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<P style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" align=center><FONT size=3><B
style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal"><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; COLOR: black">‘</SPAN></B><B
style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal"><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; COLOR: #222222; mso-ansi-language: EN"
lang=EN>Velocity of Autumn’</SPAN></B><B
style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal"><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; COLOR: black" lang=EN> </SPAN></B><B
style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal"><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; COLOR: black">a tender but tortuous
coming-of-old age tale<?xml:namespace prefix = o ns =
"urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office" /><o:p></o:p></SPAN></B></FONT></P>
<P style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" align=center><B
style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal"><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; COLOR: black"><o:p><FONT
size=3> </FONT></o:p></SPAN></B></P>
<P style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; LINE-HEIGHT: normal; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"
class=MsoNormal align=center><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; COLOR: #1f497d; FONT-SIZE: 12pt">Bob
Abelman<o:p></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; LINE-HEIGHT: normal; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"
class=MsoNormal align=center><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; COLOR: #1f497d; FONT-SIZE: 12pt"><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></P>
<P style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; LINE-HEIGHT: normal; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"
class=MsoNormal align=center><I style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal"><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; COLOR: #1f497d; FONT-SIZE: 12pt">News-Herald,
Chagrin Valley Times, Solon Times,<o:p></o:p></SPAN></I></P>
<P style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; LINE-HEIGHT: normal; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"
class=MsoNormal align=center><I style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal"><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; COLOR: #1f497d; FONT-SIZE: 12pt">The
Morning Journal, Geauga Times Courier<o:p></o:p></SPAN></I></P>
<P style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; LINE-HEIGHT: normal; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"
class=MsoNormal align=center><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; COLOR: #1f497d; FONT-SIZE: 12pt">Member,
American Theatre Critics Association <o:p></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; LINE-HEIGHT: normal; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"
class=MsoNormal align=center><I style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal"><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; FONT-SIZE: 12pt"><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></I></P>
<P style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; LINE-HEIGHT: normal; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"
class=MsoNormal align=center><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; COLOR: #1f497d; FONT-SIZE: 12pt">This
review will appear in the <I style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal">News-Herald
</I></SPAN><SPAN style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; FONT-SIZE: 12pt">on
3/30/12<o:p></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><B style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal"><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; COLOR: black"><o:p><FONT
size=3> </FONT></o:p></SPAN></B></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; COLOR: black"><FONT size=3>Listen
carefully.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes">
</SPAN><o:p></o:p></FONT></SPAN></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; COLOR: black"><o:p><FONT
size=3> </FONT></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; COLOR: black"><FONT size=3>That’s the
sound of time passing us by, of life being lived and then reverting to a distant
memory.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>There goes childhood,
adolescence, parenthood and middle age in the blink of an eye, as a whisper in
the wind.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>Cornerstones are turned.
Milestones are reached.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>Kidney
stones are passed. <o:p></o:p></FONT></SPAN></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; COLOR: black"><o:p><FONT
size=3> </FONT></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; COLOR: black"><FONT size=3>This, in a
nutshell, is local playwright Eric Coble’s “The Velocity of Autumn”—an
intriguing one-act, two-person coming-of-old age play that is enjoying its
regional premiere at the Beck Center for the Arts but is not always so
enjoyable.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes">
</SPAN><o:p></o:p></FONT></SPAN></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; COLOR: black"><o:p><FONT
size=3> </FONT></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; COLOR: black"><FONT size=3>“The
Velocity of Autumn” flash-freezes the breakneck forward momentum of time and
offers us a moment in the life of septuagenarian Alexandra.<SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>The playwright has chosen a pivotal
moment—a crisis moment—when Alexandra and her estranged, middle-aged son, Chris,
are dramatically reunited.<o:p></o:p></FONT></SPAN></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; COLOR: black"><o:p><FONT
size=3> </FONT></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; COLOR: black"><FONT size=3><SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>Despite her other children’s attempts to
remove her from a much beloved Brooklyn brownstone apartment and into a nursing
home, Alexandra is determined to spend her remaining years exactly where she is,
no matter the consequence.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>After
she barricades herself in the apartment and threatens to blow up the place if
not left alone, the runaway, ne’re-do-well Chris is recruited as a last resort
to talk some sense into the old woman.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes">
</SPAN><o:p></o:p></FONT></SPAN></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; COLOR: black"><o:p><FONT
size=3> </FONT></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; COLOR: black"><FONT size=3>Both mother
and son are at key junctures in their lives and in desperate need of help for
safe crossing.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>She has lived her
life to the fullest but is now facing the indignities of old age that make
living almost unbearable.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>He is
still looking for a full life, a fulfilling life, but its elusiveness makes
living almost intolerable.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>Both of
them are alone on their journeys and in their misery, and neither one seems
capable of offering the other a gentle act of kindness.
