| "A seriously funny look at the human, not-so-human
condition"
"the current production down at Silver Spring
Stage smartly remembers, is that Albee’s plays are quite funny.
... Director Laurie Freed has directed several other Albee plays
in the past and certainly has an understanding of his skewered world,
both its humorous surface aspect and the more probing and serious
undercurrents. ... Plus the quartet of actors do a great job in
these strange roles. ... this production is good enough that you
accept Albee’s oddball characters and situations as calmly
as you would anything from Neil Simon." --- David
Cannon, Montgomery Sentinal, January 17, 2008 Read
the article
Silver Spring Stage presents Edward Albee’s Pulitzer
Prize winning comedy on adult communication Seascape, directed
by Laurie Freed, produced by Jerry Schuchman. Funny and touching,
the play delves into the meaning of life for two couples set on
a beach. Seascape will run weekends January 11 to February
3, 2008.
Silver Spring Stage is located in the Woodmoor
Shopping Center, lower level (next to the CVS) at Colesville Road
and University Boulevard. Ticket prices range from $13 to $18. Performances
are Friday and Saturday at 8:00 PM and Sunday matinees on November
11 and December 2 at 2:00 PM. Tickets can be purchased at www.ssstage.org.
Information is also available by calling (301) 593-6036.
“I don't know what it's about. I don't think
in those terms. I know what happens, but I don't know what it means,”
said Edward Albee at opening night party for the Lincoln Center
revival of Seascape. Only Edward Albee could so expressively
and movingly write of the timeless exploration of the meaning of
life and the evolution of relationships with a middle-aged couple
and two young lizards. The original 1975 production had a brief
run on Broadway, but captured the attention of the Pulitzer Committee,
who awarded the play its Prize for Drama – the second for the playwright.
A 2005 revival by Lincoln Center Theatre sparked renewed interest
in the play. Why does it capture the imagination? The theme of adults
entering into a new phase of their relationship, whether older or
younger, continues to resonate with audiences. We can all see ourselves
in either the middle-aged Nancy and Charlie or the adventurous Sarah
and Leslie. Even with the theatrical nature of the lizards (and
what better way to represent evolution than to display it figuratively
as lizards crawling out of the ocean) and the surrealism of a Becket-like
beach, the play is very accessible for the touching wonder of how
two people can build or rebuild a life together. And unlike most
Albee plays, there’s a happy ending. Clive Barnes of the New
York Times, wrote, "it is a curiously compelling exploration
into the basic tenet of life. It is asking in a lighthearted but
heavy-minded fashion whether life is worth living. It decides that
there is no alternative."
On a deserted stretch of beach a middle-aged couple,
Nancy (Michelle Trout) and Charlie (Craig Miller), relaxing after
a picnic lunch, talk about home, family and their life together
now that the children are grown up and they have only each other.
They are joined by two sea creatures—lizards, Leslie (Brandon Mitchell)
and Sarah (Robin Covington) who have decided to leave the ocean
depths and come ashore. Initial fear and suspicion of each other,
are soon replaced by curiosity and, before long, the humans and
the lizards (who speak admirable English) are engaged in a fascinating
dialogue. The lizards, who are at a very advanced stage of evolution,
are contemplating the terrifying, yet exciting, possibility of embarking
on life out of the water; and the couple, for whom existence has
grown flat and routine, search for their next stage of evolution.
Albee imbues these conversations with warmth, humor, emotional honesty,
and his trademark poetic eloquence, that will linger in the heart
and mind long after the play has ended.
The production team includes Meaghan Callahan (Stage
Manager), Scott Bloom (Sound Design), Mike Leahy (Set Design), Don
Slater (Light Design), Eric Scerbo (Costume Design), and Tom Smith
(Master Carpenter).
The Stage's 40th anniversary season continues with
a special holiday show The Cripple of Inishmaan (Feb. 22-Mar.
16); Communicating Doors (Apr. 11-May 4); Come Back
to the Five and Dime, Jimmy Dean, Jimmy Dean (May 30-June 22);
and Deathtrap (July 11-Aug. 3).
Silver Spring Stage is grateful for support from the Arts and Humanities
Council of Montgomery County and the Maryland State Arts Council.
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January 11 - February 3, 2008