The Washington Times
  • Subscribe
  • Times News Services
  • RSS
  • Mobile Headlines
  • e-edition
  • E-MAIL ALERTS
  • REGISTER
  • LOG IN
  • E-MAIL ALERTS
  • WELCOME
  • Your Profile
  • Log Out
  • Front Page Image
  • Classifieds
  • Autos
  • Real Estate
  • Jobs
  • Special Sections
  • Customer Service
  • Home
  • News
  • Opinion
  • Sports
    • NFL
    • NBA/WNBA
    • MLB
    • NHL
    • Tennis
    • Golf
    • Motorsports
    • Soccer
    • NCAA
    • Olympics
    • Outdoors
    • Other
  • Culture
    • Home & Living
    • Family & Kids
    • Fashion
    • Food
    • Travel
    • Health
    • Washington Visitors
    • Books
    • Military History
    • Life
    • Auto
    • TV Listings
    • Movie Listings
    • Death Notices
    • Entertainment
  • Themes
  • Communities
  • Shopping
    • Stores
    • Coupons
    • Daily Double
    • Promotion
    • How It Works
  • Videos
    • Two Guys
    • Birnbaum on Washington
    • Liz Glover
    • Amanda Carpenter
    • Morning Briefing
    • Documentaries
    • Joe Giganti
    • Video Game Minute
  • Podcasts
    • About Headlines
    • Audio and Radio
    • America's Morning News
  • National

    PULLEN: GOP came unmoored in last decade – it hurt

  • National

    WILLIAMS: Finding gratitude in difficult times

  • Sports

    Leonsis in line to buy Wizards, Verizon Center

  • National

    3 airlines fined $175,000 for stranding passengers

  • National

    Ruling hanging was a suicide leaves bloggers at loss for words

  • Business

    Low-cost buses fill holiday travelers' needs

  • Politics

    A-listers, fundraisers attend White House state dinner

Home » Blogs

Tuesday, July 15, 2008

PONICK: Smashing 'Wreck,' fertile 'Farm'

Rate this story

Average 0.00
after 0 votes
Login or register to rate this story

  • Font Size -+
  • Print
  • Email
  • Comment
  • Tweet this!
  • Share
  • Article
  • Comments ()
  • Click-2-Listen
  • Videos
Please stand by, images loading!
  • Anderson Matthews (center in photo at left) is an EPA agent who wants to shut down the farm run by Andrea Cirie and Lee Sellars in "Pig Farm."
  • Kurt Zischke mourns his late wife in "Wrecks."

More Blogs Stories

    By T.L. Ponick

    THEATER COLUMN:

    SHEPHERDSTOWN, W.Va. — The Contemporary American Theater Festival is having its strongest season in the past few years, featuring plays from good to great that focus on key issues for our time. The festival opened during the weekend on the Shepherd University campus.

    The last two of this year's five plays opened Sunday: Neil LaBute's dramatic monologue "Wrecks" and Greg Kotis' Grand Guignol eco-satire "Pig Farm."

    "Wrecks" starts working on audience members as they walk into a large rehearsal room in the university's new Center for Contemporary Arts. As the door opens about 15 minutes before the performance and members of the audience shuffle in by ones and twos, they are greeted by a somber person in a black suit who offers them seating in chairs or on couches.

    They find themselves at a wake in a funeral parlor, with a casket in the center, seating all around, and flowers and mementos scattered on side tables.

    A man in business attire enters and begins to speak. He is Edward Carr (Kurt Zischke), a boomer in late middle age. His late wife is in the casket. For about 70 minutes, Carr rambles on about his beloved spouse, gradually filling in the story of their strange and passionate relationship.

    Aside from occasional profanity we have come to take for granted, Carr, portrayed with elegant, understated brilliance by Mr. Zischke, is an upper-middle-class Everyman, a self-made man who is down to earth and in many respects would be indistinguishable from the rest of the audience. Mr. Zischke becomes Edward Carr to a remarkable degree, and it's easy to identify with him and his plight.