<o:p></o:p></FONT></SPAN></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; COLOR: black"><o:p><FONT
size=3> </FONT></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; COLOR: black"><FONT size=3>This is a
tender, beautifully written play, all the while offering clever lines that are
caustic when warranted and humorous when needed most.<SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>The conflicts that exist between mother
and child ebb and flow with cascading rhythms while still maintaining their
poignancy.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN><SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN><o:p></o:p></FONT></SPAN></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; COLOR: black"><o:p><FONT
size=3> </FONT></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; COLOR: black"><FONT size=3>Oddly,
other elements in this play are more difficult to listen to.<SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>“The Velocity of Autumn” is laden with
Alexandra’s laments about the dementia, arthritis, fading appetites, failing
knees and faltering senses that have come to define her.<SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>These repeated reminders of the
morbidity of mortality create an awkward incompatibility and imbalance with the
play’s charm and bite, and not the desired layer of complexity it was going for.
<o:p></o:p></FONT></SPAN></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; COLOR: black"><o:p><FONT
size=3> </FONT></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; COLOR: black"><FONT size=3>This
incompatibility is further accentuated by director Eric Schmiedl’s overtly
realistic approach to the material, which skews the production’s palate toward
“On Golden Pond” when a darker or perhaps edgier treatment might have been
called for.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>Cleveland Public
Theater’s wonderful production of Coble’s “My Barking Dog” comes to mind.<SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN><o:p></o:p></FONT></SPAN></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; COLOR: black"><o:p><FONT
size=3> </FONT></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; COLOR: black"><FONT size=3>Todd
Kripinsky’s incredible set design seems to go in that direction.<SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>He creates the impression that this play
is a mere moment in time by deconstructing furniture pieces and repositioning
them as if they were windswept by the sheer velocity of life and then
frozen.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>Not much else about the
production follows suite.<o:p></o:p></FONT></SPAN></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; COLOR: black"><o:p><FONT
size=3> </FONT></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; COLOR: black"><FONT size=3>“The
Velocity of Autumn’s” actors, Dorothy Silver and David Hansen, give wonderful,
nuanced performances.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>Silver
is particularly brilliant toward the play’s end when Alexandra’s bravado—a trait
bestowed on all the featured females in Coble’s three “Alexandra Plays”—gives
way to vulnerability. <SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>Still, on
opening night both performers seem to struggle to find a consistent voice for
their characters, which says more about the material than the performers
themselves. <SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN><o:p></o:p></FONT></SPAN></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; COLOR: black"><o:p><FONT
size=3> </FONT></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; COLOR: black"><FONT size=3>In fact,
the material seems to quit on them at the end.<SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>Ninety minutes of butting heads
abruptly turns into an amiable ending that is more crowd pleasing than fitting
closure for the fearless namesake of the Alexandra trilogy.
<o:p></o:p></FONT></SPAN></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; COLOR: black"><o:p><FONT
size=3> </FONT></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P style="LINE-HEIGHT: normal; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><I><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; COLOR: black; FONT-SIZE: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'">“The
Velocity of Autumn” </SPAN></I><I style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal"><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; FONT-SIZE: 12pt">runs through April 29
at the Beck Center for the Arts in Lakewood.<SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>For tickets, which range from $10-$28,
call 216-521-2540 x10 or visit <A href=""><FONT
color=#0000ff>www.beckcenter.org</FONT></A>.<o:p></o:p></SPAN></I></P></FONT></DIV></BODY></HTML>