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<p class=""><b style><span style="font-family:Palatino;color:black"><br></span></b></p><p class=""><b style><span style="font-family:Palatino;color:black"><span style="color:rgb(255,0,0)">••••••••••••••••••••••••••</span></span></b></p>
<p class=""><b style><span style="font-family:Palatino;color:black"><br></span></b></p><p class=""><b style><span style="font-family:Palatino;color:black">SONS OF THE PROPHET, thought
provoking, funny, but flawed at Dobama</span></b></p>
<p class=""><span style="font-family:Palatino;color:black"> </span></p>
<p class=""><span style="font-family:Palatino;color:black">Roy Berko</span></p>
<p class=""><span style="font-family:Palatino;color:black">(</span><span style="font-size:10pt;font-family:Palatino;color:black">Member, American
Theatre Critics Association, Cleveland Critics Circle)</span></p>
<p class=""><span style="font-size:10pt;font-family:Palatino;color:black"> </span></p>
<p class=""><span style="font-family:Palatino;color:black">When it
opened in New York last year, SONS OF THE PROPHET was called “</span><span style="font-family:Palatino">the first
important new play of the fall season”</span></p>
<p class=""><span style="font-family:Palatino"> </span></p>
<p class=""><span style="font-family:Palatino">As you watch Dobama’s production of Stephen Karam’s play, you may find
yourself laughing, laughing at people in physical and psychological torture,
and ask, “How can I be laughing at this?”</span></p>
<p class=""><span style="font-family:Palatino"> </span></p>
<p class=""><span style="font-family:Palatino">In contrast to what many think, the opposite of laughing is not
crying.<span style> </span>The opposite of those
closely related strong emotions is no emotion at all. Knowing this, Karam, a
master at word usage and idea development, has crafted a character-centered piece
that has pockets of humor, but never crosses the line into ridiculousness.<span style> </span>This is both the strength of the play
and the weakness of the Dobama production.</span></p>
<p class=""><span style="font-family:Palatino"> </span></p>
<p class=""><span style="font-family:Palatino">We watch in horror as one calamity after another befalls a hapless
group of good-willed, ill-fated characters.<span style> </span>No one is spared.<span style>
</span>And, whether its God’s will, the fates, or an indifferent universe,
these people wallow in misfortune and pain.</span></p>
<p class=""><span style="font-family:Palatino"> </span></p>
<p class="" style="margin-bottom:6pt"><span style="font-family:Palatino">The plot of the play, which was a Pulitzer Prize
finalist, centers on the Douaihys, an American Lebanese family living in Nazareth,
Pennsylvania.<span style> </span>Brothers Joseph (29)
and Charles (18), whose mother died when they were young, have been orphaned
when their father dies, possibly because of a prank by Vin, a local football star.<span style> </span>Vin, in an initiation ritual, placed a
plastic deer in the middle of a highway.<span style>
</span>Mr. Douaihy, on the way home from work, swerved to avoid the deer and
crashed his vehicle.<span style> </span>Taken to a
hospital, he died of a heart attack.<span style>
</span>Whether the death was the result of the accident is not medically clear,
but the grief that results is vivid.<span style>
</span></span></p>
<p class="" style="margin-bottom:6pt"><span style="font-family:Palatino">Joseph, a former Olympic level runner, is
suffering from a series of illnesses, the cause of which medical tests can’t
discover.<span style> </span>Is it MS, some other
physical disease, or psychologically motivated?</span></p>
<p class="" style="margin-bottom:6pt"><span style="font-family:Palatino">In order to get insurance coverage, Joseph goes
to work for Gloria, a book-packager, who has deep psychological problems.<span style> </span>Knowing that the Douaihys are distant
relatives of the world’s third beat selling author, Kahilil Gibran, who wrote THE
PROPHET, Gloria becomes obsessed about Joseph writing a tell-all family story.</span></p>
<p class="" style="margin-bottom:6pt"><span style="font-family:Palatino">Obstinate, prejudiced, aging and ill, Uncle Bill,
now the family patriarch, who is dependent on the boys for physical care, is
opposed to revealing any family tales.</span></p>
<p class="" style="margin-bottom:6pt"><span style="font-family:Palatino">To add to the family dysfunction is the fact that
the brothers are gay.<span style> </span></span></p>
<p class="" style="margin-bottom:6pt"><span style="font-family:Palatino">Based on self-pity, pain, and loneliness, Joseph has
a sexual affair with Timothy, a gay reporter sent to write a story of the
accident, with traumatic results. <span style> </span></span></p>
