“Raw, theatrically-audacious…trenchant and funny… viscerally well-acted!
“…language that’s sharply contemporary and brashly funny, and often brazenly slaps the subtext of Chekhov’s original right onto the surface.”
– Charles Isherwood, The New York Times
Conrad’s desperate love for Nina might just be the death of him—if his imperious mother and her latest fling don’t get there first.
Aaron Posner’s award-winning, wry riff on The Seagull scoops up Chekhov’s tale of unrequited love, missed opportunities, and misplaced dreams and sets it down squarely in the bustle of 21st century life.
But the more things change the more they really don’t—and the artist frustrated by the emptiness of modern art, the dissatisfied young woman yearning for freedom, and the has-beens and never-weres of a passing generation all still wonder: “What are we doing here?”
Rarely have the characters of Anton Chekhov felt as alive as they do in Stupid F**king Bird, Aaron Posner's "sort of" adaptation of The Seagull at the Pearl Theatre Company. That may seem a little weird, considering that the denizens of the Russian masterpiece are famously "in mourning" for their lives. But worry not; the occupants of Posner's vital 2013 comedy are just as exquisitely miserable as Chekhov's. However, unlike the individuals in typical productions of The Seagull, this play's characters speak with a distinctly contemporary tongue. An exhilarating deconstruction of the Russian dramatist's masterwork, Stupid F**king Bird not only rebuilds The Seagull for modern-day audiences, but also uses it as a lens to further explore the idea essential to Chekhov's character Konstantin: that in order for something to stay relevant, it needs to break free of its confines and find new methods. Which is exactly what Stupid F**cking Bird does. Posner, with director Davis McCallum and an exceptional company headed by Christopher Sears, is creating a new kind of theater, one where the characters are simultaneously "real" people living in the world of the play, while also being fully aware that they are performing for an audience. And it's absolutely thrilling. Sears is Conrad, a theater artist with a desperate desire to push the form into the boundaries of the experimental. He chooses to premiere his new "Site Specific Performance Event" for the wrong audience, one made up of his impatient movie-star mother, Emma (Bianca Amato), and her lover, the noted writer Doyle Trigorin (Erik Lochtefeld). Conrad falls into despair, compounded by the knowledge that the longtime object of his affection and leading lady, Nina (Marianna McClellan), is much more taken with the older, famous Doyle. The Chekovian blueprint is very much intact — characters on the periphery include Mash (Joey Parsons), a cook desperately in love with Con; Con's observant best friend, Dev (Joe Paulik); and Emma's physician brother, Eugene Sorn (Dan Daily) — and the gist of the dialogue is in a similar vein to the original, down to the references to Hamlet. Yet the fourth wall breaks as soon as the actors walk onto a stage that consists of little more than the title printed on a series of interlocking flats (Sandra Goldmark created this universe, which eventually shape-shifts into something more naturalistic). "The play will begin when someone says 'start the f**king play,'" Con says to us, adding an unexpected feeling of danger. "We all see damn near everything you ever do out there, all of you," he later rails at us as the lines of performer and spectator are blurred inexorably. His acknowledgement of our existence as we recognize his is what makes Stupid F**king Bird so exciting. It allows the great agonies of the people onstage to feel real and honest in a way that the original rarely does. McCallum's vibrant production, with contemporary costumes by Amy Clark and lighting by Mike Inwood that further blurs the lines between "us" and "them," is incomparably well cast. Newcomer Sears is fantastically engaging as Con, whose dreams for a new kind of theater echo many of ours. Amato brings an imposing sexiness to the cold and oblivious Emma, while Daily expertly captures the pathos of a man who spent his life not really living. The coquettish McClellan is the Nina of our dreams; she shares a steamy chemistry with Lochtefeld, whose Doyle disarmingly transforms from a seemingly nice guy to a total jerk. Paulik and Parsons complete the ensemble with a sweet and sad air of self-awareness. If there's one complaint, it's that Stupid F**king Bird has a tendency to sag in its midsection, the momentum slowed by the appearance of several monologues. But in terms of sheer originality and emotional resonance, this Bird is anything but stupid.
The Pearl to Stage New York Premiere of Posner's STUPID FU**KING BIRD
The Pearl Theatre Company is pleased to present the New York premiere of Stupid Fu**ing Bird, Aaron Posner's award-winning wry riff on Anton Chekhov's masterpiece The Seagull. Directed by Hudson Valley Shakespeare Festival's Artistic Director Davis McCallum, the production, running March 15-May 8, scoops up Chekhov's tale of unrequited love, missed opportunities, and misplaced dreams and sets it down squarely in the bustle of 21st century life.
With its rebellious title evoking Constantine's subversive play-within-a-play from the original, it captures the heartbreaking humor of the tale while playing as brilliantly with dramatic form as Chekhov himself once did.
Winner of the Helen Hayes Awards for Outstanding Resident Play and Outstanding New Play or Musical, Stupid Fu**cking Bird debuted to acclaim in 2013 at Wolly Mammoth Theatre Company in Washington, D.C. The production has since been performed to audiences around the country with Time Out Chicago calling it "a staggering work of heartbreaking stupid fu**ing genius" and LA Weekly naming it the "Best Chekhov Adaptation in Two Decades."
Stupid Fu**cking Bird is the first of two Chekhov adaptations Posner has written. His second, Life Sucks (Or The Present Ridiculous), is a reimagining of Uncle Vanya and premiered in 2015. Posner is a Helen Hayes and Barrymore Award-winning director and playwright and is a founder and former Artistic Director of Philadelphia's Arden Theatre.
