mind-blowing theatre part one

So, last week, I talked about an outrageous performance in a somewhat middling show. This week, I have the pleasure of discussing several outstanding performances in two outrageous shows.

First off, Grace, written by Shannon Thomason and Sara Thigpen, which is a series of vignettes about, as they call it, "Those who give it. Those who need it. Those who can and cant accept it." What an amazing piece. I, for one, am not generally fond of vignette pieces -- I like to get to know my characters, see the roles they play in the world and watch the way their lives unfold, but somehow this show brought me just the greatest hits, and I felt like I knew everything I needed to know, just in the five minutes I got to see.

My favorite thing about this piece is how it handles something so subtle: grace. I mean, really, what is grace? Whatever it is, it's not simple.

For me, and a few of the characters, it means finding out who you are, and standing by that, no matter what. It means strength and compassion, humanity and friendship, honesty and love. It's so huge, it's like my concept of god (and perhaps grace is god, too) and I can't even begin to wrap my head or words around it. I love it when theatre takes me outside of what I can make sense of, and into my own speechlessness.

And on top of the content, the writing itself was exquisite. The characters were lovable, fallable, human and recognizable. There were no good guys or bad guys (well except maybe for the wife-beating husband. But he never showed up onstage) and the writing left enough space for the performers to breathe.

Kudos go to all the actors, and the director, Melanie Ashley. I'd link to all their pages, but links aren't working all that well for me today, and I can't find everyone, so I'll just list them instead.
Kathleen Brown, Jennifer Leigh Jones, Beth Ann Leone, John Long, Marcella Anise Smith and Brit Whittle were all exceptional, but I have to give special credit to a performer I've seen in various productions, who was both heartbreaking and outrageously funny in this one: Karen Sternberg (www.karensternberg.info) Karen is one of those actors who is so strong in so many fields, you wonder why she isn't a superstar, why she isn't on Off-Broadway, let alone Broadway. And then you remember that the business side of acting doesn't want people who can do a million things well, it wants people who can do one thing a million times in a row. But if I were an agent, Karen would be working year round.

And Grace would have a full scale run in a full scale theatre, for a long, long time.

I'm off to an audition, but will report on the second show when I get back.