<p class="" style="margin-bottom:6pt"><span style="font-family:Palatino">Dobama’s production works on many levels,
stumbles on others.<span style> </span></span></p>
<p class="" style="margin-bottom:6pt"><span style="font-family:Palatino">In an interesting staging device, the play uses
floor projections, inspired by the chapter headings in Gibran’s THE PROPHET, to
identify the sections of the script.</span></p>
<p class="" style="margin-bottom:6pt"><span style="font-family:Palatino">Chris Richards gives an excellent textured
performance as the conflicted Joseph, who acts as the eye of the hurricane.<span style> </span>His emotions are raw, his thoughts and
feelings clearly displayed.<span style> </span>Christopher
Sanders, a Chris Coffer (TV’s FAME) look-alike, is spot-on as the mildly
flamboyant Charles who is filled with teenage and personal angst.<span style> </span></span></p>
<p class="" style="margin-bottom:6pt"><span style="font-family:Palatino">Bernard Canepari is believable as the frustrated Uncle
Bill.<span style> </span>Aaron Mucciolo stays close
to the surface as Timothy.<span style> </span>Anne
McEvoy travels the path between overacting and portraying the often hysterical
Gloria with fidelity.<span style> </span>She never
becomes a caricature, a danger with this type of role.<span style> </span>She is properly pitiful, while evoking
the right amount of empathy. </span></p>
<p class="" style="margin-bottom:6pt"><span style="font-family:Palatino">Jonathan Jackson is not believable as Vin.<span style> </span>Laura Starnik and Jeanne Task, in spite
of some outlandish wigs, and a confusing cross-dressing scene, effectively do
as directed.</span></p>
<p class="" style="margin-bottom:6pt"><span style="font-family:Palatino">Director Scott Miller has paced the play well, and
has helped most of the actors develop meaningful characters.<span style> </span>Unfortunately, the play stumbles in two
important scenes.<span style> </span></span></p>
<p class="" style="margin-bottom:6pt"><span style="font-family:Palatino">In one segment, Van and the Douaihy family are
appearing before the school board which is to determine whether the boy will be
removed from the football team for his prank.<span style> </span>Rather than playing the scene as a message developing
experience, Miller opts for a farcical interpretation.<span style> </span>The school board members are played as
gossiping fools, Van reads his prepared message in a laugh provoking manner, and
the acting goes over the reality line into farce.<span style> </span>The play is a drama with comic overtones, and this important
message developing scene should definitely not be farcical!</span></p>
<p class="" style="margin-bottom:6pt"><span style="font-family:Palatino">The play’s last scene finds Joseph in a physical
therapy center, interacting with Mrs. McAndrew, a favorite elementary school
teacher.<span style> </span>The emotional bond
between the two is obvious.<span style>
</span>Unfortunately, the scene ends in midair…not with the required dénouement.<span style> </span>On opening night the audience was
so unaware that the play was over they sat in silence waiting for the next
scene and were visibly <span style> </span>surprised
to see that the curtain call was enfolding.</span></p>
<p style="margin:0.1pt 0in"><i style><span style="font-size:12pt;font-family:Palatino;color:black">CAPSULE JUDGEMENT:</span></i><i style><span style="font-size:12pt;font-family:Palatino;color:black"> <span style> </span>SONS OF THE PHOPHET is a brilliant script which gets an
acceptable production at Dobama.<span style>
</span>It’s a shame because the quality of the material is superb, and the
cast, with more focused guidance, was capable of living up to the positive hype
a production of this script deserves.</span></i><i style><span style="font-size:12pt"></span></i></p>
<p style="margin:0.1pt 0in"><span style="font-size:12pt;font-family:Palatino;color:black"> </span> </p>
<p class=""><span style="font-family:Palatino;color:black">SONS OF THE
PROPHET runs through March 17, 2013 <span style> </span>at Dobama Theatre.<span style>
</span>Call 216-932-3396 or </span><a href="http://www.dobama.org"><span style="font-family:Palatino">http://www.dobama.org</span></a><span style="font-family:Palatino;color:black"> for tickets.</span></p><p class=""><span style="color:rgb(255,0,0)"><br>
<span style="font-family:Palatino"></span></span></p><p class=""><span style="font-family:Palatino;color:black"><span style="color:rgb(255,0,0)">••••••••••••••••••••••••••</span></span></p><p class=""><br><span style="font-family:Palatino;color:black"></span></p>
<p class=""><span style="font-family:Palatino;color:black"><br></span></p>
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