[NEohioPAL] Review of "At-TEN-tion" at Cleveland Public Theatre

[Bob Abelman]

Cleveland Public Theatre's short storytelling gets your At-TEN-tion

 

Bob Abelman

 

News-Herald, Chagrin Valley Times, Solon Times,

The Morning Journal, Geauga Times Courier

Member, American Theatre Critics Association 

 

This review will appear in the News-Herald on 1/27/12

 

The reliable sources at Sparknotes suggest that "Hamlet," Shakespeare's longest play, has 4,042 lines, 29,551 words (some used more than once) and, uncut, requires three to four hours to perform.  

 

The amount of art and craft associated with such epic works is immense, but the same can be said for the theatrical short form.  According to Raymond Bobgan, artistic director of Cleveland Public Theatre and the inspiration behind CPT's "At-TEN-tion Span"-a collection of twelve 10-minute plays-the short form offers everything an artist can muster and is condensed into one moment.  Each word and each action carries immense meaning.

 

"At-TEN-tion Span" not only offers a dozen short plays, it offers devised plays.  The scripts for these one scene creations originate from collaborative, improvisatory work by the playwrights.  They further develop through workshopping and, eventually, evolve into the finished products currently on display at Gordon Square Theatre.

Each of these plays is intense, earnest, and thought-provoking, and they differ significantly in terms of their accessibility, abstraction, and pretention.  As such, their likability is a matter of taste, their meaning is a matter of perspective, and the demands they make on one's attention span varies from one to the next.    

This reviewer found the pieces that offered the most personal disclosures with the best acting performances to be the most desirable and rewarding. 

 

That would include Chris Seibert's "Alibi," featuring Faye Hargate and Darius Stubbs as two damaged and co-dependent souls; Jeremy Paul's "The Refrain," which offers overlapping, intertwining, and occasionally interrupting reflections on illness as delivered by Ray Caspio, Jenni Messner, and Adam Seeholzer; and Darius Stubbs' "El Beth-el," a piece inspired by Curtis Burrell's gospel hymn "I Don't Feel No Ways Tired" that overlays society's cruelty with religion's blind faith.  It features fine performances by the author, Dionne Atchison, and Steven Schuerger.  

 

"Openings" by Raymond Bobgan is a haunting ensemble piece that offers poetry intermixed with what seems to be a critique of the previous performance.  Later in the evenings is another ensemble piece by Bobgan called "Sealed," which lovingly surrounds the audience with poetry mixed with Brazilian folk song.

 

Ending Act 1 and beginning Act 2 are two more ensemble pieces by Bobgan that resemble an extended theater exercise in movement and space appreciation.  Enthralling at the start, they soon grow tiresome and, then, tedious.

 

Pandora Robertson's "Crash Project" and Chris Seibert's "If I Lie" are among the most intriguing plays of the evening, but arguably place too much responsibility on the audience to fill in the blanks and make sense of the work.  Conversely, Simone Barros' "Fail," Douglas H. Snyder's "The Three Musketeers," and Renee Schilling's "To Fasten Your Seatbelts" are the most linear and comprehendible of the bunch, so they seem oddly conventional and flat in the context of  devised works in a dilapidated theater where audience members are asked to bring their chairs from one performance space to another.  

 

In addition to those already mentioned, members of the talented "At-TEN-tion Span" ensemble include Simone Barros, Jeremy Paul, Molly Andrews-Hinders, Lauren Joy Fraley, Caitlin Lewins, Lauren B. Smith, Amy Schwabauer, Renee Schilling, and Chris Seibert.

 

No, these devised works are not "Hamlet."  But in this collection of thoughtful and theatrical moments, the short play's most definitely the thing.

 

"At-TEN-tion Span" continues through February 4 at Cleveland Public Theatre's Gordon Square Theatre, 6415 Detroit Avenue.  For tickets, which range from $10 to $15, call 216-631-2727 or visit www.cptonline.org.