Horizon Theatre thinks globally
April 18th, 2008 by Curt Holman in Theater
Perhaps my favorite thing about Horizon Theatre is its willingness to stage daring plays about global issues. Co-producing artistic director Lisa Alder tries to do one “global†play a season, like Horizon’s powerful current show, In Darfur (which I’ll review next week). Adler says that Horizon even has an anonymous benefactor who gives those particular shows financial support: “She wants to fund things that can have an impact, and it’s important to her that we find an audience for them. In Darfur has seven actors, which is a lot for us, and we couldn’t do the show without that support.â€
Frequently Horizon’s “international†shows turn out to be among the best Atlanta plays of the year (and feature superlative performances from Carolyn Cook, pictured), as this recap of prior ones suggests:
Homebody/Kabul by Tony Kushner (2003): Kushner teased critics for overusing the phrase “eerily prescient” to describe his epic-length account of Western and fundamentalist Islamic values in Afghanistan, written shortly before Sept. 11. Carolyn Cook stars in the play’s introductory monologue, which is nearly an evening unto itself. “The artists of Horizon Theatre approach Homebody / Kabul like a team of mountaineers daring a Himalayan peak, using the utmost of their resources to master Kushner’s deliriously rich language and cross-pollinating approach to politics and ideas.” (My No. 4 play of 2003)
The Syringa Tree by Pamela Gein (2005): A remarkable one-woman show in which Cook plays 24 characters. “In Pamela Gien’s autobiographical play based on her South African childhood, Cook transforms into two dozen characters: children and adults, women and men, English and Afrikaans, white and black. Cook disappears so completely into each role that even if the play were merely a technical exercise, The Syringa Tree would be worth your while. Gien’s story also provides a moving, unconventional perspective on the fragile beauties of South Africa and the unjust legacy of apartheid.” (My No. 4 play of 2005)
The Perfect Prayer by Suehyla El-Attar (2006): This world premiere comedy offered a change of pace for Horizon’s global plays by looking at the experience of growing up Muslim in the American South. “The early scenes of The Perfect Prayer capture the funny, seemingly universal incongruities of immigrant parents raising children who grow up to be assimilated Americans. … Its least “dramatic” moments often turn out to be the most intriguing, such as the idea that Islam, Judaism and Christianity each stand for tolerance, justice and forgiveness, respectively.”
9 Parts of Desire by Heather Raffo (2007): Coincidentally, Raffo was a performer in New York’s Public Theatre’s production of In Darfur last year. “The fleeting triumphs and crushing tragedies of Iraq’s women came to vivid life in Horizon Theatre’s production of Heather Raffo’s play, inspired partly by her own experience visiting Baghdad as an American woman with an Iraqi father. Carolyn Cook, Marianne Fraulo and Suehyla El-Attar portray nine women of different social and religious backgrounds whose passions somehow transcend the country’s continuous sufferings.” (My No. 3 play of 2007)
And In Darfur measures up. More soon.
Photo by Jennifer N. Dwyer
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