[NEohioPAL] "Waiting For Lefty" at Ensemble Theatre Gets Rave Review in Plain Dealer! Ensemble Cast Shines!

Tue Oct 11 18:47:31 PDT 2011

"Waiting For Lefty" at Ensemble Theatre Fridays and Saturdays at 8pm Sundays
at 2pm through October 30th

Mention NEOHIOPAL and get $15 tickets!

Clifford Odets' 'Waiting for Lefty' is a pro-labor play that resonates
todayPublished:
Monday, October 10, 2011, 5:37 PM     Updated: Monday, October 10, 2011,
6:06 PM

In the annals of plays that start fast and burn white-hot for their
duration, it's hard to top "Waiting for Lefty" by Clifford Odets. From the
first line -- "You're so wrong, I ain't laughing" -- we are immersed in a
confrontational, 1930s-era labor struggle that pulses with humanity.

This is the inaugural production by Ensemble Theatre at its new Cleveland
Heights location, in the former Coventry School. The open and comfortable
stage space feels entirely modern, as does, curiously, the play itself.

One reason is because the Ensemble production enlivens this 75-year-old
agitprop* *tract and makes it seem as current as last night's political
debate on MSNBC -- with passion replacing pundits and posturing.

*Review*

*Waiting for Lefty*

*What: *Ensemble Theatre presents the pro-labor play written by Clifford
Odets, directed by Ian Hinz.

*When:* Through Sunday, Oct. 30.

*Where:* Ensemble Theatre, 2843 Washington Blvd., Cleveland Heights.

*Tickets:* $10-$20. Go to ensemble-theatre.org or call 216-321-2930.

Also, even though the script itself offers a gaggle of old-timey phrases
("We're stuck like a flivver in the snow"), it feels fresh, since Odets
keeps the working-class rage of his characters set to a rolling boil. This
reflects the current heated controversy regarding Issue 2, a statewide
ballot initiative that would restrict the collective-bargaining power of
Ohio's public unions.

When the play was first staged in 1935, workers were mired in the Great
Depression and beginning to fight for their rights. Clearly, Odets'
sympathies lie entirely on their side.

At the start, company stooge Harry Fatt is dominating a union hall meeting,
trying to dissuade taxi drivers from striking for higher wages. His vigorous
language in opposition to the strikers, like all the speeches in this work,
fairly leaps off the stage. ("They'll tear Christ off his bleeding cross.
They'll wreck your homes and throw your babies in the river!")

Lasting only an hour, "Waiting for Lefty" is not just a soapbox screed,
although there are a couple of righteous rants. Instead, it highlights
several workers in flashback vignettes that show how they came to
participate in union activities.

Hack driver Joe is shamed into more militant action by his frustrated though
loving wife, Edna. And an industrialist named Fayette wants his chemist to
work on poison gas for the military, noting that "if Uncle Sam went
sentimental over human life, there'd be no business of any kind."

Plenty of oxen are gored in this play, and the wounds are dealt out in
properly melodramatic style by a focused cast under the direction of Ian
Hinz. Notable in the tight ensemble are Eric Roediger as the repulsive Fatt
and Colston "Skip" Corris as the amoral Fayette. Layla Schwartz is
affecting, turning her wrenching portrayal of Edna into a cameo of
desperation.

Hinz energizes the piece by projecting brief video clips between the
vignettes, showing period footage of the streets of New York along with a
startling nuclear bomb sequence.

But the essence of the play is captured in two separate moments when Allen
Branstein and Stephen Vasse-Hansell, as aggressive union guys, almost pop
their carotid arteries defending their organization.

Somewhere, Odets is lifting his fist in a salute.

*
*

*-- Christine Howey*

Original article link:
http://www.cleveland.com/onstage/index.ssf/2011/10/clifford_odets_waiting_for_lef.html
-- 
*PLAY YOUR PART *
*Ensemble Theatre's 2011-2012 Season!*
*NEW SPACE at the Coventry School!*
*2843 Washington Blvd.  Cleveland Hts., OH 44118*
*
*
*WAITING FOR LEFTY*
*by: Clifford Odets*
*Directed by: Ian Hinz*
*Oct. 7-Oct. 30*
*
*
*ST. NICHOLAS*
*by: Conor McPherson*
*Directed by: Sarah May*
*Starring: Dana Hart * *
*Nov. 18-Dec. 11*
*
*
***PANORAMA of AFRICAN AMERICAN THEATRE IV:*
*If not me, who?...If not now, when?  *
*2 Shows in Rep! (Alternating Weekends)*
*Jan. 12-Feb. 19*
*SONG FOR CORETTA*
*by: Pearl Cleage*
*Directed by: Margaret Ford-Taylor*
*LOWER NINTH*
*by: Beau Willimon*
*Directed by: Celeste Cosentino*
*
*
*THE COLOMBI NEW PLAYS FESITVAL!*
*3 Plays by 3 Cleveland Playrights!*
*Alternating perfomances!  *
*March 8-April 1.*
*DANCING WITH N.E.D.*
*Written and Directed by: Tyler Whidden*
*DESTROYING THE LIGHT*
*By: Sasha Thackaberry   *
*Directed by: Peter Voinovich*
*GROUNDS FOR DISMISSAL*
*by: Cindy Dettlebach*
*Directed by: Celeste Cosentino*
*(Visit Website for Specific Show Dates.)*
*
*
*GRUESOME PLAYGROUND INJURIES*
*by: Rajiv Joseph*
*Directed: by Fred Sternfeld*
*April 27-May 20.*
*
*
*TICKETS, SUBSCRIPTIONS, & **INFORMATION *
*VISIT OUR WEBSITE:*
*www.ensemble-theatre.org*
*EMAIL: *
*info at ensemble-theatre.org*
*CALL: *
*O:216.321.2930  *
*F:216.916.4531*
*
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