|
BUFFALO NEWS PREVIEW
GUSTO MAGAZINE 4/3/09
A nod to Serling in Subversive Theatre's 'Waterboarding
Blues'
BY COLIN DABKOWSKI
News Arts Writer
On the list of likely topics for crowd-pleasing theater, waterboarding has
to rank somewhere in the bottom third.
But Kurt Schneiderman, Founder and Artistic Director of the Subversive
Theatre Collective, isn't out to produce the latest piece of theatrical cotton
candy. Since its launch in 2002, Schneiderman's company has used its
stage to confront society's deepest injustices and agitate its audience around
political issues. And with his latest play, "Waterboarding Blues,"
Schneiderman continues his company's refusal to shy away from difficult
contemporary stories.
The show, which follows Schneiderman's 2007 piece "Foundations,"
has an unlikely inspiration.
"It came to me while watching one of those New Year's Eve 'Twlight
Zone' marathon things," Schneiderman said. "So many of
those sci-fi stories have such good political commentary in them, and a lot of
them are very clever and reach people in a way that more obvious political
commentary might not reach people. I remember watching this and thinking, 'It's
a pity Rod Serling isn't around today. What would he say about Iraq and the
Patriot Act and what clever ways would he find to make a comment on this?'
"
In the absence of Serling, the creator and narrator of the popular 1960s
science-fiction series, Schneiderman crafted his own semi sci-fi narrative to
deal with what he sees as a serious misrepresentation of the intentions of
America's founding fathers.
"Waterboarding Blues" features a Marine interrogator,
played by Gordon Tashjian, who receives a strange series of prisoners of war
to question. Throughout the play, it becomes clear that the people
Tashjian's character is interrogating are not exactly of this world, and he
must confront the questionable techniques he has been ordered to use to
extract information from them.
For Schneiderman, the play is a rebuff to those he sees as misrepresenting
the convictions of Thomas Jefferson and Thomas Paine, who, in their day,
argued for political actions that would be considered radical today.
"There are a lot of people who claim to be the voice of the
founding fathers who I'd love to confront," Schneiderman said.
But the trouble with confronting people, as any audience member who has been
preached at can attest, is straying too far away from the basic entertainment
value of drama. Schneiderman says he recognizes this.
"I think when you get to the point where you're just lecturing
people, you're no longer an artist, you're just a speechifier,"
Schneiderman said. But he sees the unique goal of Subversive Theatre as
a direly needed mission few others are fulfilling.
"Who the [heck] else is going to say anything about this?
Certainly not the politicians, certainly not the historians. Certainly
not the academics. So artists better step up to the plate and do
something."
PREVIEW
WHAT: "Waterboarding Blues"
WHEN: Tonight through April 19
WHERE: Manny Fried Playhouse, 255 Great Arrow Drive, 3rd floor
TICKETS: Pay what you can INFO: 408-0499 or www.subversivetheatre.org
cdabkowski@buffnews.com
| 
