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<P style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; LINE-HEIGHT: 17.6pt; MARGIN: 0in 0in 10pt"
class=MsoNormal align=center><B style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal"><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; COLOR: black; FONT-SIZE: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'">Ensemble
Theatre offers an intriguing scar-tissue tragedy<?xml:namespace prefix = o ns =
"urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office" /><o:p></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><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
5/4/12</SPAN><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt"><o:p></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P style="LINE-HEIGHT: normal; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Georgia','serif'; COLOR: black; FONT-SIZE: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'"><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></P>
<P style="LINE-HEIGHT: normal; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; COLOR: black; FONT-SIZE: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'">Since
the days of Aeschylus, Euripides and Sophocles, dramatic literature has featured
tormented souls wreaking havoc on the lives of those they love most.<SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>Playwright Rajiv Joseph has taken this
grand tradition and turned it inward by creating an intriguing tale about
self-destruction.<o:p></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P style="LINE-HEIGHT: normal; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; COLOR: black; FONT-SIZE: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'"><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></P>
<P style="LINE-HEIGHT: normal; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; COLOR: black; FONT-SIZE: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'">In
“Gruesome Playground Injuries,” currently on stage at the Ensemble Theatre, we
meet Doug (Dan Folino) and Kayleen (Celeste Cosentino), two poster children for
auto-sabotage syndrome hell-bent on facilitating their own demise one injury at
a time.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>Doug is an accident waiting
to happen who measures life’s milestones through the scars they’ve left
behind.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>Kayleen’s depression is
all-encompassing and manifests itself in social isolation and self-mutilation.
<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN><o:p></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P style="LINE-HEIGHT: normal; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; COLOR: black; FONT-SIZE: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'"><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></P>
<P style="LINE-HEIGHT: normal; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; COLOR: black; FONT-SIZE: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'">The
two meet as wounded 8-year-olds in a parochial school infirmary and, over the
next 30 years, are reunited in places driven by their maladies—assorted hospital
rooms, a mental institution, a funeral parlor.<SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>As one might expect from a scar-tissue
tragedy like this, our heroes’ emotional and psychological wounds have built a
protective barrier too thick to be penetrated by others and too exposed to ever
heal properly.<o:p></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P style="LINE-HEIGHT: normal; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; COLOR: black; FONT-SIZE: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'"><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></P>
<P style="LINE-HEIGHT: normal; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; COLOR: black; FONT-SIZE: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'">Doug
and Kayleen are in desperate need of salvation, but their respective pathologies
render them incapable of connecting with one another.<SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>This one-act play unfolds in a serious
of short vignettes that are chance meetings between the two; each a squandered
opportunity to end their vicious cycle of self-destruction, which adds even more
desperation and consequence to the next failed encounter.<SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN><o:p></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P style="LINE-HEIGHT: normal; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; COLOR: black; FONT-SIZE: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'"><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></P>
<P style="LINE-HEIGHT: normal; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; COLOR: black; FONT-SIZE: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'">The
playwright provides just enough comedy in just the right places to keep the
audience from falling into its own deep depression and more than enough poignant
moments to keep it glued to every word.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes">
</SPAN>He also lays out the play’s action in a non-linear fashion—jumping back
and forth in time—which provides foreshadowing of things to come while playfully
depicting the ramifications of things not yet imagined.<o:p></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P style="LINE-HEIGHT: normal; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; COLOR: black; FONT-SIZE: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'"><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></P>
<P style="LINE-HEIGHT: normal; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; COLOR: black; FONT-SIZE: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'">Each
vignette carries its own rhythm which, under Fred Sternfeld’s sensitive
direction, flows beautifully one to the next and without traditional black outs
between them.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>Instead, the
performers adjust the set pieces—cleverly constructed , multi-purpose crates
decorated as if they were children’s blocks by Joseph Mitchell—and then retreat
to their own corner of the stage to change make up and clothing in full
view.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>These segues are accompanied
by theme-specific contemporary music and haunting images projected on
strategically placed screens.<o:p></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P style="LINE-HEIGHT: normal; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; COLOR: black; FONT-SIZE: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'"><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></P>
