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<P style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; LINE-HEIGHT: normal; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"
class=MsoNormal align=center><B style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal"><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; COLOR: black; FONT-SIZE: 12pt; mso-ansi-language: EN"
lang=EN>Love is a battlefield in Dobama’s ‘Time Stands Still’<BR
style="mso-special-character: line-break"><BR
style="mso-special-character: line-break"><?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><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; COLOR: #1f497d; FONT-SIZE: 12pt">News-Herald,
Chagrin Valley Times, Solon Times, Geauga Times Courier<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">Member,
International Association of Theatre Critics <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'; 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><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; COLOR: #1f497d; FONT-SIZE: 12pt">This
review will appear in the News-Herald</SPAN><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; FONT-SIZE: 12pt"> on 9/13/13<B
style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal"><o:p></o:p></B></SPAN></P>
<P style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; LINE-HEIGHT: normal; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"
class=MsoNormal align=center><B style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal"><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; COLOR: black; FONT-SIZE: 12pt; mso-ansi-language: EN"
lang=EN><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></B></P>
<P style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; LINE-HEIGHT: normal; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"
class=MsoNormal align=center><B style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal"><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; COLOR: black; FONT-SIZE: 12pt; mso-ansi-language: EN"
lang=EN><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></B></P>
<P style="LINE-HEIGHT: normal; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; FONT-SIZE: 12pt; mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'"
lang=EN>Each time our nation involves itself in one more Middle East crisis, we
tend to think of embedded members of the press – if we think of them at all – as
renegade journalists and heroic purveyors of the truth.<SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN><SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>In playwright Donald Margulies’ engaging
2009 drama “Time Stands Still,” they are casualties of war.<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'; FONT-SIZE: 12pt; mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'"
lang=EN><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></P>
<P style="LINE-HEIGHT: normal; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; FONT-SIZE: 12pt; mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'"
lang=EN>The play focuses on two correspondents in particular: Sarah, a driven
front-line photographer badly injured in Iraq by a roadside bomb, and her
reporter boyfriend, James, whose scars are just as deep but psychological in
nature.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>Both return home to heal,
but Sarah is restless and eager to get back to the action, while James has
resigned himself to a more sedate and secure existence. <o:p></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P style="LINE-HEIGHT: normal; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; FONT-SIZE: 12pt; mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'"
lang=EN><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></P>
<P style="LINE-HEIGHT: normal; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; FONT-SIZE: 12pt; mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'"
lang=EN>“Time Stands Still” most certainly addresses the inhumanity and
atrocities of war, but it never becomes the kind of play that preaches its
politics.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>Instead, recurring themes
nearer and dearer to Margulies’ heart persevere.<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'; FONT-SIZE: 12pt; mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'"
lang=EN><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></P>
<P style="LINE-HEIGHT: normal; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; FONT-SIZE: 12pt; mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'"
lang=EN>As he does in the Pulitzer Prize-winning “Dinner With Friends,” this
play is about personal loss and mortality.<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'; FONT-SIZE: 12pt; mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'"
lang=EN><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></P>
<P style="LINE-HEIGHT: normal; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; FONT-SIZE: 12pt; mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'"
lang=EN>Like “The Model Apartment,” it explores the lingering effect of trauma
and how it invades all aspects of daily life.<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'; FONT-SIZE: 12pt; mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'"
lang=EN><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></P>
<P style="LINE-HEIGHT: normal; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; FONT-SIZE: 12pt; mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'"
lang=EN>As did “Collected Stories,” this play examines the parasitic nature of
writing and the guilt associated with making a living off the sorrows and
suffering of strangers.<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'; FONT-SIZE: 12pt; mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'"
lang=EN><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></P>
<P style="LINE-HEIGHT: normal; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; FONT-SIZE: 12pt; mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'"
lang=EN>It does these many things admirably but fails to do them thoroughly.
