mind blowing theatre part two

Part Two:
(No Snakes) On a Plane
The second outsanding piece I saw on Saturday was a workshop performance of Wickets, an adaptation by Jenny Rogers of Fefu and her Friends (by Maria Irene Fornes) directed by Clove Galilee and Jenny Rogers.

I have to say, I read Fefu in college and wasn't in love with it, so I was trepidatious when I got to P.S. 122 for the performance. My friend Sarah (who was, incidentally, enchantingly zany in the piece) (ew, I sound like a reviewer) had told me it was just a work in progress, that it was no big shakes, but that I would probably enjoy it. So I showed up, and as we hung out in the hallway, two fully dressed stewardesses welcomed us to Wicket Air flight 1971 to Charles DeGaulle Airport.

And they had matching costumes. Which was a surprise to me, for a workshop, a no-big-shakes. But not half as surprising as what awaited us on the other side of the door.
They had built an airplane! And not just a dinky one. They had turned the whole room into an airplane that sat probably 50 people. With a roof, and windows and carpets and recessed lighting! All the stewardesses matched -- not just same color skirt, same skirt. Same gold pumps. Same matching scarf -- except for the first class cabin staff: they had a different one. (this was 1971, after all)

The actresses were strong across the board, with the three women I know, of course, giving the best performances. Sarah K. Lippman was this passionately vapid southern girl with a love of aviation and giggles (Sue), Moira Stone (yes, again) was collected, logical and extremely focused as the oddly non-vicious-but-violent Fefu, and Liza Zapol was beautifully and tenderly bent-but-not-broken as Julia.

And apparently I like descriptions-with-hyphens-in-them.

The rest of the cast included Katie Apicella, Charlotte Cohn, Dawn Eshelman, Jessica Jolly and Emily Lutin.

Working as much as I do at a level of theatre in which too much emphasis on design elements leads to embarrassment, it was extremely refreshing and exciting to see a company (The School for Gifted Children) put so much money into their design.

We were in a fucking plane!!

And what's even better than that was that the crew (the flight crew, that is) were solid actresses giving interesting performances. Sometimes I couldn't see them, and that was a bit of a problem, but for the most part, I thoroughly enjoyed my flight. Keep your eyes out for it when they do a full production. It should be unbelievable!