought to musical life in the train station, the characters discover that, while every life is different, the journey is always the same. With music ranging from gospel to pop to rock, Crossing unites the musical eras through the souls who lived them."

This original idea seems evocative of the themes currently invading new musical theatre, which tend towards darker, pop-rock driven scores and stories to evoke stronger reactions out of audiences. 

Although in its world premiere production, CROSSING was workshopped at Signature, so it will be interesting to see how far in its developmental process it is. Will it be rough around the edges, or give a clear, strong narrative?

DC is becoming more well-known for being an incubator city for new musicals, but it is still a theatrical form that is not extremely common in town. It will be interesting to see the audience reaction in a town used to seeing tried and true classics (like Miss Saigon and Gypsy, which book-ended CROSSING in Signature's season).

CROSSING seems to be exploring the issue of whether or not the journey or the destination is what matters most. It will be interesting to see how true this is. I'll know soon enough.

My Twitter Theatre Review

A major part of my project is the social media component via Twitter. For this however, I can't do it alone. I need the assistance of my friends, readers, and theatre lovers around the world.

What I am asking from you: Below there are two form tweets that I am asking you to fill in the blanks and send out via your twitter. Answers can be as short or as in depth as you choose to get. 

The further spread these tweets get, the better data I can get for my project in realizing the influence of theatre on audience members. 

So, I ask you to take one of the following tweets and share it with your followers:

If you saw a piece of theatre and your opinion was changed by it:

"(BLANK) in (NAME OF PLAY) changed my views on (BLANK) #mytheatrereview"

     i.e. Angel in Rent changed my views on AIDS and LGBT issues #mytheatrereview 

          Jean in Dead Man's Cell Phone changed my views on the negative effects of technology #mytheatrereview

OR if you see something and weren't affected by it:

"(NAME OF PLAY) didn’t affect my opinion on (BLANK) #mytheatrereview"

      i.e. Red Speedo didn't affect my opinion on doping and cheating in sports #mytheatrereview

            The Best Man didn't affect my opinion on corruption in presidential campaigns #mytheatrereview

If you have any questions about this, feel free to comment below. I truly appreciate all the help that I will get from these tweets. 

Welcome!

Welcome to my blog, My Theatre Review. I'd like to introduce myself to all readers before I get started with the blog.

My name is Max and I am a senior at The George Washington University in Washington, DC and am studying Journalism and Theatre. This blog is going to serve as the centerpiece of an independent study I am conducting this semester on the relationship between theatre and classic theatre criticism and social media.

As a dual Journalism and Theatre major, my interests very much straddle both disciplines not only uniquely, but also how they interact with each other. So much of our School of Media and Public Affairs study at GW is focused in politics, so I want to explore a different side of the media. The media and theatre have a very interesting relationship because the media directly affects audience reaction and also spreads audience reactions.

For my project, I didn’t just want to explore theatre criticism (the most obvious combination of journalism and theatre). So I thought how the media really affects theatre and it does so in two major ways: criticism and social media. Both of these things not only promote a show and make a show more well known, they also can change how people view the piece of theatre and the effect it has on society and audiences.

What is interesting about this project will be tracking how much the combination of audience reactions and critical reviews changes the effectiveness of any political or cultural messages that the plays try to convey to audiences. It will be interesting to observe how this varies between the shows because their genres and subjects are so different.

This idea of intended versus unintended meaning intrigues me and I am also very interested in new plays and theatrical development, so for my independent study I will go to see three new plays around DC, observe audience reaction (through talking to people, Twitter/Facebook, and reviews), and then talk to a playmaker, either playwright or director, and see whether the actual message that the audiences took away was similar to their intended message.

The three plays I will be seeing is The Argument by Alexandra Gersten-Vassilaros at Theatre J, a lab production of Red Speedo by Lucas Hnath at Studio Theatre, and Crossing, a world premiere musical, at Signature Theatre. These are three very different pieces of theatre and therefore will allow for very different experiences, both for me as a scholar and for audiences and their reactions.

I am really excited for this project and would love any responses, comments, or feedback you can give me!

-Max