[NEohioPAL]The Domino Heart Wins the Hearts of Critics (Plain Dealer, Cleveland Jewish News, Times Newspapers)

[Marjorie Preston, PR/Marketing Director]

Carolyn Jack of The Plain Dealer wrote of The Domino Heart:
"...the play itself has more than just feeling...Edison's writing in two of
the four monologues that make up The Domino Heart is unsurpassed in
contemporary playwriting. Pithy, insightful, humorous, expertly revealing of
character, Edison's words create portraits of human thought and conscience
as miraculously engineered and vividly, organically alive as the humans who
speak them...quietly astonishing masterworks of theatrical performance. The
sheer emotional deftness with which the men by turns coax, pry and slice
open the souls of their characters makes The Domino Heart a landmark
production for Dobama...The Domino Heart...leaves the viewer feeling as if
he has witnessed a rare glimpse of something awe-inspiring, like the secret
mechanisms of human life when laid bare and altered by the surgeon's
skill...All three characters probe their memories and feelings, working
through how they came to be in the situations where they have found
themselves, what awaits them now. Through their musings and anecdotes, it
becomes apparent that all have had their lives changed by a love that proved
heartbreakingly inadequate in some way...warm, shrewd Mortimer
and...cynical, arrogant and aching Leo seem to channel their characters, so
brilliantly do they express Edison's virtuosic words...Dunlavey creates
moments of believable feeling that bookend Colerider's and Polanco's the way
twilight and dawn gently frame a night of sparkling stars."


Fran Heller of the Cleveland Jewish News wrote of The Domino Heart:
"Sometimes a snippet of dialogue in a play can make you sit up and take
notice, altering your very perception about life, love and the affairs of
the human heart.  For me, that moment came during the second monologue in
"The Domino Heart," a small play packed with big ideas by Canadian
playwright Matthew Edison. It's at Dobama Theatre through Nov. 9… Edison
offers a lot to mull over in this first effort by a playwright not yet 30
years old…The…wordplay on "heart" as a life-giving organ and the seat of
love is, at times…deeply moving…each character offers some profound insights
about what can happen in the absence of love and, conversely, what love can
offer in its unconditional abundance…The 100-minute play without
intermission gets into high gear with the white-haired Colerider as the
Reverend Mortimer Wright. Colerider is luminous as the bully-pulpit preacher
with a sputtering heart and a desperate lust for more life…Fabio Polanco
dexterously handles the role of Leo Juarez, a slick advertising executive
and insider trader who came up through the ranks the hard way. The hard
drinking, pill popping 33-year-old heart patient lives in the fast lane,
teetering between self-destruction and survival...Joyce Casey, artistic
director of Dobama and director of "The Domino Heart," seamlessly sets the
action by dividing the theater's intimate three-sided thrust stage into
three distinct settings.  Set designer Mark Kobak accurately renders a homey
cottage living room, a sterile hospital room, and a smart hi-tech executive
office, including the requisite leather couch.  A howling northern wind,
ambulance sirens and built-in TV monitors hype the reality of each milieu.
Andrew Kaletta's lighting is in sync with each character's change of mood
and pace.  "The Domino Heart" had its world premiere in Toronto in April
2003. The Dobama production is the U.S. premiere.  Director Casey is to be
commended for showcasing new work by a promising playwright.”


Roy Berko of The Times Newspapers wrote of The Domino Heart:

"DOBAMA'S THE DOMINO HEART IS A MUST SEE!

Dobama Theatre’s production of Matthew Edison’s The Domino Heart is
everything good theatre should be.  The play is well written and carries a
potent message. The acting is superb.  Joyce Casey’s directing is concept
perfect.

Interestingly, the script is everything that they teach a scribe never to do
in playwriting classes.  The script is made up completely of monologues.
The actors never appear on stage at the same time and never directly
interact with each other. To add to the unusual concept, there is no action,
little humor, and no great dramatic scenes.   It is a quiet play.

In an interview about the script, which he wrote in 10 days, Matthew Edison
indicated that he sees "the monologues not as undramatic declarations but as
the sort of inner dialogue we all experience when trying to work out an
emotional problem."  He went on to say, "I used to be quite surprised how
close you can come just using imagination and common sense."   Because of
the way the play unfolded in the writing process, Edison, whose original
intention was to make this a traditional interactive script, fortunately
never rewrote it.

The Domino Heart consists of three characters connected to each other by one
transplanted heart.  There's a grieving and conflicted woman whose husband
has been killed in a car accident, a well intentioned reverend awaiting the
heart salvaged from the crash, and a soulless, almost heartless ad executive
who gets the vital instrument through the domino process in which, if the
original transplant doesn’t work, the organ is passed along to another
patient.

The play's central symbol offers plenty of opportunity to deal with
emotions, love and other matters of the heart.  In one particularly
effective section, the reverend describes a volunteer program to help babies
born with drug addictions. They're soothed by strangers who hold them close
to their hearts.

A review of the play’s first performance, which took place in March of 2003
states, "You know you're watching something special when 90 coughless,
fidgetless minutes go by as quickly -- to borrow an image reworked in
Matthew Edison's luminous first play -- as a heartbeat." The same can be
said of Dobama’s U. S premiere production.  It appears effortless.  It
flows, you become involved, the actors aren’t acting, they are speaking to
you.  You get entrapped in the experience.

Edison's words are performed by a trio of actors who couldn't be better.
Carla Dunlavey, as the wife who is emotionally ripped apart by her role in
the events leading up to her husband's death, presents a perfectly textured
performance.  We feel with her, we mourn with her, we wish things could be
different.  She has total control of the character.

The veteran Glenn Colerider, who is noted for his fine acting, outdoes
himself as the Reverend.

Fabio Polanco as the self-destructive ad exec horrifies us with his
dead-eyed, seen-it-all smugness that hides his real fear.  As he writhes on
the floor in emotional and physical pain we don’t know whether to rush up
and help him, or hate him for receiving a heart that could have gone to
someone who deserves it, would value it, would give it purpose.

CAPSULE JUDGEMENT: Dobama’s production, under the deft guidance of Joyce
Casey, is quiet but powerful. It will stay with you long after you leave the
theatre.
Put this play and production on your must see list!

For information and tickets to the show, which runs through November 9, call
216-932 3396."


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Dobama Theatre is proud to present:
October 17-November 9  The Domino Heart by Matthew Edison, directed by Joyce
Casey – U.S. Premiere!
We meet a trio of characters connected by a single heart – including the
widow of a man killed in a car crash, a minister and a young advertising
executive.
"Quietly astonishing" --Carolyn Jack, The Plain Dealer
"Deeply moving" -- Fran Heller, Cleveland Jewish News
"Must-see" -- Roy Berko, The Times Newspapers

November 28-December 21	V-E Day by local playwright Faye Sholiton, directed
by Jacqi Loewy  Winner of the Arlene R. and William P. Lewis Playwriting
Contest at BYU!  World Premiere! A salute to "the greatest generation."

January 16-February 8	Raised in Captivity by Nicky Silver, directed by Russ
Borski  Ohio Premiere! Quirky, bizarre comedy!

Single ticket prices: $11-20.  Subscriptions: (216) 932-6838.  Reservations:
(216) 932-3396.