[NEohioPAL] Bekro review: ANIMALS OUT OF PAPER @ Ensemble

Roy Berko royberko at gmail.com
Sat Sep 28 11:46:04 PDT 2013


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*Ensemble’s ANIMALS OUT OF PAPER, a challenging look at how the folds
affect life*



Roy Berko

(Member, American Theatre Critics Association, Cleveland Critics Circle)



Cleveland has several young and dynamic playwrights who are making a name
for themselves on the national scene.  Eric Coble’s BRIGHT IDEAS had an
off-Broadway presentation, after its Cleveland Play House run.  His THE
VELOCITY OF AUTUMN, which had a staging at Beck Center, and starred Dorothy
Silver, is readying for a Broadway production which will star Estelle
Parsons.



Cleveland Heights native Rajiv Joseph, has been labeled “one of today’s
most acclaimed young playwrights,” has the awards to back up the claim.  He’s
received the Paula Vogel Award for Most Acclaimed Young Playwrights, the
Lucille Lortel Award for Outstanding Play of 2009, and was a Pulitzer Prize
finalist for Drama for BENGAL TIGER AT THE BAGHDAD ZOO, which had a
Broadway run and starred Robin Williams.



Joseph, who has a "fascination with the power of language,” uses that
language to probe “the origins of human artistic impulse and ask what they
mean

for those enslaved to it.”



ANIMALS OUT OF PAPER is in production at Ensemble Theatre, which seems to
act as Joseph’s home theatre.  The company, headed by long time Joseph
friend, Celeste Cosentino, has done one of his plays in each of its last
three seasons.



ANIMALS OUT OF PAPER centers on an unlikely trio of people.  Ilana, a world
renowned origami artist,  has perfected the Japanese art of folding paper
into decorative and representational forms, to the extent that she has
written the second best selling book on the subject.  Andy is a math
teacher, and Suresh, a troubled youth whose mother was recently killed in
an accident.



Ilana has barricaded herself in her littered studio surrounded by origami
creations, Chinese take-out boxes, and piles of unused paper.   She has not
only lost her husband, but her three-legged dog has run off, and her will
to fold has disappeared.  Her life is much like the crumpled papers that
litter the floor.



Andy is a nerdy math teacher who has an artistic and physical crush on
Ilana, as a result of meeting her at a national origami convention where he
was a student in one of her seminars.  He writes of this obsession and
views of life in a notebook.  He journals because he once opened a fortune
cookie, which told him to “count your blessings.”  He comes to Ilana’s
loft, not only to meet her in person, but to sell her on mentoring Suresh,
one of his students who shows a natural talent for origami, as his mentor.



Suresh, in contrast to Ilana, and other well known origami artists, doesn’t
sketch out his work to decide on the order of each fold.  Instead, he works
by instinct.  He perceives that actions, rather than developing a
step-by-step plan, is the way to create.  His inspiration is the rap music
he listens to in his ever-plugged in headphones.  He is in conflict as his
life requires order, which has eluded him, while his origami, which should
be based on set patterns, doesn’t follow orderliness.



The plot deepens when Andy and Ilana entangle their lives, and Suresh
develops a fascination for Ilana.   Each probes for how they can exist in
the world.  Recognizing, to some extent that, “So much of what I am is what
I’ve lost.”



Ensemble’s production, under the directorship of Celeste Cosentino, creates
the play’s essence, but fails to dig deeply enough into the characters and
their motivations to give full meaning to Joseph’s well crafted script.



Katherine DeBoer creates an Ilana into a real person, complete with outward
and hidden angst.



Geoff Knox is properly anxiety filled.  There are times when he falls back
on a geeky speech pattern which somewhat distracts.



Andrew Samtoy, generally displays his inner conflict.  In several scenes,
such as when he is creating rap songs, he fails to let lose and capture the
meaning of the words.



Ian Hinz’s projection designs are excellent.  Using visual images, rather
than real sets, helps develop the artistic nature of the work.



The many intricate origami creations used in the production were supplied
by The Public Theatre in Maine.



*CAPSULE JUDGEMENT: **ANIMALS OUT OF PAPER is an often amusing, thought
provoking play about what happens when the lives of mismatched people
collide in complicated ways that highlight hurt  and the challenges of
individuals who don’t know who they are or how to be in the world. The
Ensemble production doesn’t quite reach the quality of the play’s writing,
but does hold attention and leaves the audience thinking.*

* *

ANIMALS OUT OF PAPER runs Thursdays through Sundays through October 20 at
Ensemble Theatre, housed in Coventry School, 2843 Washington Blvd,
Cleveland Heights.  For tickets call 216-321-2930 or go online to
http://www.ensemble-theatre.org



Of special interest:  Ensemble will be having a benefit performance on the
October 4th, with a post show talkback with the director and the cast as
well as a wine and desert reception which will be catered by Rajiv's uncle
DAVID GAUCHAT, a well known pastry chef).
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