<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>One theme fades just when it starts
getting good, giving way to another.<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'; FONT-SIZE: 12pt; mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'"
lang=EN><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></P>
<P style="LINE-HEIGHT: normal; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; FONT-SIZE: 12pt; mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'"
lang=EN>When the dust settles, however, this play about war reveals most
consistently and satisfactorily what 1980s songstress Pat Benatar told us long
ago: that love is a battlefield. <SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>Sarah and James are the walking wounded
alright, but it is unclear which warzone produced the most collateral
damage.<o:p></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P style="LINE-HEIGHT: normal; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; FONT-SIZE: 12pt; mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'"
lang=EN><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></P>
<P style="LINE-HEIGHT: normal; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; FONT-SIZE: 12pt; mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'"
lang=EN>The Dobama Theatre production of “Time Stands Still,” under Nathan
Motta’s sensitive and flawless direction, is particularly adept at paring down
the big themes so that a very intimate piece of storytelling unfolds.<SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>Motta’s designers – Jill Davis
(scenic), Marcus Dana (lighting), Tom Linsenmeier (sound) and Tesia Benson
(costume) – facilitate this process by creating an inviting up-scale apartment
in the close quarters of the Dobama floor-space.<SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>The staging immediately brings audience
members into Sarah and James’ world and holds them there.<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'; FONT-SIZE: 12pt; mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'"
lang=EN><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></P>
<P style="LINE-HEIGHT: normal; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt; BACKGROUND: white"
class=MsoNormal><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; FONT-SIZE: 12pt; mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'"
lang=EN>As Sarah, Heather Anderson Boll is so intense, abrasive and tightly
wound that she would be inaccessible and unattractive if not for those
brilliant, well-timed pauses in her delivery that reveal – for a fleeting moment
– her character’s astounding vulnerability and the depths of her damaged soul.
<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>It is tempting not to look away
from Boll’s Sarah for fear of missing something remarkable, but if you do you
will find that those surrounding her are just as compelling.<SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN><o:p></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P style="LINE-HEIGHT: normal; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt; BACKGROUND: white"
class=MsoNormal><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; FONT-SIZE: 12pt; mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'"
lang=EN><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></P>
<P style="LINE-HEIGHT: normal; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt; BACKGROUND: white"
class=MsoNormal><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; FONT-SIZE: 12pt; mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'"
lang=EN>David Bugher’s tender depiction of James gives authenticity to the love
he and Sarah share and credibility to the survivor’s guilt he feels from being
state-side at the time of her accident.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes">
</SPAN>James’ slow but steady lapse into depression and hopelessness reflects
some fine and heart-felt acting.<o:p></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P style="LINE-HEIGHT: normal; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt; BACKGROUND: white"
class=MsoNormal><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; FONT-SIZE: 12pt; mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'"
lang=EN><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></P>
<P style="LINE-HEIGHT: normal; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt; BACKGROUND: white"
class=MsoNormal><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; FONT-SIZE: 12pt; mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'"
lang=EN>To help accentuate all that is wrong between Sarah and James, the
playwright introduces Richard, Sarah’s adoring photo editor and mentor, and his
much younger, overtly optimistic new girlfriend, Mandy, into the mix.<SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>They also add much needed humor to an
otherwise sober storyline.<o:p></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P style="LINE-HEIGHT: normal; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt; BACKGROUND: white"
class=MsoNormal><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; FONT-SIZE: 12pt; mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'"
lang=EN><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></P>
<P style="LINE-HEIGHT: normal; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt; BACKGROUND: white"
class=MsoNormal><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; FONT-SIZE: 12pt">The clever and
deceptively casual dialogue Margulies provides for Richard and Mandy could be
easily played for the laugh, or the turning point, or the point of comparison it
is meant to provide and still be effective.<SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>But </SPAN><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; FONT-SIZE: 12pt; mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'"
lang=EN>Peter Aylward and Llewie Nunez bring added dimension and richness to
these characters and never take the easy route.<SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>Their performances are nicely nuanced
and always interesting.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes">
</SPAN><o:p></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P style="LINE-HEIGHT: normal; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt; BACKGROUND: white"
class=MsoNormal><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; FONT-SIZE: 12pt; mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'"
lang=EN><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></P>
<P style="LINE-HEIGHT: normal; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt; BACKGROUND: white"
class=MsoNormal><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; FONT-SIZE: 12pt; mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'"
lang=EN>All may not be fair in love and war, but working both inequities into
one play makes for an entertaining and engaging piece of
theater.<o:p></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P style="LINE-HEIGHT: normal; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt; BACKGROUND: white"
class=MsoNormal><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; FONT-SIZE: 12pt; mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'"
lang=EN><o:p> </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-ansi-language: EN; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'"
lang=EN>“Time Stands Still” runs through October 6 at Dobama Theatre, 2340 Lee
Road, Cleveland Heights. For tickets, </SPAN></I><I
style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal"><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; FONT-SIZE: 12pt">which range from $10
to $26, call 216-932-3396 or visit <A href=""><FONT
color=#0000ff>www.dobama.org</FONT></A>.</SPAN></I><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></FONT></DIV></BODY></HTML>