OK, so most people who know me or have spent any amount of time with me knows how much I love going to the theater. I started acting in little plays with the Dayton Children’s Theater when I was four or five years old and until I was a teenager. I have loved it, watched it, and participated in it ever since. A night out with friends or my kids often includes a trip to the theater, often to enjoy a lighthearted musical or action movie. I love to have fun and to laugh, of course, but I also love to experience the depth of emotion in more dramatic, sometimes “dark” productions. So, it was inevitable, I suppose, that I was drawn years ago to a local group in Akron that called itself “The Bang and the Clatter”. An innovative “black box” theater in downtown Akron, now in the Merriman Valley in the back of Bricco’s restaurant and the restructured group is now called “none too fragile” theater company.
In case you don’t know, two surviving founders of the original company, Sean Derry and Alanna Romansky, have taken their considerable talents and created a theater that has consistently chosen and performed new, cutting-edge dramatic productions that can blow your socks off. (I know…I’ve gone home “barefoot” several times after seeing one of their shows) Their current production, titled “Boogieban”, is no exception. It is the winner of a John S. Knight matching grant award, an award that is well deserved. It is the world premier of an amazing show about the effects of war, terror, and PTSD on two veteran soldiers from two different wartime experiences- the Viet Nam War and the war in Afghanistan.
Adjectives like “excellent” , “brilliant”, “amazing” are not worthy of this show. I know, I know, you have heard me sing the praises of this group forever. But, this show is different. In a lifetime of love for theater, this may be the first show I believe is a true piece of art…really. All of it, from the writing, directing, and acting, to the sound effects and lighting, are just about as perfect as any live production can be. But it is more than an evening of entertaining theater, it is a measured, deliberate unveiling of intensely real, exceedingly deep trauma left on the souls of the two soldiers we see on stage.
Last week, I saw the show for the first time at a Sunday matinee that was arranged for veterans and that provided a talk-back forum afterward with the playwright, the military consultant, the director and cast. I learned a lot.
The playwright, D.C. Fidler, is a former professor at UNC Chapel Hill and the University of West Virginia. He spent decades studying and teaching psychiatry, cultural psychiatry, educational psychiatry, and acting. He wrote scripts and music for over 50 medical educational videos, served on various prestigious Arts and Medical boards and committees, and authored the textbook Psychiatry for Actors: Building a Character Using Psychiatric Principles. It was his curiosity about the effects of war and trauma that led him to write this play, and every one of the veterans attending last week’s performance said, in moving and poignant commentary, that “he nailed it”.
The authenticity of this story only continues when we know that the man playing the role of a military psychiatrist is a British actor, director, and drama therapist named David Peacock, who has had years of theatrical accomplishments, and who now works with veterans suffering with PTSD as a drama therapist.
I cried when I saw the show last week; no surprise there, right? For some reason, I believed that tonight, because I had already seen it before and would be prepared, that I would be able to watch it with dry eyes this time, and not be pulled into the compelling drama on stage.
Uh, no.
It is impossible to see this show and not be affected by the paid experienced by these two characters; for me, that meant weeping through the entire second half of the show. The intense emotions exhibited by both actors is visceral, and felt a bit like they’d grabbed my heart and were squeezing it… gently at first, but with growing intention as the show progressed.
Soooo, you may ask, as several of you have, “Why on earth should we go see such an intense production? I want to escape from problems when I go out, not add to them…”
I know that for many people, going to see a play or movie is a brief “night off”, a time to have fun, not a time to get bummed out or to risk (I’m looking at you, guys) crying in public. I get it, I do. But think back to when you first saw It’s a Wonderful Life or Apocalypse Now. Every now and then, it benefits us to step out of our comfort zones, allow something outside of ourselves to dig deeper into our hearts, and risk what we may find on the other side. Remember watching Ghandi, Do the Right Thing or Philadelphia? Think of reading To Kill a Mockingbird, or The Color Purple. None of them easy or “fun”, but our souls and lives are wholly enriched by the experience. That’s why you should make every effort to see this show. This is a World Premier…Professor Fidler has written a script for an expanded cast of seven, and there are talks of making it into a movie!
But there isn’t much time left to see it. Tonight’s show (Nov. 30) is sold out, but there are seats available for Saturday night, and for an extended run next weekend on Thursday, Friday, and Saturday. If that doesn’t work, then you will have missed an inspiring and affecting presentation. You may have a chance to see this premier edition later if you are traveling in August or September, though, because our dynamic Akron theater group is taking “Boogieban” to debut in Chicago at the Chicago Dramatists Theatre! Or maybe, if you are lucky, you could even see it at the 13th Street Repertory Theater in NEW YORK CITY! Whoot! Whoot!
Lebron. The Black Keys. And now, none too fragile theater! Our Akron pride is showing!
You don’t have to take my word for any of this….it’s all just my opinion as a theater lover and someone who loves the folks involved. But, if you’d like to hear from someone who actually knows what she’s talking about, visit the f/b page of Kerry Clawson, the long-time arts critic for the Akron Beacon Journal. She knows a lot about the Arts here and everywhere!
http://www.facebook.com/kclawsonabj.
none too fragile theater also has a f/b page, but you’re going to have to find that on your own….I can’t get the link to move over!
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