Director McCallum said, "Stupid Fu**ing Bird is one of the most exciting new plays I've read in a long time, and frees Chekhov from all dusty Victorian trappings, to reveal an utterly contemporary and revolutionary piece of theater, which of course was what The Seagull was when it was first written. I'm so thrilled to get to direct it at The Pearl."
The Pearl's Artistic Director Hal Brooks said, "When I first read Aaron's adaptation of The Seagull, I instantly thought 'This is the play Chekhov would write if he were alive today.' Poignant, relevant and faithful, Stupid Fu**ing Bird will be in precisely the right person's hands under Davis McCallum's direction. We are chomping at the bit to see this play finally realized on the New York stage." The cast of Stupid Fu**ing Bird features The Pearl's Resident Acting Company members Dan Daily (Sorn) and Joey Parsons (Mash) alongside guest artists Joe Paulik (Dev), Christopher Sears (Con), Erik Lochtefeld (Trig), Marianna McClellan (Nina), and Bianca Amato (Emma). As New York's only classical resident company, The Pearl is a theatre where past becomes present. As the advocate for significant plays across history, The Pearl protects and honors the spirit of every play, while also guiding its artistic evolution for future generations. Striking the balance between heritage and innovation, The Pearl explores acknowledged masterpieces, lost treasures, and contemporary adaptations, serving as a nexus of theatrical past, present, and future.
Founded in 1984 by a small troupe of artists in Chelsea, The Pearl has grown into a renowned Off-Broadway company. The Pearl connects audiences to timeless classic plays, while providing an artistic home to theatre professionals, especially its core company of resident actors.
The creative team is Sandra Goldmark (Set), Amy Clark (Costumes), Mike Inwood (Lights), and Mikhail Fiksel (Sound), and Katie Young (Production Stage Manager) Performances of Stupid Fu**ing Bird will take place March 15-April 8 at The Pearl Theatre (555 West 42nd Street, NYC). Critics are welcome as of March 23 at 2pm for an official opening on Monday, March 28. Tickets are $65 regular, $85 premium ($50 previews, $20 student rush, $20 Thursday rush) and can be purchased by visiting pearltheatre.org or calling 212.563.9261. Aaron Posner (playwright) is a Helen Hayes and Barrymore Award-winning director and playwright. He is a founder and former Artistic Director of Philadelphia's Arden Theatre, an Associate Artist at both the Folger Theatre and Milwaukee Repertory Theatre. His adaptations include Chaim Potok's The Chosen and My Name is Asher Lev (both of which have enjoyed successful runs at more than 50 theatres across the country and the latter of which ran for ten months Off-Broadway and won both the Outer Circle Critics Award for Best New Off-Broadway play and the John Gassner Award), as well as Ken Kesey's Sometimes a Great Notion, Mark Twain's A Murder, A Mystery, and a Marriage, an adaptation of three Kurt Vonnegut short stories, entitled Who Am I This Time? (and other conundrums of love). His Chekhov inspired Stupid Fu**ing Bird debuted at Woolly Mammoth and won the Helen Hayes Award for Outstanding Resident Play as well as the Charles MacArthur Award for Outstanding Play or Musical. It has received productions and awards from around the country. His second Chekhov adaptation, Life Sucks (Or The Present Ridiculous), premiered at Theatre J and his third, No Sisters, has been commissioned by Studio Theatre. His musical for young audiences The Gift of Nothing received a Helen Hayes Award for Outstanding Play and Musical Adaptation for its production at the Kennedy Center. Aaron was raised in Eugene, Oregon, graduated from Northwestern University, is an Eisenhower Fellow, and lives near Washington, DC.
Davis McCallum (director)recently completed his first season as Artistic Director of the Hudson Valley Shakespeare Festival. His recent productions in New York include Fashions for Men (Mint Theater; Drama Desk, Lortel and Outer Critics Circle Nominations for Best Revival); Pocatello (Playwrights Horizons), The Whale (Playwrights Horizons; Lucille Lortel Award for Best Play; Calloway Nomination for Best Director), Water by the Spoonful (Second Stage; Pulitzer Prize for Drama); February House (Public Theater; Outer Critics Circle Nomination for Best Musical); and London Wall (Mint Theater; Drama Desk and Lortel Nominations for Best Revival). Other credits include productions at the Signature Theater Company, 13P, Clubbed Thumb, Play Company, Rattlestick Playwrights Theater, Partial Comfort Productions, Page 73, and the New Victory Theater. His extensive background with Shakespeare and the classics includes productions at the Oregon Shakespeare Festival, the Guthrie Theater, the Old Globe, The Pearl Theater Company, and the American Shakespeare Center, as well as four productions for The Acting Company, the country's preeminent classical touring theater. A graduate of Princeton, he studied Shakespeare at Oxford University as a Rhodes Scholar, and trained as a director at LAMDA. He has taught Acting and Directing at Princeton and The New School for Drama. He is the father of two young sons, Thomas and Angus. About The Pearl Theatre Company.
The Pearl has garnered numerous awards, including most recently, a special 2011 Drama Desk Award for "notable productions of classic plays and nurturing a stalwart resident company of actors." In October 2012, The Pearl celebrated the opening of its first permanent home, located at 555 West 42nd Street.
The 32nd Season marks Hal Brooks's second year as Artistic Director of the Company.
No comments:
Post a Comment