<P style="LINE-HEIGHT: normal; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; COLOR: black; FONT-SIZE: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'">Witnessing
the actors applying gruesome makeup reinforces the self-induced nature of the
injuries, which adds to the audience’s connection with and sympathies for the
characters.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN><SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>While Folino’s process during the
transformations is highly animated and captivating, Cosentino’s
self-consciousness while undressing renders her transformations comparatively
distant and uninteresting.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>This,
along with the repetition of images on the projection screens, eventually turns
these unique segues into tiresome affairs. <SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN><o:p></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P style="LINE-HEIGHT: normal; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; COLOR: black; FONT-SIZE: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'"><SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN><o:p></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P style="LINE-HEIGHT: normal; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; COLOR: black; FONT-SIZE: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'">While
both performers are believable, vulnerable and oddly appealing, they are uneven
partners during the more delicate moments in the play.<SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>Folino’s commanding physicality stands
alone, as does Doug’s attraction to Kayleen.<SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>While some of Consentino’s on-stage
unresponsiveness can be attributed to her character’s disorder or the less
colorful dialogue the playwright has provided, some are the result of acting
choices that consistently push Doug and the audience away rather than
occasionally pulling us closer.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes">
</SPAN><o:p></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P style="LINE-HEIGHT: normal; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; COLOR: black; FONT-SIZE: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'"><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></P>
<P style="LINE-HEIGHT: normal; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; COLOR: black; FONT-SIZE: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'">To
muster tragedy, there needs to be the possibility of a connection between these
two dysfunctional characters.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>This
dynamic rarely comes across, producing only drama.<SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>Though a wonderful production, not all
the emotional buttons are pushed or pushed hard enough.<o:p></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P style="LINE-HEIGHT: normal; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; COLOR: black; FONT-SIZE: 12pt"></SPAN> </P>
<P style="LINE-HEIGHT: normal; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; COLOR: black; FONT-SIZE: 12pt">Much
like </SPAN><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; FONT-SIZE: 12pt">Rajiv Joseph’s
”Bengal Tiger at the Baghdad Zoo,” a 2010 Pulitzer Prize finalist that takes
place <SPAN style="COLOR: black">during the Gulf War</SPAN>, <SPAN
style="COLOR: black">all the characters in “Gruesome Playground Injuries” are
<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>trapped within their own personal
cages.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>And while the Gulf war
serves as a powerful reminder of the self-destructive nature of the human
animal—a nature from which there is no clear or viable release—nothing drives
this point home any better or more simply than watching Doug and Kayleen attempt
to escape from who and what they are.<SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN></SPAN></SPAN></P>
<P style="LINE-HEIGHT: normal; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; FONT-SIZE: 12pt"><SPAN
style="COLOR: black"><SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"></SPAN></SPAN></SPAN> </P>
<P style="LINE-HEIGHT: normal; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; FONT-SIZE: 12pt"><SPAN
style="COLOR: black"><SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"></SPAN></SPAN></SPAN><I
style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal"><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; COLOR: #191919; FONT-SIZE: 12pt">“</SPAN></I><I
style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal"><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; COLOR: black; FONT-SIZE: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'">Gruesome
Playground Injuries”</SPAN></I><I style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal"><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; COLOR: #191919; FONT-SIZE: 12pt">
</SPAN></I><I><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; FONT-SIZE: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold">continues
through May 20 </SPAN></I><I style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal"><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; FONT-SIZE: 12pt">at the Ensemble
Theatre, </SPAN></I><I style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal"><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; COLOR: black; FONT-SIZE: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-ansi-language: EN"
lang=EN>2843 Washington Blvd. in the Coventry neighborhood of Cleveland
Heights</SPAN></I><I style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal"><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; FONT-SIZE: 12pt">.<SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>For tickets, which range from $10 to
$20, call </SPAN></I><I style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal"><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; COLOR: black; FONT-SIZE: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-ansi-language: EN"
lang=EN>216-321-2930 or visit <A href=""><FONT
color=#0000ff>www.ensemble-theatre.org</FONT></A>.<o:p></o:p></SPAN></I></P>
<P style="LINE-HEIGHT: normal; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><I
style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal"><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; COLOR: black; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-ansi-language: EN"
lang=EN><o:p><FONT
size=3> </FONT></o:p></SPAN></I></P></FONT></DIV></BODY></HTML>