[NEohioPAL]Celebrating a Great Performance -TheActorsList

[David Lewis]

From: Linda Eisenstein

I had one of those rare moments the other day.  I saw a local actor give a 
once-in-a-lifetime performance.  It was even more unusual, in that the 
performance was in a new play which still needed work.

The play is called TO KNOW HIM, a drama by Albi Gorn about an AIDS patient 
and a female rabbinical student who comes to visit him.  They argue 
religion, talk about old movies, and ultimately shes tries to get him to 
reconcile with his estranged father.  The incredibly riveting performance 
was by Brian Zoldessy, who so inhabited the role with every breath, 
movement, look, gesture, and action that I will likely remember it to the 
end of my life.

Brian himself had a severely life-threatening illness earlier this 
year--where he was in and out of the hospital for a good 4 months.  His 
experience clearly shaped how he handled the role.  With painstaking 
physical work-- from the smallest details, like putting lotion on his 
leg--Zoldessy showed exhaustion, anger, pain, and spiritual despair.  No one 
could take their eyes off him.

It reminded me how one can't really judge a script until it is fully 
incarnated.  I would have dismissed this play as predictable and way too 
talky had I read a draft.  But with this textured, loving performance 
fueling it, it ended up being deeply moving.

I just wanted to celebrate a wonderful performance!

Linda Eisenstien
TheActorsList at yahoogroups.com

_________________________________________________________________
FREE pop-up blocking with the new MSN Toolbar – get it now! 
http://toolbar.msn.click-url.com/go/onm00200415ave/direct/01/