    The trick is to listen carefully to Mr. LaBute's subtle dialogue. Clues to a deeper story are revealed at the last moment, transforming "Wrecks" into an odd whodunit that packs a big surprise for complacent theatergoers who aren't hanging onto Carr's every word.

    This drama's reliance on the accumulation of minute detail to gradually reveal its story distinguishes it from much contemporary drama that relies on noise, violence, vulgarity and special effects to compel the audience to listen. It also is remarkably literary in the British "Masterpiece Theatre" sense and will greatly reward the theatergoer who deplores the lack of adult material in today's theatrical and film productions.

    Mr. Kotis' "Pig Farm" is a rowdy, boisterous satire that relies on the violence and vulgarity that "Wrecks" avoids. "Pig Farm" is lots of fun if you're the kind of person who won't get squeamish over the buckets of blood that drench the play's finale.

    [Get Copyright Permissions] Click here for reprint permissions!
    Copyright 2009 The Washington Times, LLC

    12Next »

    Post a comment

    There are comments on this article, submit your opinion!

    Please login or register to post a comment

    Ask a Question

    You Report

    Do you have another point of view, photos, audio, video or more information about a story?

    Top Stories

    Most Read

    1. EDITORIAL: Hiding evidence of global cooling
    2. Top Republican lawmakers not attending State Dinner
    3. Fenty trails Gray in D.C. poll
    4. Conservatives seek test for RNC funds
    5. Food snobs fork over $225 for taste of heritage turkey
    More Top Stories »
    1. Religious leaders vow civil disobedience on anti-life issues
    2. Company that repaired Chairman Gray's house lacked license
    3. PRUDEN: Obama's due process doctrine
    4. KELLNER: New Apple mouse really is 'Magic'
    5. Green energy stimulus growing few jobs

    Most Shared

    1. EDITORIAL: Hiding evidence of global cooling
    2. The United Socialist States of America
    3. PRUDEN: Obama's due process doctrine
    4. Top Republican lawmakers not attending State Dinner
    5. Fenty trails Gray in D.C. poll
    More Top Stories »
    1. Conservatives seek test for RNC funds
    2. Food snobs fork over $225 for taste of heritage turkey
    3. EDITORIAL: Terrorists use Democratic talking points
    4. LETTER TO EDITOR: When family ties die
    5. Religious leaders vow civil disobedience on anti-life issues

    Most Commented

    1. EDITORIAL: Hiding evidence of global cooling
    2. Top Republican lawmakers not attending State Dinner
    3. Conservatives seek test for RNC funds
    4. PRUDEN: Obama's due process doctrine
    5. Lobbyists spending big to shape health care debate
    More Top Stories »
    1. Schumer: Dems will pass health bill alone
    2. EDITORIAL: Terrorists use Democratic talking points
    3. WH: Obama Afghan decision 'within days'
    4. EDITORIAL: Schumer's change of heart
    5. Green energy stimulus growing few jobs

    Listen to Washington Times Radio

    • America's Morning News

      with John McCaslin and Melanie Morgan

    Blogs & Columns

    • Hot Button Blog

      RNC: Breast cancer recommendations may lead to 'rationing'

    • Belief Blog

      Evangelicals OK civil disobedience

    • Out of Context

      Foods that might kill libido

    • On the Fly

      United lifts some 'award' blocking

    • Technology

      Facebook wins round against phishing spammer

    • Redskins 360

      Gray spends day in Memphis

    • SNOBlog

      Beyond 'Woody'

    Videos

    Advertising Links
    TWT Store
    • e-edition
    • Print Edition
    • Weekly Washington Times
    TWT Affiliates
    • Middle East Times
    • Golf
    • UPI
    • Arbor Ballroom
    • Washington Times Global
    • About TWT
    • Press Room
    • F.A.Q.
    • Work for TWT
    • Advertise
    • Sponsors
    • Contact Us
    • Privacy Policy
    • Site Map

    All site contents © Copyright 2009 The Washington Times, LLC.